Get Fluent in Musical Language
And learn how to use music theory in a way that actually helps you play better.
You probably know more theory than you realise. The missing piece isn’t more knowledge — it’s understanding how everything connects, and how to put it to work every time you sit down to practise.
Why Does Theory Matter?
Most musicians reach a point where progress starts to slow. Learning new pieces takes longer than it should. Mistakes keep creeping in at the same places. Sight-reading feels like hard work.
Very often, the missing piece is theory — not more of it, but a better understanding of how to use what you already know.
When you can look at a piece of music and immediately recognise the patterns, identify the key, understand the rhythm and know what the performance directions are asking of you, learning becomes a completely different experience.
Try reading the sentence below:
Ki lltw obir dsw itho nes tone
I bet you read it like a child learning to read. Now read the following sentence
Kill two birds with one stone
Easy ^^ right? That’s because your brain can immediately see the pattern.
Reading music works exactly the same way — and this course will show you how.
And when you amplify this to harmony and musical form, memory recall becomes instantaneous, making playing music much easier.
✨ Introducing Music Theory in Practice: Basic Essentials ✨
This course is for adult learners who want to understand the theory behind the music they’re playing — and use that understanding to:
- practise more effectively,
- learn pieces faster, and
- play with greater confidence.
Most theory classes give you knowledge. This one shows you what to do with it.
Every lesson is designed around a simple question: how does this help you play music better? The answer to that question shapes everything — the way topics are taught, the way they connect to one another, and the way the workbook exercises ask you to apply what you’ve learned.
Is this course right for you?
Is Basic Essentials the right level for you?
This course is ideal if any of the following sound like you:
✅ You’re a complete beginner with little or no theory knowledge
✅ You know a little theory but feel the pieces don’t quite connect — you understand topics individually, but can’t always see how they work together.
✅ You’ve tried learning theory before and found it dry or disconnected from your playing.
✅ You want to annotate your scores, identify patterns, and use your theory knowledge actively — not just recall facts.
❌ If you already know what the dominant chord is in any key and feel confident working with primary chords, you’re likely ready for Gaining Proficiency — the next level of this course
You’ll Learn:
🎼 How to easily read treble and bass clef notes and ways to improve your reading skills.
🎵The maths of music and how rhythm relates to the beat.
😀Experience more accuracy when playing by understanding enharmonic equivalents, key signatures and accidentals.
🎶 Play with more musicality by learning how to interpret the performance details on the score.
🎹🎸🎻🎷Make learning pieces quicker by learning how scale patterns are formed and learning about the three chords that most music is derived from.
Meet your Theory Coach
Fiona Berry
BMus (Hons), L.R.S.M, L.T.C.L, L.L.C.M
I’m Fiona, a music examiner for Trinity College London and an international adjudicator.
I have a degree in musical performance from Huddersfield University, and I’m a Licentiate member of the Royal Schools of Music, Trinity College London, and the London College of Music. I’m also the author of Play Music Better.
As an experienced teacher of adults, you will receive expert tuition in theory in a meaningful way to the music you are practising.
From now on, every new piece you learn will be an opportunity to apply and grow your knowledge of music theory in practice.
Here’s what’s included
🤩 8 lessons, which you can access immediately. The lessons are available in video and written format. You are welcome to go at your own pace and review the material as often as you require.
🎥 You can learn in bite-size and quickly revisit any part of a lesson by using the chapters on each video.
📖 An interactive workbook for each lesson, so there is no need to print this resource.
🎉 Lots of practice questions and practical tasks to help you make progress.
❓A super search function that will answer any questions about the course as you go along.
☕️Optional monthly coffee chat — an informal group Zoom where course students get together, share how they’re getting on, and ask questions. Breakout rooms keep it relaxed and intimate. Attendance is entirely optional — some students love the connection, others prefer to learn quietly on their own, and both are completely fine.
✅ Lifetime access to the course
🎖️Certificate of completion
☄️ Bonus pack – 32 pages of theory questions brought to you in a fun way. Take one of the crosswords or silly stories from these extra resources each week to stay connected with what you’ve learnt in this course.
Basic Essentials Music Theory in Practice
Join the Course Today
Choose to purchase in 🇬🇧UK pounds or 🇺🇸US dollars
Click to take a look at the topics covered in each lesson
Lesson 1 – Learn a creative way to quickly practice reading and finding notes on your instrument, which is essential for confident sight reading.
Lesson 2 – You’ll learn the difference between rhythm, metre and tempo and how time signatures have a greater role than just telling you how many beats there are per bar (measure).
Lesson 3 – I’ll show you how to ensure you play the rhythm accurately when practising by teaching you how to change the note lengths but keep the rhythmic effect the same.
Lesson 4 – Learn about accidental signs in music, enharmonic equivalents, tones and semitones and how to work out the notes of all 12 major scales.
Lesson 5 – You’ll be introduced to the Circle of 5ths, the three forms of minor scales, and how to work out the key of a piece of music.
Lesson 6 – You’ll learn why intervals matter and how you can use them to improve your instrumental technique. This lesson also covers the technical names for the scale notes and tonic triads.
Lesson 7 – In this lesson, we’ll put your new theory knowledge together in a way that helps learning new music more easily. Plus, you’ll learn about the three most important chords in music and how composers use broken chords and arpeggios to create melodies.
Lesson 8 – Gain a better understanding of how composers create certain moods and characters within music, by learning about performance directions and musical signs.
✨How this course works✨
You get instant access to the lessons and can work through the content at your own pace.
Each video lesson lasts between 15 and 30 minutes.
You can quickly revisit material by using the chapters on the videos.
All videos have completely searchable transcripts.
Reinforce what you’ve learned with the Workbooks and Practice Questions.
Every lesson has an accompanying workbook, so I’ve got you covered if you prefer to read and learn.
There’s no need to print the workbooks. You can easily save them to Google Drive and type your answers in the boxes.
The workbooks contain written and practical exercises to help you understand how the theory works in practice.
🌟Don’t let the technology stop you from coming on board
Technology can be challenging, so I’m providing you with a step-by-step guide to using Google Drive.
- Easy to follow
- You’ll learn how to set up your Google account if you don’t have one.
- Find your workbooks easily again in the future by learning how to save them in a folder in your Google Drive.
- Save yourself the expense of printing as you’ll get step-by-step instructions on how to use the workbooks interactively.
What do others have to say 👇
Let’s Recap
🤩 8 Video lessons with chapters for accessible learning
🎵📗 An interactive workbook to accompany every lesson
🎉 Lots of practice questions and quizzes
🙋♀️ Ask questions in the comments below each lesson — Fiona responds promptly
☕ Optional monthly coffee chat to connect with fellow learners
🎖️ A certificate of completion
👩🎓 A teacher who is highly qualified and experienced in music