Music Foundations
Hear it, feel it, read it. The basics every musician uses.
Level 1 · Beginner
Unit 1 · Sound and pulse
- High and low3 min · Every note is higher or lower than another. Train your ears to hear which.Hear
- Same or different?4 min · Hear two short tunes and spot whether the second one changed. The first skill of every good listener.Hear
- Steps and skips5 min · Some tunes walk to the next note, some jump over one. Hear the difference, then see it on the staff.HearRead
- Feel the beat4 min · The beat is music's heartbeat. Tap along with it and keep it steady. ShowcasePlayHear
Level 1 · Beginner
Unit 2 · Ta and ti-ti
- Quarter, half and whole notes5 min · Short, longer, longest: tap notes that last one, two and four beats.PlayRead
- Ti-ti: two notes in one beat5 min · Split a beat in two. Mix ta and ti-ti and your rhythms start to dance.Play
- Answer a rhythm5 min · Call and response is everywhere, from West African drumming to gospel choirs. Hear a call, then tap an answer.PlayCreate
- Rhythm round-up5 min · Show what you can do: ta, ti-ti, half and whole notes, heard, read and tapped. ShowcasePlayRead
Level 1 · Beginner
Unit 3 · Reading notes
- The staff and its lines5 min · Music is written on five lines. Learn the notes that sit on them.Read
- The spaces spell FACE4 min · The four spaces of the treble staff spell a word. Learn it and read faster.Read
- Middle C to G5 min · Find middle C below the staff, then read and write the five notes up to G.Read
- Your first sight-reading6 min · Play music you've never seen before. Look first, find the first note, then keep going. ShowcaseRead
Level 1 · Beginner
Unit 4 · First melodies
- So, mi and la5 min · Children call to each other on so and mi all over the world. Add la and you have your first tunes.Hear
- Echo melodies5 min · Hear a short tune and play it straight back. Your ears and fingers start working together.Hear
- Hot Cross Buns6 min · An old English street song, made of just three notes. Hear it, play it, then play it with the band. ShowcasePlayHear
Level 2 · Beginner
Unit 5 · Eighths, rests and 3/4
- Eighth notes and rests5 min · See ti-ti written as beamed pairs, and learn the rests that mark silence. Silence counts too.Read
- Three beats in a bar4 min · Count 1 2 3, strong-weak-weak: the swing of waltzes and many hymns.Read
- Echo a rhythm5 min · Hear a two-bar rhythm, hold it in your head, and give it back. The first skill of every band.Hear
- Amazing Grace in 3/46 min · Feel the gentle three-beat sway of a much-loved hymn, then play its first phrase with the band. ShowcasePlayRead
Level 2 · Beginner
Unit 6 · The bass clef
- Meet the bass clef5 min · Low notes get their own clef. Learn its lines and spaces and read the bass staff.Read
- C to G in the bass clef5 min · Read the five notes under your left hand, C3 to G3, on the bass staff.Read
- Both clefs together5 min · The grand staff joins treble and bass, with middle C sitting right between them.Read
- Bass clef sight-reading6 min · Play bass clef music you've never seen before, at your own pace. ShowcaseRead
Level 2 · Beginner
Unit 7 · Sharps, flats and five-finger G
- Sharps, flats and naturals6 min · A sharp goes up to the very next key, a flat goes down. Meet the black keys by both their names.Read
- Five fingers in G5 min · Move your right hand up to G. Same shape as C position, a new home and new tunes.Play
- Lightly Row6 min · Play a folk song in G position, then perform it with the band on two chords. ShowcasePlay
Level 2 · Beginner
Unit 8 · Steps, thirds and chords by ear
- Steps and thirds5 min · Hear the difference between a step (do to re) and a skip (do to mi): the major 2nd and major 3rd.Hear
- Major or minor5 min · Major chords sound bright, minor chords darker. Move one note and hear the mood change.Hear
- The pentatonic scale5 min · Five notes, do re mi so la, that sound good in any order. Heard in folk songs, spirituals and West African music.Hear
- Make a pentatonic tune6 min · See how a short tune is built from do re mi so la, play some by ear, then perform one with the band. ShowcaseHearCreate
Level 3 · Beginner
Unit 9 · Dotted notes and ties
- The dotted half note5 min · A little dot makes a note longer. Meet the dotted half note: three beats, a whole bar of 3/4.Read
- Long-short: the dotted quarter6 min · A dotted quarter and an eighth make the lilting long-short rhythm heard in Auld Lang Syne and countless hymns.Read
- Ties5 min · A tie joins two notes into one longer sound, even across the bar line, where a dot can't go.Read
