I have some music theory mnemonics for you today that can help both high school and college students learn sharps, flats, choral voices, intervals and musical modes.
These memory tricks include acrostics, acronyms, and songs and will hopefully make it easier for teens and adults to master certain concepts in music theory.
Here they are.
Music Theory Mnemonics
Order of Sharps and Flats
It’s helpful to know the order that sharps and flats appear on the staff. Here are two mnemonics to help with memorization.
The order of sharps is F C G D A E B.
The memory trick for learning that is:
Father
Charles
Goes
Down
And
Ends
Battle
The order of flats is B E A D G C F.
And here’s the memory trick for that:
Battle
Ends
And
Down
Goes
Charles’s
Father
Choral Voices
Need to learn the choral voices? Just remember STAB.
Soprano
Tenor
Alto
Bass
Intervals
Learning intervals for ear training and sight singing can sometimes be a challenge, however, some well-known songs and soundtracks start with these intervals and can be used as mnemonics for recognizing them.
Here are the songs and soundtracks listed by interval:
Minor 2nd up – Jaws soundtrack, “White Christmas”
Minor 2nd down – “Für Elise,” “Beautiful Dreamer,” “Monday, Monday”
Major 2nd up – “Are You Sleeping?,” “Silent Night,” Addams Family theme song
Major 2nd down – “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” “Three Blind Mice,” “The First Noel”
Minor 3rd up – “To Dream the Impossible Dream,” Brahm’s Lullaby, “Greensleeves/What Child is This?”
Minor 3rd down – “America the Beautiful,” “Star-Spangled Banner”
Major 3rd up – “Kumbaya,” “When the Saints Go Marching In,” “Michael Row the Boat Ashore,” “It’s a Small World”
Major 3rd down – Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”
Perfect 4th up – “Wedding March,” “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” “O Christmas Tree”
Perfect 4th down – “Old MacDonald Had a Farm,” Born Free soundtrack, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”
Tritone up – “Maria” from West Side Story
Tritone down – “Cool” from West Side Story
Perfect 5th up – Star Wars soundtrack, “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”
Perfect 5th down – Superman soundtrack, “For Your Eyes Only,” “Minuet in G” by Bach
Minor 6th up – “The Entertainer” (3rd and 4th notes after intro), “Go Down Moses”
Minor 6th down – “Where do I begin?” from Love Story
Major 6th up – “My Bonnie,” “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”
Major 6th down – “Sweet Caroline,” “Over There,” “The Music of the Night” from Phantom of the Opera
Minor 7th up – “Somewhere (There’s a Place for Us)” from West Side Story, Star Trek theme
Minor 7th down – “An American in Paris”
Major 7th up – “Take on Me,”
Major 7th down – “I Love You” by Cole Porter, “The Hut of Fowl’s Legs. Baba Yaga” from Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky
Octave up – “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “Let it Snow,” “The Christmas Song”
Octave down – “Willow Weep for Me”
Modes
The seven musical modes which can be derived from playing the following pitches of the C major scale are:
Ionian – C D E F G A B C
Dorian – D E F G A B C D
Phrygian – E F G A B C D E
Lydian – F G A B C D E F
Mixolydian – G A B C D E F G
Aeolian – A B C D E F G A
Locrian – B C D E F G A B
The mnemonic for memorizing these is based on the first letter of each mode.
I Don’t Play Like My Aunt Lucy
If you know anyone else who could use these music theory mnemonics, share this post with them.
Many blessings,
