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So how did Rachmaninoff and all other composers decide how their music was going to sound? You can definitely tell that they did not just put random notes on paper and hope it sounded good... there was a general set of rules they followed. This set of rules is what we today call music theory. It would be wrong, however, to say that composers had a nice little "music theory handbook" that they referred to as they were writing their music. Actually, it is just the other way around... our study of music theory is based on what composers wrote many years ago.
This section will deal mostly with the music written from about
1700-1900 (also called the common practice period). We will not
really go into the study of modern music here, mostly because much of
the music of the 20th century has been designed to completely redefine
music theory. If you want to learn about some of the theory behind
20th century music, you can visit the Modern
Period section of our site.
![]() If you already feel confident in your knowledge about music theory, feel free to skip a few of the lessons below... If you don't have a solid base in music, however, we recommend that you follow the silver links at the bottom of each page in order to gain a foundation that will be used in the upcoming sections. Well, let's get started!
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