S1Ep16: Basics Of Music Theory & How to Help Your Child

In this episode of Heard It Through The Grooveline, the speaker, Will Bennett, the founder of the Grooveline Music Education, tackles the basics of music theory. He highlights the importance of understanding music theory for parents to support their child's musical education even if they are not musically inclined. He explores the fundamental concepts, such as how music notation represents pitch and rhythm, the use of different clefs, and the difference between treble and bass clefs. He also emphasizes the role of parents in correcting and practicing musical sessions with their children, accelerating their progress. This episode serves as a guide for parents of music-learning children, equipping them with basic knowledge to communicate and aid in their child’s musical journey.

00:00 Introduction to the Episode

00:22 The Importance of Music Theory

01:17 Understanding the Basics of Music Theory

01:58 The Role of Parents in Music Education

05:12 The Logic of Written Music

13:32 Understanding Rhythm in Music

19:56 The Impact of Parental Support on Music Learning

24:34 Conclusion and Contact Information

25:23 Podcast Outro

www.groovelinemusiceducation.com
@groovelinemusiceducation on social media!

Looking for your next move as a music educator? Perhaps you want to start a new chapter in your career, build a new lifestyle after years on the road, or you're looking for the opportunity to create your own business but don't know where to start?

We are now recruiting pilot franchisees! Not your average owner/operator children's activity franchise - we are looking for business-minded investors to build a team, create a valuable asset for their future and help make a difference to the state of primary music education un the UK.

Grooveline Music Education is on a mission to reimagine and revolutionise primary music education.

We believe that engaging with music education at an early age is a crucial part of a child’s development. It provides an extraordinary range of cognitive, emotional, and social benefits that help children to thrive in all areas of their lives.

To do this, we are on a journey to bring Grooveline Music Education to schools around the UK. In order to meet our ambitious goal we are looking for passionate, like minded individuals who want to lead the music education revolution with us.

Sound like something you want to be part of?

Click below to find our more, download a prospectus or book a chat!

www.groovelinemusiceducation.com/franchise

Transcript

 Hello and welcome to another episode of Heard It Through The Grooveline. My name is Will Bennett and I'm the founder of Grooveline Music Education. I'm here to help you know how to best support the musical education of your child, even if you are not musical yourself.  At Grooveline, when the lesson ends, the learning doesn't stop.

And so as part of our wraparound approach to music education, This episode I'll be discussing with you the basics of music theory and why it's important that you know them. 

 Hope you're all. Well today's episode should be quite a good comprehensive episode. I think it's going to be. Quite long, potentially it could be half an hour or more. 

What I want to talk about today is right back to the very, very first episode, which if you haven't listened to yet, by the way, you should check out because that's probably the one which really lays the foundations for this entire podcast series. But looking all the way back to that first episode, I gave my top five overall points about how parents can help support their child's music education. Even if they are not musical themselves. Now, one of those points was to kind of educate yourself on the basics.  And that's what I want to help with today. 

So today's episode. Eh, I'm going to explain a little bit about music theory and Britain. Music, which can seem like a daunting, scary, mysterious secret code. But the good news is that we're going to bust that myth. We're going to find out how it all works. And by the end of listening to today's podcast, You will have a good understanding of it. 

You still may be, you know, Slightly confused at certain points or still need to kind of practice certain things in order to really become fluent with it. But you're going to have a good enough understanding. That you are able to help your child. And that's the point of it all. And if you do wish to learn further, I'm going to tell you how to do that as well. So today's episode is for anyone that has a child that's learning music, and they want to be able to support them, speak to them and communicate in a language that they understand, or for anyone who is learning themselves. 

Even if you already have a good understanding of music theory, I'm going to put it in a way today that you might not have heard before. And so it could be helpful for you even if you already know how to read music, for example.  So before we really get into it, what I want to say is why this is helpful and what the why today's podcast is one that we should be paying attention to.  So, first of all, as I just mentioned, it means you, if you, if you kind of have a basic understanding of theory, It means you can communicate with your child in a kind of language that they understand. From a musical point of view.  Even very, very basic concepts. 

But your child may want help within the first few weeks of lessons that you could easily help with. But if they say it in a way using jargon and terminology, that you've got no idea what it means. It can seem very confusing for you. Parents have often said to me, all of a sudden they're like, I just don't know. 

I can't help. I don't know about this. And if it feels kind of daunting, So even just having the basic understanding that we're going to gain today is going to really help in that way. 

