Study by subject
Music theory
For music theory you learn notes, clefs, key signatures, intervals, chords and Italian tempo terms by heart. Lumi asks them back until the answer comes without hesitation, well before the exam or the audition.
How to turn this subject into cards
Make one card per idea and ask one thing per question. Key signatures, intervals, chords and tempo terms stick better as small cards than as one big table. Practise producing the answer before you see it, for example how many sharps a key signature has or what an interval is called. The trap is rereading the theory and feeling you know it, when reading a score asks you to produce it fast. Testing yourself makes you remember longer than rereading (Roediger and Karpicke, 2006). Keep the Italian terms, allegro, andante, adagio, on short cards too, one word and one meaning. A few minutes each day beats one long session.
What you need to know by heart
- The note names and where notes sit on the staff in treble and bass clef.
- Key signatures, from the number of sharps or flats to the key.
- Intervals, from the second to the octave, and their quality.
- Major and minor triads and how they are built.
- Italian tempo terms, adagio, andante, allegro, presto.
How Lumi helps you remember it
You teach your cards to Lumi, notes, key signatures, intervals, tempos. It forgets over time, like you do, then quizzes you right before you would forget. As the deadline approaches, the Mist settles over what you know less well and Lumi asks that first. You arrive able to produce the answer, not only to recognise it on the score.
Example cards
Three cards the way you would write them, with the answer Lumi expects.
How many sharps does the key signature of G major have?
One, F sharp.
What does allegro mean?
A fast, lively tempo.
Which notes form a C major chord?
C, E and G.
Example card
Try it, Lumi turns it into fill in the blank questions in your browser.
Music theory · teach this card to Lumi
The C major scale has seven different notes. The treble clef curls around the second line of the staff. From C to G the interval is a perfect fifth. The Italian term adagio means a slow tempo.
Lumi’s question
The C major scale has _____ different notes.
Pick the missing word
Answer right to light Lumi up
Its lamp fades when a fact slips away.
Frequently asked questions
- Do I need to read a score to use Lumi?
- No. You write your cards with note names, key signatures or terms, and Lumi asks them back. Score reading is also built at your instrument.
- How do I revise key signatures?
- Make one card per key, with the number of accidentals and their names. Lumi asks them back at spaced intervals, which makes you remember longer (Cepeda et al., 2006).
- Does Lumi replace a music theory class?
- No, it helps you retain what you learn in class. Work at your instrument is what brings the theory to life.
Read next
Sources
- Roediger, Karpicke (2006). Test-enhanced learning. Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3). doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01693.x
- Cepeda, Pashler, Vul, Wixted, Rohrer (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks. A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3). doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.132.3.354
Teach this to Lumi
Give Lumi your music theory notes, it gives them back as questions at the right moment.