PianoMode
TheoryLab
Music theory you can see, hear and play.
Music theory you can see, hear and play
Theory is the grammar of the music you already play. Most methods teach it as a page of rules to memorize; Theory Lab teaches it the way it is used. A scale appears on a printed staff, sounds on a real piano, and lights up under your fingers. A key signature is something you write yourself, sharp by sharp. A rhythm is something you tap. Short lessons, quick questions and a hands-on lab, from your first note to counterpoint and jazz reharmonization.
Three ways in
- Learn: a short interactive lesson first, then questions to check it.
- Quiz: questions straight away. The theory comes when you need it, in a "Why?" card under every answer.
- Explore: the Lab first. A staff you write on, every scale and chord in every key, the circle of fifths, a rhythm builder, and a band to improvise with in eight styles: pop ballad, rock, classical, film score, jazz, blues, gospel and Latin.
Not sure where to start? Press Let it flow and the app picks the next step: a lesson, a review or a test.
A path in five levels
- Beginner: the keyboard map, treble clef, bass clef and the grand staff, note values and rests, measures and time signatures, sharps and flats, dynamics and tempo, your first scales.
- Elementary: dots, ties and sixteenths, intervals, sharp keys and flat keys, minor keys, triads, interval quality, simple and compound time, chords in a key, the circle of fifths.
- Intermediate: seventh chords, inversions and slash chords, progressions by style, the modes, pentatonic and blues scales for improvising, form and the road map of a score.
- Advanced: secondary dominants, modulation and pivot chords, borrowed chords, the Neapolitan and augmented sixth chords, 9ths, 11ths and 13ths, voice leading, the alto and tenor clefs, odd meters and tuplets.
- Expert: reharmonization, tritone substitution, shell voicings and upper structures, species counterpoint, fugue, sonata form, whole-tone and octatonic scales, twelve-tone rows.
Each level ends with a 15-question test that allows three mistakes; pass it and your path moves up to the next level. In Practice, the Challenge round asks ten questions from the level above yours.
Remembering, not cramming
Every skill you answer is scheduled to come back: the next day, then three days later, a week, sixteen days and about five weeks, and sooner after a mistake. Smart practice mixes topics instead of drilling one, because switching between them is what makes an idea stick. A daily goal, a streak and a Daily Puzzle, the same for everyone, give you a reason to come back for five minutes.
From theory to the keys
Every unit ends with a way to use it: read real music in the Sight-Reading Trainer, hear what you read in the Ear Trainer, or play the pieces of Listen & Play. And between lessons, short backstories tell where it all comes from, from the letters hidden in the clefs to the chord that opens Wagner’s Tristan.
Questions about Theory Lab
Is Theory Lab free?
Yes. Without an account you get 3 sessions a day (a lesson, a practice round or a level test), and the Lab, the placement test and the Daily Puzzle are never counted. A free account raises that allowance and keeps your path, streak and XP on every device.
Do I need to read music already?
No. The Beginner path starts with the map of the keyboard, then the treble and bass clefs, note values, time signatures and your first scales. Every idea is shown on a staff, played on a piano sound and found on a keyboard you can touch, so you never have to imagine what a page means.
How does the placement test work?
Fifteen questions, three on each of five topics: reading notes, rhythm, scales and keys, intervals, and chords and harmony. Each topic starts at an easy step, moves up after a right answer and down after a wrong one. "I don't know" is always allowed, and it gives a truer result than a guess. Earlier units are then marked as tested out, and you can still open any of them. The test places you at most at Advanced: the Advanced level test opens the Expert path.
Can I use a MIDI keyboard?
Yes. Plug it in and connect it from the settings: every on-screen keyboard and the rhythm pad answer to it. Web MIDI works in Chrome and Edge on a computer and on Android. Safari on iPhone and iPad does not support it, so tap the keys on the screen there.
Why do some words change, like crotchet and quarter note?
The two names describe the same thing. Theory Lab uses the American words (quarter note, measure, half step) and switches to the British ones (crotchet, bar, semitone) for visitors in the UK and the Commonwealth. You can choose either in the settings.
