Home / Flashcard library / General knowledge / Music theory fundamentals / Fundamentals

General knowledge

Music Theory — Fundamentals flashcards

10 of 70 cards free to study here · 10 topics · the whole deck is built into Willys

Reading the staff and clefs, rhythm and meter, scales, key signatures and the circle of fifths, intervals, triads and seventh chords, diatonic harmony and cadences, and the Italian terms for dynamics and tempo.

Get the app All Music theory fundamentals decks

Learn deck · part of Music theory fundamentals · written against: Common-practice fundamentals. Updated 2026-10-10.

Study the free sample

10 cards from the deck as they are. Flip, rate yourself, filter by topic; your progress stays in this browser.

The 10 sample cards as a list
  1. How many lines and spaces does a standard musical staff have?
    Five lines and four spaces, counted from the bottom up.
    Staff & Clefs
  2. How many quarter notes equal one whole note?
    Four. A half note equals two quarter notes.
    Note Values & Rests
  3. In a simple time signature such as 3/4, what do the top and bottom numbers mean?
    The top number is beats per measure; the bottom number is the note value that gets one beat (4 = quarter note).
    Meter & Time Signatures
  4. What is the pattern of whole (W) and half (H) steps in a major scale?
    W W H W W W H.
    Scales
  5. In what order are sharps added to a key signature?
    F C G D A E B.

    Mnemonic: Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle.
    Key Signatures
  6. How do you find the number (size) of an interval?
    Count the letter names from the lower note to the upper, including both. C up to E is a third (C-D-E).
    Intervals
  7. What is a triad?
    A three-note chord built in stacked thirds: root, third and fifth.
    Triads & Seventh Chords
  8. What are the qualities of the seven diatonic triads in a major key?
    I major, ii minor, iii minor, IV major, V major, vi minor, vii° diminished.
    Diatonic Harmony & Cadences
  9. What do piano (p) and forte (f) mean?
    Piano is soft; forte is loud. Doubling the letter (pp, ff) means very soft or very loud.
    Dynamics & Tempo
  10. What are enharmonic equivalents?
    Two names for the same pitch, such as C♯ and D♭, which share one key on the piano.
    Enharmonics

Unlock the whole deck

You are studying a free 10-card sample. All 70 cards of Music Theory — Fundamentals, the other 1 Music theory fundamentals deck, and spaced-repetition scheduling are built into Willys. 14-day free trial, then $14.99 a year.

Get the app

In Willys, tap Exam Library at the top of your Decks (or Browse Exam Library… under the + button), find the exam on its shelf or by search, tick it and tap Add.

More Music theory fundamentals decks

Practice Questions

← All Music theory fundamentals decks, with the study guide and topic outline.

About these cards

Review status: Second-reader reviewed, with corrections applied.

Checked against:

  • Checked against Open Music Theory (Gotham et al., CC BY-SA 4.0) as a fact-check reference only, and standard music-theory texts (reference only). No text derived from any source; all wording original.
  • Also checked against Andre Mount, Fundamentals, Function, and Form (CC BY-NC 4.0) and Robert Hutchinson, Music Theory for the 21st-Century Classroom (GNU FDL 1.2 or later), with the Adagio-to-Presto tempo glosses checked against Merriam-Webster and The Oxford Companion to Music (reference only; no text copied).

These are independent study notes written for Willys. They are not official exam material, may contain mistakes, and are no substitute for your course, your teacher or the exam owner's own publications. Found an error? Tell us — corrections ship as a new version of the deck.

Use of these pages is covered by our Terms of Use.