Chevron Left
Back to Fundamentals of Music Theory

Learner Reviews & Feedback for Fundamentals of Music Theory by The University of Edinburgh

4.5
stars
1,714 ratings

About the Course

This course, revised in 2022, will introduce you to the theory of music, providing you with the skills needed to read and write Western music notation, as well as to understand, analyse, and listen informedly. It will cover material such as pitches and scales, intervals, clefs, rhythm, form, metre and time signatures, phrases and cadences, and basic harmony. This course covers the fundamentals of Western music theory, from the absolute basics to some more advanced concepts. As such, it delivers material for beginners and offers much to experienced musicians alike....

Top reviews

GE

Apr 1, 2021

Very good course which hammers home the essentials.

Good enthusiastic lecturing and importantly on completion progressed onto Coursera Musicianship Specialisation which I have now almost completed

SS

Aug 22, 2017

It was a very nice course. We were able to understand the basics of music theory and how the notations and chords work. Thank you so much to the entire staff of Edinburgh University and Coursera..:-)

Filter by:

401 - 425 of 548 Reviews for Fundamentals of Music Theory

By Natthanan K

Jul 2, 2020

A variety of topics in music theory was well-organized. Series of practice questions are usefully available. One suggestion is the auditory materials should often accompany written explanations to help learners be acquainted with what you would hear and underlying theory when lecturing about certain topics such as the difference between some time meters or something.

By Hanna D

Nov 30, 2023

The course has a good overview of music theory concepts but be prepared that to really grasp them you need to spend a lot of time practicing on your own and referencing external materials. Don't know if 'fundamentals' is the right title for it because it does get pretty complex pretty quickly and the final exam, imo, is way too difficult for a 'fundamentals' course

By Leandro V A

Nov 16, 2020

With the exception of week 3, which is indeed very badly taught, and week 6 which is complex and felt the videos could go a bit into more details, the course met my expectations.

I've always played guitar but never had any music theory training and I leave this course with a lot of answered question of things that I hear in music. It was well worth it.

By Lillian G V

Jun 10, 2018

It's quite good, and everything that was asked in the exams was explained. But I feel it could have been a lot better if they exaplained everything in a more explicit way. Personally, i learn more when things are shown with examples and several concepts than just with listening about the topic, and I know I'm not the only one who learns that way

By michael p

Mar 11, 2023

The material covered by the instructors was very well presented. However there is a big gap between what was presented and what was needed in order to sensibly write the exam at the end. More videos are needed. Also the order should be looked at---some quizzes contained questions which required material presented in future weeks.

By Dr. r n D J G

Mar 5, 2021

Very challenging course. I must say, this is definitly NOT a fundamental or starter course. The level of frustration was quiet high and exploded in week three. Week three is terrible, without any learning benefit. Everything els was challenging, no beginner level in my eyes, but in the end I learned a lot. Thank you!

By marcel m

Apr 24, 2021

The course is very interesting but I would suggest the course material to be complemented by an overall PDF file including a comprehensive summary of all topics ( including the topics for which the lecturers refer learners to wikipedia or other websites) discussed in the course for further reading by the learner.

By Taiwo D ( M

Apr 2, 2023

Great! More explanations can be done to the ending parts like in Cadence and Modulation. So, new learners can get the best out of the course. I'll suggest you take more time to study some other materials online when going through this course as what may seem straight forward and easy for you may not for me.

By Emerson M D V Z

Oct 27, 2021

I think its a grate course, i've lenrt a little by myself, so this reali helped me know my strenghts and weakness, the only think i would change it's that sometimes i think it was a little to dificult because the materials and the test were in two different dificulties (the exams were a lot harder)

By Yvonne G

Nov 18, 2020

It would have been a great course for those new to music theory, but I think the way Week 3 was taught needs a huge improvement. I almost dropped the course because of that alone. But otherwise, the other professors did a great job of teaching music and conveying the feelings it brought with it.

By Ao S

May 29, 2021

The content was great and covers basic knowledge of classical music theory. One thing to say is that the instruction of some problems and the exam were vague and difficult to understand. But I'm satisfied overall and i would like to recommend this course to anyone who is interested in music.

By David G

Apr 10, 2018

Really helpful for getting a basic grasp of concepts that I've struggled with without really learning in other places. The final exam is somewhat of a departure from the course material though and requires a fair amount of self-learning to complete. But I'm thankful for the free course!

By Conor F

Jun 6, 2020

On the whole a good level of detail and introduces concepts nicely, however i think particularly in week 3 a lot is thrown at you with not much explanation. An addition I think would be useful is explaining how knowing certain things in music theory can help us make music.

By don e

Oct 18, 2020

The final exam seemed to be about things not covered in the course, but peer review of other students contributed to dispelling the ambiguity. What was covered provided a great over-all look at music theory and sets up a sound model for development of concepts.

By Lucia V

Nov 15, 2020

It's really difficult for the beginners. And you will have to search a lot on the Internet. I suggest students go straightforward to the final exam task, download the pdf-file and look at it carefully to get the idea of what is waiting at the end.

By George Z

Apr 22, 2022

The course for being Fundamental is challenging, so if you are a true beginner you have to review many times or even search for more information about the material to clarify a little bit more what they are explaining mainly after the first week.

By Mohammad A

Dec 16, 2022

The topics of the course was good, the course gives the basics of music theory but it was very difficult though. I have been playing the piano for 4 years , I had previous knowledge and I think if I hadn't that knowledge I wouldn't succeeded.

By Danila G

Oct 24, 2018

The explanations were not always clear nor sufficient for beginners in the part of Functional Harmomy (week 4), which probably should have been preceded by the (brilliant) explanation of Chords, Inversions and Cadences (week 5).

By Véronique G

Mar 4, 2021

Very interesting! A lot of theory but also practical examples for the harmony topic.

A lot of stuff in a very short time. And not always explained in the course.

The difficulty increases suddenly: stay motivated until the end!

By Grace C

Nov 5, 2021

The course material is not in depth or comprehensive enough. A lot of times I have to rely on other sources to understand some materials. The quizzes are quite useful because they show me there are gaps in my understanding.

By Gervasio G

Dec 23, 2019

Course was great. The main challenge seemed to be the big gap between the first 4 or 5 weeks and the analysis of a musical piece expected for the final exam. It would be nice to have a more guided path for that final task.

By Beryl O

Jul 15, 2017

More dfficult than i thought it would be especially week 5 and 6 which moves to complex concepts very quickly. A lot of content in week 5 which may be easier to digest if split? Otherwise a good challenging course!

By Donato P

May 3, 2021

An excellent and very challenging course for beginners like myself. I found the additional on-line recourses helpful to gain the understanding needed to successfully complete the course. Well worth the effort!

By Ishaan K

Oct 3, 2016

Very informative course. Teaches all the fundamentals till they're painfully obvious. It has helped me understand the skeletal structure of the music I listen to and has helped answer many questions. Thank you.

By Yasmine A M

Jul 21, 2017

Wow! The course is very rich! I never knew that music is so complicated.

The professors are really amazing, and they teach us verbal cues to memorize the complicated parts (Every good boy deserves fun!!)