- Rhythm detective6 min · Hear a rhythm with dotted notes, tap the Afrobeats bounce, then crack two-bar rhythms by ear. ShowcaseHearRead
Level 3 · Beginner
Unit 10 · Ledger lines
- Ledger lines in the treble clef6 min · Short extra lines let notes go below and above the treble staff. Read and write them up to two lines out.Read
- Ledger lines in the bass clef6 min · Read the low notes below the bass staff and climb above it to middle C and beyond.Read
- Sight-reading with ledger lines6 min · Read ledger-line notes at speed, then play two passages you've never seen, one in each clef. ShowcaseRead
Level 3 · Beginner
Unit 11 · Scales and keys
- The major scale6 min · Eight notes that sound like home. The pattern behind thousands of songs.Read
- G major and its F sharp6 min · Start the major scale on G and one note needs a sharp. Meet G major and its one-sharp key signature.Read
- F major and its B flat6 min · Start the major scale on F and one note needs a flat. Meet F major and its one-flat key signature.Read
- Home and away: tonic and dominant5 min · Do is home, so is the note that pulls you back. Hear the tonic and dominant at work in melodies.Read
- Michael, Row the Boat Ashore6 min · Play a much-loved spiritual in G major, with its F sharp, in time with the band. ShowcasePlayRead
Level 3 · Beginner
Unit 12 · Fourths, fifths and do-mi-so
- Fourths, fifths and octaves6 min · Three wide, open-sounding leaps. Learn a tune for each so you can name them by ear.Hear
- Do, mi and so5 min · The three notes of the home chord. Learn to hear do, mi and so in any key.Hear
- Melodies by ear6 min · Warm up with scale degrees, then hear longer tunes with leaps and play them back.Hear
- When the Saints Go Marching In7 min · Three chords, I, IV and V, play thousands of songs. Play the Saints over all three with the band. ShowcasePlayCreate
Level 4 · Beginner
Unit 13 · Keys to three sharps and flats
- Keys with sharps5 min · D major has two sharps and A major has three. Learn the order sharps always come in, and a trick to name any sharp key.Read
- Keys with flats5 min · B flat major has two flats and E flat major has three. Learn the order of flats and the quick way to name a flat key.Read
- Key signature quick-fire4 min · Seven major keys, from no sharps or flats to three of each. Name them fast, then hear your way around D major.Read
- Joy to the World in D5 min · A famous hymn tune that walks all the way down the D major scale, F sharp and C sharp included. Play it with the band. ShowcasePlayRead
Level 4 · Beginner
Unit 14 · Minor keys
- The natural minor scale5 min · Play the white keys from A to A and you get a darker sound: the natural minor scale. Hear it, learn its pattern and play it.Read
- Relative major and minor5 min · Every major key has a minor partner that shares its key signature. Find it on la, and hear la in a key.Read
- Minor or major 3rd4 min · One half step makes all the difference. Hear and play minor and major 3rds, the intervals behind minor and major.Hear
- Korobeiniki in A minor6 min · A Russian folk song you may know from a famous puzzle game. Play it in A minor with the band, then catch a melody by ear. ShowcasePlayRead
Level 4 · Beginner
Unit 15 · Triads and the 12-bar blues
- Triads5 min · Stack every other note and you get a triad: the three-note chord behind almost every song. Build C, F, G and A minor.PlayRead
- Hear I, IV and V5 min · Three chords power thousands of songs, from hymns and highlife to rock. Learn I, IV and V, and hear where the bass goes.Hear
- The 12-bar blues5 min · Twelve bars, three chords, and the roots of rock and roll, R&B and soul. Learn the form and play its bass notes with a band.Read
- Blues riff play-along6 min · A riff that follows the chords through a full 12-bar blues. Learn its three shapes, then play all twelve bars with the band. ShowcasePlayRead
Level 4 · Beginner
Unit 16 · Syncopation and blues on five notes
- Syncopation6 min · Put the accent between the beats and the music starts to dance. Tap the off-beat feel of Afrobeats, amapiano, reggae and gospel.Read
- Four-note melodies by ear5 min · Hear four notes that move by step, then play them back. Practise in C, G and F, then take on melodies you've never heard.Hear
- The blues on five notes5 min · C, E flat, F, G and B flat: five notes that sound right all the way through a blues in C. Learn the scale and your first riff.Create
- Blues jam in C6 min · Play a 12-bar solo built only from the five blues notes, with syncopation and the band behind you. Then make up your own. ShowcasePlayReadCreate