The other thing is that you you'll be able to understand what your child is learning. So as they progress, they may, even if you can't physically do on the piano or the guitar or the drums, whatever it is, That they're trying to do you understand it from a conceptual point of view? And so you can kind of help them and support them from that point of view.  

And also from the point of view of you can be inquisitive and ask questions. One thing that is really helpful is that.  When you explain something to someone else. Teach it to them. You actually memorize it better for yourself as well. That's there are some studies about that. Haven't today found those studies for you, but it does exist. 

Trust me. And you could Google that if you need to. But yeah. So when you teach something to someone else, you actually remember it better than when it's taught to you. So if you, if you have a basic understanding and then you say to your child, I don't know what this note means here. This is different to what I've seen before. 

I know this is a C what does this mean? And then actually explain it to you and feeling like they can explain it to you because you have some kind of understanding. That's going to help them learn and progress and retain information as well. 

And also, if they finally, if they are kind of getting stuck on something, you can point out basic things, you'll be able to say. Is that quite right? Because, you know, I can see that there's two notes written there. That looks like Quavis to me, but it sounds like you're only playing one note. You know, just saying something like that and understanding those, those basic terms. Could potentially help them go. 

Oh yeah, you're right. And then they're correcting their mistake and practicing it for a few days rather than the alternative. Which is to have to wait until their lesson next week. Before they can actually have someone tell them. This is actually wrong. You're making a mistake here. We need to change this. And, you know, in the meantime, they've spent five days practicing, practicing it the wrong way. Creating all those neuro pathways from the brain to the muscles for something that we don't actually want them to do. Because it's not what the music's ask him. So anyway. It's very important is my whole point there. So let's get into it. 

The thing I'm talking about is written music. So I'm talking about those weird shapes that you may have seen, you know, and not really sure what they mean. But we're going to, we're going to learn all about that today.   The first thing to say is that written music is.  More logical and more suited to  some instruments than it is to others. For example, if you are reading the music and you're playing the piano and it tells you to play a middle seat, There is only one key on the piano. Today's a middle C. So you know exactly what your finger needs to press. However, if you read in certain notes on the guitar, there can be 5, 6, 7, depending on exactly which type of guitar you have different ways to play the same pitch, the same note. And so just by reading the music, doesn't give us all the information that we require.  So, for example, a guitar and other fretted instruments. Fretted string instruments, I should say. Are more suited to things like tablature and actually tablature does predate written music as well, because we'll go back to like medieval loot. Music. 

So just a quick side note, if your child is learning the guitar or the bass or the ukulele. It may be the actually learning a little bit about tablature is going to be the most helpful. And for the, for a long time, 

less than learning classical for the first, at least year or two. They're mostly going to be looking at tablature and rhythm. They're not going to be looking at pitch on a, on a stave just yet.  So I will do a separate podcast about tablet chair for fretted instruments. Maybe there'll be like a bonus episode because it's not applicable to everyone. But maybe I'll do that and release that like as a midweek bonus one, for those who it does help. But even if your child is learning a fretted instrument, what I'm about to say still interesting to know. And we'll still be relevant. 

I'm going to move on to rhythm in about five minutes time. You could even skip ahead to that if you want. 

So the first thing to know about written music. Is that it's not a secret, mysterious code. It's actually a lot more logical than it first appears. I know when you look at like a piece of music, And even now, even though when I understand it, but some complicated music, I look at it and I just think one.  You know, some things were not really meant to be written down like some experimental jazz things. 

And when they all written down, it just looks like a crazy load of ink on a page that makes no sense. And I think we can, it's easy to have that feeling. But it's actually a lot more logical than it first appears. So let's start from the very basics. Music is written on something called a stave. Which basically means five horizontal lines on a piece of paper.  At the start or on the left hand side of those five horizontal lines called the Steve. There's normally that squiggly line, which you've probably all seen, which we call a. A clef. There's different types of clef. But the most common ones are treble clef. And the second most common is bass clef.  



Each cliff actually follows the same rules. 

They just start in a different place. I'm going to come onto that in a moment. 

The thing to remember about music and YSA is more logical than it. First appears is that as the notes. Move up on the stave. They physically get higher on the page. They sound higher.  As the notes get closer together. On the page. They physically sound closer together. They're more frequent. They're faster. 

If you like.  So that does that. It does actually kind of make sense and it's a written. Visual representation of what you are hearing. 

So musical notes, follow the alphabet. If you didn't know this. They basically go a, B, C, D E F G, but once you've got to do, we don't go Hage, et cetera. We go back to a, so have ABCD EFG. On again, to ABCD EFG. So those seven notes repeat over and over again at an instrument such as the piano can play.  Starting right from the lowest. 

