Gradus School of Music Composition

1. Welcome — What is Gradus?

Gradus — School of Music Composition is an interactive composition curriculum rooted in the classical tradition of counterpoint and composition, following the path of Johann Joseph Fux's Gradus ad Parnassum. Rather than teaching you to analyze other people's music, Gradus teaches you to write music of your own — from the very first lesson.

The curriculum spans ten stages, beginning with single-note melodies and advancing through counterpoint, harmony, fugue, and full orchestration. Along the way you have access to:

• Maestro — a composition professor who answers questions and gives feedback on your compositions
• Composition studios — interactive tools for writing and hearing your own music
• Practice tools — ear training and sight reading exercises
• Orchestra reference — deep-dive pages on every orchestral instrument
• Library — curated score analysis and listening resources

All lessons are available to members. Sign in to access the full curriculum.

2. Navigating the Site

The navigation bar at the top of every page is your primary way of moving around Gradus. Here is what each item does:

• Dashboard — your personalized progress hub and post-login home
• Lessons — takes you directly to your last visited lesson (or Lesson 1 if you're new)
• Compose — dropdown with composition studios (Rhythm Playground, Melody Builder, Echo Counterpoint, Beginner Sketchbook, Counterpoint Workshop, Master Sketchbook, Critique by Maestro)
• Practice — dropdown with Practice Room, Ear Training, Sight Reading, Notation Quiz, Figured Bass, Chorale Harmonization, and Boulanger’s Exercises
• Library — dropdown with Score Study, Orchestra Reference, Music History, Orchestration Assignments, Curriculum Roadmap, Notation Reference, Instrument Combinations, Fugue Reference, and Musical Dictionary
• Profile — dropdown with Dashboard, Settings, Admin (admin only), and Sign Out

Search (⌘K)

Press ⌘K (Mac) or Ctrl+K (Windows) at any time to open the global search. You can search for lesson topics, tools, instrument pages, and more.

1. Press ⌘K (or click the search icon in the nav bar)
2. Type any keyword — a lesson topic, instrument name, or tool
3. Select a result with the arrow keys or click it
4. Press Escape to close without navigating

3. The Lesson Curriculum

The curriculum is organized into ten stages of study. Each lesson builds directly on the previous one, so it is best to work through them in order.

Using the Lesson Sidebar

Inside any lesson, a sidebar panel shows all lessons organized by stage. Completed lessons are marked with a checkmark. Your current lesson is highlighted.

1. Open any lesson at /lessons/1
2. The sidebar appears on the left (or collapses to a menu icon on mobile)
3. Click any lesson title to jump directly to it
4. Completed lessons show a gold checkmark — track your progress at a glance

Progress Tracking

Gradus automatically records each lesson you complete. Visit My Progress in the nav to see a full overview of your journey through the curriculum.

4. Ask Maestro — Your Composition Professor

Maestro is your personal composition professor, available inside every lesson. You can ask Maestro any theory question, request feedback on a melody or exercise, or get help understanding a concept before moving on.

Opening the Chat

1. Open any lesson page
2. Find the Maestro panel at the bottom-right of the lesson (or scroll down)
3. Click "Ask Maestro" to open the chat
4. Type your question and press Enter
5. Maestro will reply in the context of your current lesson

Getting Composition Feedback

You can describe a melody or exercise you wrote and ask Maestro to evaluate it. For example:

• “I wrote a melody starting on C, going up to E, then down to D and back to C. Does it follow the rules for Lesson 3?”
• “Why is a tritone leap considered bad in species counterpoint?”
• “I'm stuck on the counterpoint exercise — can you give me a hint without telling me the answer?”

Auto-Feedback

Some lessons include an auto-feedback toggle that lets Maestro respond automatically when you submit a composition exercise. This is enabled by default. You can turn it off by clicking the toggle in the Maestro panel if you prefer to work independently.

A quick tour of Maestro

The interactive guide below walks through what Maestro can do and how to get the most out of him. Press Play or click through the panels.

