Music Theory Worksheets

Most music teachers have to use at least some music theory worksheets in their lessons. Here are a few simple things that teachers can use when creating them, or to look for when choosing existing music theory worksheets for music lessons.

1. Keep it Simple

The number one problem I see with most music theory worksheets is that they try to be too clever, and try to make things far more complicated than they need to be. Look for worksheets or create worksheets that drill down to the core of the problem, and focus on that. If a worksheet is teaching about a topic, it should cover it in detail, but it may not need to include every single little thing about it - let the details fall in later. The student really just needs the absolute basics on the topic at hand, and let the rest fall in later. For example, if teaching harmony, dont talk about the phrase marks above the notes. Sure, they may need to be there, but just leave them off the worksheet. You can always cover this verbally in class if someone asks why they are there.

2. One Concept at a time

I cannot emphasize this more strongly than it needs to be. Good Music Theory Worksheets should cover only one topic at a time. Music is a multi-dimensional art form, and musicians have to be able to interpret several pieces of information at once, however when doing their music theory they need to practice and be confident of certain elements, so that it will help them when they get to their instrument. By getting worksheets that focus on single elements this will really help them to refine and solidify their knowledge of important music theory concepts.


3. Good Graphics

If a music theory worksheet has irrelevant graphics (or no graphics at all) this will turn off your students quicker than anything! To get students engaged the worksheet needs to be graphically interesting to them and not boring or perceived as “last century”. Even if the material actually taught is traditional harmony concepts (which are still relevant today) the graphics and the presentation doesn’t have to look like it comes from the 1950’s. The graphic presentations are so easy these days, and anyone with a computer can come up with worksheets that are quite presentable. Of course layouts by a competent graphic designer will always win over what we can do on our home computers.

4. Sans Serif Fonts

This is a simple one - but a Sans Serif font, such as Arial, Helvetica or Georgia will always appear more modern to the eye than a Serif font such as Times New Roman or Times. Serif fonts are proven to be easier to read, and this is why book publishers still use them. However with music theory worksheets there is relatively little text, so why not make use of this fact that simply using a sans-serif font will make your music theory worksheet more appealing to students in a very subtle way. Even if you change nothing else on the worksheet I think you can make a difference to the way it is perceived with a change to the font used for the title and instructions.

5. Would you want to do it?

Here is the ultimate test. Put yourself in the place of your students, and would YOU want to take your time to complete the Music Theory Worksheet you are writing? Is there any intrinsic or extrinsic motivation built in? Is there anything that makes this worksheet interesting or engaging to the student? Teachers ideally want to make students intrinsically love the subject, so that there is no external motivation needed, but sometimes little incentives do help.. like connecting the worksheet to a game, a chart or other incentive scheme to get the students engaged in the activity.

Hopefully these couple of ideas can help you engage your students with music theory worksheets - whether you are writing them yourself or buying ready made materials on the internet. The Fun Music Company has a range of self print Music Theory Worksheets that are suitable for many different music teaching situations.