A always the highest state might have repeated that cycle five or six times and different instruments can repeat a different amount of times depending on their range, which means how high or low each instrument can go. 

So each line on our stave, when a note is written on it.  The musical note is made up of like a circle and then a line coming from it. You may have seen I'm sure you've all seen the musical notes. Where the circle is tells us which note we need to play. So for example, if the circle is bang gone,  The line at the bottom of the stave, that's an E.  

Now.  As we move up by one. So we go into the next possible position that I know it could be written, which is in between the first line and the second line in the space. That would be an F.  Then we move on to the next possible position, which would be the second line, which is a G. So you can see, actually follows the order of the alphabet E F G a B. Et cetera.  Now there's different ways that we can do this. 

And there's two different schools of thoughts. The traditional way is that you would say, for example, for the treble clef,  There's five lines. We make up a little pneumonic to help us remember what each line is. And we would say something like every good boy deserves football or something like that. And then you say, okay, the first line is E for every, the second line is G for good. Then B for boy, the fourth line is D for deserves and the fifth line is F for football.  That's fine. 

That works. And then what they would say is in the space spells face. So the first gap between the lines is an F the second one is an, a. The third gap is a C and the fourth gap. Isn't E. That is a perfectly fine system that works and has worked for hundreds of years. So if I'm looking at a note on the stave and I can see it's on the second line, all I need to remember is every good buddies of his friends. I find it's the second line from the bottom. 

So I'm going to use the second word, which is good. It must be a G note.  And then eventually what happens is as children or adults learn that. Eventually they stop having to say the rhyme. And they kind of just know where everything goes because they're so used to it.  That's one way of doing it the other way, which I oh, And I guess it's obvious, but I just never thought of it until I saw it on Duolingo.  Is to just have a kind of reference point.  For example, the bottom line, I've been testing this out in school and it really did work in, in about five weeks. 

I managed to get the whole of a primary school. So it's hundreds of kids to know how to read music both rhythm and pitch in the treble clef. So this Ms. Method does work. W we'll call it the Duolingo method. If you like. I'm not sure if they invented it or not, but that's just where I first saw it.  And that is that you have a reference point. 

For example, I always say the first line is easy. That means it's an E. So we think it's easy and the kids remember easy. That sound means E. They don't we do is just count. If it's too. Places above E we just count in the alphabet E F G.  And then if the next note we knew this was a G and the next one is just one above it, we know what comes after. 

Judy's a.  If the next one is two above it, we got a, B, C, and they just kind of work it out based on reference points.  Either way work so you can use a mixture really. But the important things to summarize this first little section of the podcast in relating to pitch is to remember.  There are different positions in which the circle part of a note can be written. That can be written on a line or in between the lines.  



And it fall, it goes in the order of the alphabet. 

So the first line is an E.  The next possible position isn't F the next possible position is a G. Next possible position is an a then a B, then a C, et cetera.\\ 

  So with a piece of music with obviously multiple notes in a melody, for example, As you hear the notes getting higher and lower, you can actually see a kind of line being created as the notes on the paper, get higher and lower as well. And you can kind of follow the. Shape of the dots, almost like a little mini mountain range. Which shows you in. Visibly demonstrates the arc of the melody. 

So there is a logic to that kind of from a pitch point of view, which means how high or low or notice.  That happens at exactly the same time as rhythm. So.  As the notes are. Bunched closer together. That means. They're going to be happening more frequently. So we would describe that as a note. For example, if you go in.  

 

you know, for quick nodes that you are going to see four note heads close together on a page. Whereas if you have one long note done,  Then that is going to last, you know, And take up more space on the page.  So there's different ways to, to think about this, but that's the first bit that kind of does make logical sense.  Now. Rhythms are written.  Based on the shape of the note. 

So I just told you that the note had.  Depending on which line is how high or low the note is both audibly and physically on the page tells us the pitch, but the shape of the note tells us the rhythm. So it's always a circle bit then called the notes head, which demonstrates which part of the line and which part of the stave it's on.  But it's the line that we call a stamp. 

The line that comes from that.  That tells us in most examples. So if it's just a straight line, you've got a black circle on a straight line. That's one type of note. Whereas, if you have a black circle in a straight line with a little squiggly tail on the end, that's a different type of note. Or if you have the straight line, but with a white circle rather than black, that's another different type of note. 

