This collection is the first of five dealing with the rudiments of music.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Describe the basic anatomy and function of the auditory system
Explain how we encode and perceive pitch
Discuss how we localize sound

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Describe important physical features of wave forms
Show how physical properties of light waves are associated with perceptual experience
Show how physical properties of sound waves are associated with perceptual experience

Although it is significantly expanded from "Introduction to Music Theory", this course still covers only the bare essentials of music theory. Music is a very large subject, and the advanced theory that students will want to pursue after mastering the basics will vary greatly. A trumpet player interested in jazz, a vocalist interested in early music, a pianist interested in classical composition, and a guitarist interested in world music, will all want to delve into very different facets of music theory; although, interestingly, if they all become very well-versed in their chosen fields, they will still end up very capable of understanding each other and cooperating in musical endeavors. The final section of this course does include a few challenges that are generally not considered "beginner level" musicianship, but are very useful in just about every field and genre of music.