I’ve wanted to learn music theory for a number of years, but have never found a source that’s both engaging and educating. That is, until now, thanks to Language Transfer’s music theory course.
For a while now, whenever I’ve read an article or post about language learning, someone in the comments invariably praises Language Transfer and the underlying methodology. Now, the site/app has expanded away from just languages to include music theory, too!
Founded and run by Mihalis Eleftheriou, I think of his approach to learning (dubbed The Thinking Method) as using analogies to teach. That is, emphasising similarities and patterns between the new material and concepts you already know. I find it an intuitive and effective method.
I’ve not used it to learn a language (although do plan on doing so), but the music theory lessons are great. As Mihalis says in the first lesson, when discussing the development of the music theory course:
The more I try to finalise [the course], the more there seems to be to investigate and to weave into the course. The more I fall into the rabbit hole of looking at the world through the lens of music, the more I see its principles reflected elsewhere and everywhere, and so I need to learn about rock formation, colour wave lengths… origami even!
If you’re interested in the underlying teaching methodology, Mihalis has also put together an extensive Thinking Method Guidebook (pdf).