And all of those tell us the different lengths as to how long that note should last.  So just very quickly, it's easier if you can see this, to be honest. So I would recommend checking out on our website, www dot Grooveline music education forward slash blog.  There is some things on there about theory and you can, it'd be easier if you could physically see this. But basically just to quickly tell you, if you see like just a circle, a white circle, With no line coming from it. That note lasts for four beats.  If you see a white note with a straight line coming from it. That note last for two beats. Black Cirque with a straight line last for Wombi.  A black circle with a straight line and then a squiggle on the end. 

Last for half a beat.   , the longer, the note, the more number of beats that lasts. So not that lasts for four beads is four times as long as a note that lasts for one V I mean, that's.  Probably quite a logical as well. 

So, for example, if I have one note and it's a black circle with a line and that black circles on the. In the first space between two lines, I know that's an F note that needs to last for one beat. I could have another note, the same shape, but this one's on the second line. That's a Gino. The last for one beat. Then maybe I've got one on the same line, so it's a Juno again, but this time it's a white circle that lasts for two beads. 

So I need to play F G G that last G lasting. If my voice doesn't break for two beats. 

So it's twice as long and you'd physically hold the note down on a piano for longer, or if it's a guitar or whatever, it may be. 





If you check out the previous episode, I think it was about three or four episodes ago when I talked about rhythm games and I talked about a rhythm pyramid. I also did demonstrate that on Instagram. 

It's still there. It was Instagram live. If you go on our feed, you'll find it. From a few weeks ago. And we talked about assigning words to different patterns of rhythms, to different groups of notes.  Just to help children kind of understand how they're meant to sound. So if we have four quick notes,  Like we might say the word caterpillar, then we have a long note and we say, cow, Then we had a core member. 

The other one, we had another long note, which was worms. We might see, see these on a page. Forget about pitch from it. We're just looking at the rhythm. We know it goes caterpillar cow. Cow cow or whatever. So they know it needs to sound like that. Duh, duh, duh, duh. Next, we need to figure out the pictures, so it might need to go. A B a B, a C, D. 

That could be the rhythm.  

Frank, just whatever. I just made that up.  And if you have perfect pitch, I don't. So that probably wasn't actually an AB and a, and a. In a day. But you get the idea.  

So.  Let's just take a step back for a second. We now, even though, as I said, it's this still things that are confusing and you'd still probably want to look at some music. To put what, everything I've said into context and make it actually make sense. But you now. Have a basic understanding at least. As to what music really represents, it represents pitch and it represents rhythm.  And you understand that the different shapes mean rhythm and you understand that the different positions upon the stave represent different pitches and both of those things do follow a logic. Which is the hazardous. It's highly sound higher. 

And as the notes get close together. They are more frequent and faster, basically. 

Everything I've said today. If I, if we rewind 10 minutes was in relation to the treble clef, which we said was the most common one.  But there are other types of clef. So the second, most common is a bass clef and everything I've said is still true. It's just that the notes are in a different position. Which is a bit annoying. To be honest if you're learning an instrument that doesn't read the bass clef. Then just focus on the treble clef for now. 

But if you're learning the piano, you right-hand plays the treble clef and your left hand plays the bass clef, and that's pretty annoying and pretty difficult, which is why another reason why piano is a bit of a trickier instrument than some of those. 

But basically everything's still is the same regarding the rhythms. And everything is still the same regarding the logic of the nodes. It's just a case of that. Bottom line is no longer an a. 

It's now a G.  So you would just count from G. Then go up one. To a then up onto B, et cetera.  And if you want a new monic for that, like how before we had every good boy. As I was friends and in the space, Bell's face that one related to the treble clef. If you'd like that way of learning, then for the bass clef, you can see. Great, big dogs, frightened aunties. 

So the bottom line is a G then a B, then a D. Then a F that N a great big dogs. Frighten aren't is an in the space. You say all cows, eat grass.  A C E G. So the first space between two lines, isn't a second space between two lines is a C then an a. Than a G 



 so I would say there's obviously a lot to learn and I can't really explain it all in one podcast. 

And even if I did. It wouldn't be the best way to teach it because it's something that needs to kind of sit with you in your brain and then kind of make sense over a series of days or weeks as you look at music. And that's the same for your child when they're learning as well. And we kind of break it down over a series of weeks. 

And in that case, when they have an, a weekly piano lesson, for example, 

On YouTube. There is some good videos like rhythm clap alongs, and you can physically see rhythms. And hear how they sound. He listened to it, and then you clap it back, which is quite a good game. But likewise, just look at any piece of music and whether it be just the music on its own or on YouTube, you're looking at the music and hearing it at the same time. And you can see how it moves up and down in line with the melody. As I say, you don't need to be an expert. 

