The relatively modern term music theory pertains to all properties of music (harmony, rhythm, form, etc.) but mainly to building blocks (intervals, chords, harmonic progressions) and the designed connections between them within a musical composition.

   The captivating beauty of an art music piece often attributed in public opinion simply to

talent and inspiration nonetheless stemmed from the composer’s proficiency acquired through extensive education.

   Music notation was originally invented to inscribe pitch and rhythm. With time, some additional articulation markings, general dynamic indications, and occasional agogic allowances were placed in manuscripts. These are, in most cases, all instructions a composer left to generations of performers.

   The design of any composition organizes notes into motives, phrases, and periods. Out of all structural components, it is a phrase that carries a critical function in the narrative of a piece for the emotional charge encrypted in its melodic line integrated with a harmonic progression. Decoding of this emotional content for proper execution of a phrase and, consequently, the interpretation of the whole piece is a performer’s contribution to the artistic expression of a composition.

   However, the value of this contribution depends upon the performer’s talent, technical skill, and comprehension of the formal structure of a work.

   Unfortunately, the majority of students entrusting their schooling to private teachers don’t receive any instructions in music theory. Some fast and superfluous courses, eventually offered by higher education institutions, have little impact on a young musician by then almost entirely shaped.

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MN-SAM provides music theory programs for any age and level of advancement.