Who?
Photo by Amanda Quinlan
I'm a Los Angeles based music educator, performer, researcher, and composer (and amateur coder). I've been teaching at the Los Angeles College of Music since 2015, where I teach music theory, aural skills, multiple ensembles, and private lessons. I also perform around LA, including gigs at the Blue Whale to soundtracks for cartoons and movies (most recently recorded on Michael Buble's latest album, Love), and have presented original research at national and international academic conferences covering topics including solo analysis to Marxist critiques of jazz representation in mass mediated narratives.
I earned a Bachelor of Music (with a minor in music theory) from University of North Texas (UNT), Master of Music from Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University, Long Beach, and in 2018, a Doctorate of Musical Arts from University of Southern California (with a field in web technologies and application development).
Why?
Two realizations inspired me to create this site:
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That most of my beginning jazz students would be more effective improvisors if they had faster music theory recall (i.e. what is the V7 in the key of Ab? What's the third of Ab's V7 chord?, etc.).
- Sound like fun? Try that "game" here: Scale Degree Flashcards.
- That I had enough just enough coding knowledge to make programs to help my students get better, faster: I could make endless and totally random flashcards, and also host articles, PDFs, resources, and more.
But I'm mostly just having fun learning and experimenting with javascript!
"Slow Theory is No Theory"
- Professor Mike Steinel
I've loved music theory since high school, but I grew even more passionate about it during my undergraduate studies at the University of North Texas (UNT). Much of this was due to my jazz fundamentals professor at UNT, Professor Mike Steinel, who had a mantra printed across the inside cover of our course-reader: "Slow Theory is No Theory." (And my Theory I teacher at UNT, Dr. David Bard-Schwarz agreed with him!) The wisdom in that phrase has been reaffirmed year after year in my own experience as a teacher and performer. This website, and the flashcard games in particular, began in the spirit of "Slow Theory is No Theory."
I developed my first music theory game in 2014 (Chord/Scale Degree Flashcards) and, a bit to my surprise, it soon found an audience around the world, with many people visiting everyday as part of their daily practice routine. I made a few more games, but my doctoral studies ultimately took precedence. After graduating in 2018, I dedicated time to making the website you're on now. Some of these games are pretty cheeky and simple (though some do require quite a bit of knowledge), but I wanted something fun and appealing to all ages skill levels.
Hope you and enjoy and thanks for visiting! -- Ramsey