You don't need to be perfect at reading music, but knowing these basics is going to allow you to communicate with your child in a way that makes sense to them. And they're going to feel like they can ask you for help. So I think. Sometimes parents feel like they can't help because they don't have the skills. And yeah, you might not. Have the skills to physically play on the piano. 

If you haven't done them, counting yourself. But you do have the skills to kind of understand the concept, which is still enough to be able to support your child.  And I also think that if you feel like you can't support them, And then maybe therefore you don't offer help. Your child also feels like then they can't ask you for help. 

So it's kind of a double-edged sword. And we obviously want them to ask you for help. And we want you to be able to help. That's going to be not only encouraging, but actually helpful. So you're not just. We can correct mistakes earlier, rather than waiting for the teacher once a week, too. Notice an error, you know, maybe you've noticed it and you've helped them work through it. 

And by the time it gets that teacher they've done that five times. And I know it sounds like a little thing, but that makes such a difference. We see it all. Every all day, every day. Two children, Colin, the same piece of music.  If one of them. Try it, but they made some mistakes and no one pointed them out. Then we will point them out in the lesson. 

Oh yeah. And then all goods, they practice it for another week and now it's great. That took two weeks to learn that piece of music. Whereas if someone else had, it makes the same mistakes, but their parent was able to say, oh, is that definitely a, B, I thought that one meant, see.  Am I wrong or, and then you work it out together. Your child, that child then says to them, Oh, no, actually mommy. 

It's it's not, you're wrong. It's a bit because, and here's why, and here's the rule.  That child will come back next week and be able to play that song really well.  Cause they will have noticed the mistakes or helped to have been pointed out the mistakes to them by their parent. They then will have explained it had some kind of conversation, which kind of reiterate it in their own brain. 

And kind of. 

 Revises it, I guess. And then by the time they get to their teacher that corrected those mistakes, they're playing that piece really well. They move on to the second piece.  Now over a series of months and years, that makes a huge difference. And that's the difference between someone who takes well, that's one of the reasons between someone who takes, you know, maybe 12 to 18 months to pass a great exam. To someone else who 

it takes six or eight months. There are obviously other factors and it's not a race. It's not about who can do it first, but I'm just showing you trying to demonstrate.  That progress can be really, really.  Effected by the support at home because we only spent half an hour or an hour or whatever it may be with your child each week. There's only so much we can do. 

Most of the learning takes place outside of the classroom.  And that's where you guys come in handy. And that's why it's great. You listened to this, you know, if you aren't well,  If you are listening to this then, which you obviously are with all, you're not hearing me say it. Then you've already taken the first steps there and you're already putting your child onto a winning path. So thank you for that. We, we are appreciate it. 

And I think, you know, you, your child will appreciate it as well. Once they kind of realize in the future when they're older,  

But yeah, as I say, there's lots to music theory, but at least we've got a basic outline. Now I will do a separate episode regarding tablature, a little bonus episode, as it's not relevant to everyone. And there are some blogs on our website. If you want to know more, but please email your tutor or email me directly, and we'll be happy to help all of us. 

Well, whether we groove line tutors or not. Sorry. Whether your child is a groove line student or not. I should say we obviously are. Find tutors. But you can email me will at Grooveline music, education.com. Whether you're a groove line client or not. And I'll be very, very happy to help or point you in the direction of some helpful resources as well.  



Okay, thanks for listening. 

I hope this is helpful. I would love to hear from you guys. I can see there are people listening because we get the stats as to how many people listen to each episode. But I don't always hear from you guys. I'd love. Just send me an email or comment. Send us a message on Instagram or Facebook and just let me know. 

Is it helpful or is there something that I said that was confusing or is there something you would really like to hear and have me explain again or something, a new topic or a particular type of guest you'd love to hear from. I want this to be as helpful as possible. At the moment I'm doing kind of guessing what I think would be helpful. But if I can base that on real feedback from you guys, that would be awesome. Okay, thanks so much for listening. Slightly longer episode this week, which I think is quite good. So I'll see you guys again next week.  And have a great week. 

Cheers. Bye bye.

  Thank you for listening to another episode of Heard It Through The Groove Line, the podcast that helps parents like you best support your children's musical education, even if you are not musical yourself.  To find out more you can follow us on social media and don't forget to hit like and subscribe.