Music Theory Masterclass

Welcome to the Complete Music Theory Curriculum!

This course is “5-Star Certified” by the International Association of Online Music Educators and Institutions (IAOMEI). This course has been independently reviewed by a panel of experts and has received a stellar 5-star rating.

100% Answer Rate! Every single question posted to this class is answered within 24 hours by the instructor.

This is a class designed for the average person who is ready to dive into music!  Whether you are a beginning musician, an active musician, or an aspiring musician – this class is perfect for you.

For years I’ve been teaching Music Theory in the college classroom. These classes use the same syllabus I’ve used in my college classes for years, at a fraction of the cost. I believe anyone can learn Music Theory – and cost shouldn’t be a barrier.

My approach to music theory is to minimize memorization. Most of these concepts you can learn by just understanding why chords behave in certain ways. Once you understand those concepts, you can find any scale, key, or chord that exists. Even invent your own. If you’ve tried to learn music theory before, or if you are just starting out – this series of courses is the perfect fit.

Dr. Allen is a professional musician, top-rated online instructor and university professor. In 2022 he won the “Minnesota Cup” for his online education programs, and he is recognized by the Grammy Foundation for his music education classes. 

Throughout this class, If you get stuck, you can review the videos or post a question, and I’ll back to it as fast as possible – always within 24 hours.

By registering for this class, you get all of the following: 

  • 898 (and counting!) high-quality videos

  • Unrestricted access to all class videos

  • 43 Worksheets with answer keys

  • 40 Analysis projects with score PDF files

  • 21 MuseScore and PDF Score files to follow along with

  • Listening Lists for recommended music to study.

  • External resources and analysis projects

Monthly Membership
$12.99 / Month
A complete 4-year college curriculum in music theory.
Nearly 1,000 Videos
43 Worksheets
40 Analysis Projects
21 Score Files (PDF and MuseScore)
Listening Lists for Recommended Study
Questions answered within 24 hours by the instructor.
Yearly Membership
$129.99 / Year
Get 2 months free by paying annually. This curriculum typically takes people 2 years.
Nearly 1,000 Videos
43 Worksheets
40 Analysis Projects
21 Score Files (PDF and MuseScore)
Listening Lists for Recommended Study
Questions answered within 24 hours by the instructor.
Lifetime Membership
$249.99
For about the price of a year-and-a-half, get unlimited lifetime access. Student's studying this material tend to spend over 2 years learning.
Nearly 1,000 Videos
43 Worksheets
40 Analysis Projects
21 Score Files (PDF and MuseScore)
Listening Lists for Recommended Study
Questions answered within 24 hours by the instructor.

How to Use This Course

Each lesson has up to 10 topics that should be fully understood before continuing on. Every lesson builds off the previous, so it is important to re-watch a lesson if you don’t fully understand it. Re-watching videos is not only allowed, but highly encouraged.

We recommend pacing yourself to try to finish one lesson per week, but don’t be afraid to slow down if you need to. Learning music theory can be hard, and it can take some time. Luckily, you can ask questions from the teacher whenever you want!

Nearly 1,000 Videos

Dr. Allen’s videos are heralded as being patient, friendly, and welcoming. He will go slow, making sure you understand each concept before moving on. Students around the world have praised this curriculum based simply on the teaching style (including all the bad jokes and “dad humor”) of Dr. Allen.

Dr. Allen is a composer and university professor, so he not only values education, but he takes a creative songwriting approach to music theory. 

Learn more about Dr. Allen and how he made this course here.

Supporting Materials

In addition to the videos, this class comes with 43 worksheets (with answer keys), 40 analysis projects (with score and PDF files), 21 MuseScore and PDF score files to follow along with, Listening Lists for recommended study, and more. You will not be short on ways to practice and apply your new-found music theory expertise. 

Q & A

Not sure about something? 
Students can post a question and get an answer directly from Dr. Allen within 24 hours. In addition, students are invited to communicate with each other on project feedback. Dr. Allen will chime in on these as well. There is even a private Facebook group dedicated to just students so you can communicate even more, if you want.

The Promise of The International Association of Online Music Educators and Institutions

The video content, additional materials, and student forums have been evaluated by an independent group of educators representing IAOMEI (International Association of Online Music Educators and Institutions), and they have given this course their 5-Star seal of approval – their highest rating. 

Frequently Asked Questions

This course includes almost 5,000 minutes of content, so if you watched it continuously, it would take you about 3 and half days.  We highly don’t recommend that. Instead, aiming to get through one lesson a week, by watching one video a day (on average) is a good pace. Assuming you have some time to practice the concepts, it will take you 3 or 4 months to get through all the content at that rate.

However, you will want to practice these concepts and you should feel free to re-watch anything you need to. 

When I teach this material in college, it typically lasts 4 semesters, or about 2 years.

The videos on this website are by a subscription model. That means you can watch any video as many times as you like, and go at your own pace. Once you cancel the subscription, your will no longer have access to the videos. Unless, of course, you choose the “Lifetime membership.” With that membership, you just pay once and have access to all the material forever.

The worksheets, PDFs, and other materials are all downloadable, and you are welcome to keep those forever, no matter what your membership is.

Yes!

If you really don’t like the content after a month of checking it out, we are happy to refund your subscription cost in full. Just send us an email. After a month we will assume you love the class and can not offer a refund.

Not specifically, but let me point you to a few resources. 

First, I did write a textbook, (and it has become very popular!) but it is designed for electronic musicians who don’t read music. It is not traditional in that sense. If it is useful to you, you can get it on Amazon, or get a PDF of it for just a few bucks.

Second: If you want a music theory text book to follow along with, there are a number of good ones. This is the one I typically use in my college classes.

For Orchestration, the most widely used text book on traditional orchestration is this one. 

I have yet to find an ear training book that I like, but I’ll update this if I find one. Your best bet is a book of simple melodies to practice with.

No, at least not yet. We really want to implement subtitles but it is very expensive. We are working on it!

These classes are living documents, and I’m constantly going back to update them. While I’m pretty darn good at these topics, I’m not perfect. So if you see an error, I would greatly appreciate it if you would let me know so I can correct it. Just send an email to info@learnmusictheory.com, and I can check it out and see if it needs a correction. 

At the end of the course you will be given a certificate of completion. If you are enrolled in a college music program, you can show this certificate to your music theory professor. Completion of this course will not, in most cases, get you college credit. However, it might get you the ability to “test-out” of some or all music theory requirements at your university.

Not without some trickery. The videos are Vimeo-hosted, so if you know how to download Vimeo videos, you are welcome to try. 

We do have plans of releasing a mobile app version of this site soon, and that will allow for offline viewing. So stay tuned for that. 

30 Day full refund by emailing info@learnmusictheory.com. 

Cancel anytime, no questions asked.

Cancellation options can be found in your student portal, after logging in.

 

It took me about 4 years to make all the music theory content. The Orchestration and Ear Training classes took another 2 years or so. It was a lot of work, but I’m kind of an extremist, so it was a fun challenge.

No corporation. Just me. A guy in Minnesota with a PhD in music. I hope you like these classes, I’ve worked really hard on them!