In Level 7, we’ll learn about intervals and major chords, two of the most important concepts in music theory. Once you know how to build major chords, you’ll already be able to play many, many songs! In piano music, the hands often work completely independently from one another, and we’ll learn a couple exercises that are great for building up independence between the hands.

We’ll also learn a brand new way of reading music, one which is often used in jazz and pop: lead sheet notation. In this style of music notation, the right hand melody is written out in treble clef, but instead of a written-out bass clef, we just see chord symbols above the melody. This gives the player much more freedom to improvise and create a nice accompaniment, and it also allows multiple musicians playing different instruments to all read the same sheet music and perform together easily. Whether you want to play classical or pop music, it’s important to understand this system of notation. We’ll put all of these skills to use with several well-known pieces, written in both the grand staff and lead sheet notation.