5. Young Learner Tools

Three colorful, age-appropriate composition tools designed for the youngest musicians (kid age mode). All three use real staff notation and VexFlow rendering to build musical associations early.

Rhythm Playground

Build rhythms by placing color-coded notes on a real treble clef staff.

1. Go to Compose → Rhythm Playground in the nav bar
2. Select a note duration: whole (purple), half (green), or quarter (orange)
3. Click on the staff to place notes — each snaps to the nearest pitch line
4. Watch the beat ruler fill with color-coded segments as you add notes
5. Press Play to hear your rhythm with a click track underneath
6. Use Undo to remove the last note, or Clear to start over

Melody Builder

Write your own melodies with guided step-by-step prompts and a rainbow piano keyboard.

1. Go to Compose → Melody Builder in the nav bar
2. Select a note duration from the color-coded buttons
3. Click a rainbow piano key or click directly on the staff to add a note
4. Follow the guided prompts — they suggest starting on C, moving by step, and ending on the home note
5. Press Play to hear your melody, or Clear to start fresh

Echo Counterpoint

Write a second voice beneath a given melody and learn about consonance.

1. Go to Compose → Echo Counterpoint in the nav bar
2. A melody appears on the top staff — press Listen to hear it
3. Click the rainbow piano keys to add notes to the bottom staff, one for each melody note
4. Each note you place is color-coded: green (perfect consonance), blue (imperfect), or red (dissonant)
5. When your counterpoint is complete, press Play Both to hear both voices together
6. Try different cantus firmi using the melody selector buttons

6. Beginner Sketchbook

The Beginner Sketchbook is a free-form composition workspace for writing simple single-voice melodies. It is the ideal place to practice the skills from Lessons 1–7 outside the structured exercises.

1. Go to Compose → Beginner Sketchbook in the nav bar
2. Click on the staff to place notes at the desired pitch and position
3. Use the note duration buttons (whole, half, quarter, eighth) to set the note length before clicking
4. Press the Play button to hear your melody through the built-in synthesizer
5. Use the Erase button to remove individual notes
6. Ask Maestro for feedback on your melody using the chat panel

6. Counterpoint Workshop

The Counterpoint Workshop is designed for the exercises introduced in Stage II of the curriculum. You write a counterpoint melody against a given cantus firmus (fixed melody), following the rules for each species.

Selecting a Species

1. Open the Counterpoint Workshop from the Compose dropdown
2. Use the species selector at the top to choose: First Species (note-against-note), Second Species (two notes per cantus note), Third Species (four notes), or Fourth Species (syncopation)
3. The cantus firmus appears on the lower staff — this is the fixed melody you write against
4. Add your counterpoint notes on the upper staff
5. Toggle the Play button to hear both voices together

Daily Routine

Many students find it useful to treat counterpoint exercises as a daily practice — similar to scales or arpeggios on an instrument. Try writing one First Species exercise per day while working through Stage II. Speed and intuition develop through repetition.

7. Master Sketchbook

The Master Sketchbook is the most advanced composition studio. It supports multi-voice writing with up to four independent staves, and is intended for students working through Stage III and beyond.

1. Go to Compose → Master Sketchbook
2. Add voices using the "+ Voice" button (up to 4 staves)
3. Select a voice to make it active — notes you add will go to that staff
4. Use the duration buttons (whole, half, quarter, eighth, dotted) in the toolbar
5. Switch between treble and bass clef per voice using the clef selector
6. Press Play to hear all voices simultaneously in real time
7. Use the tempo slider to adjust playback speed

8. Import Score

The Master Sketchbook includes a MusicXML import feature that lets you load scores from external notation software (Finale, Sibelius, MuseScore, Dorico) for study and analysis.

1. Open Compose → Master Sketchbook
2. Click the Import button in the toolbar
3. Select a .musicxml or .mxl file from your computer
4. The score loads into the sketchbook where you can view, play back, and study it

9. Critique by Maestro

The Critique page lets you submit any composition — written in Gradus or exported from any notation software — and receive a structured, 32-point evaluation from Maestro. It is the primary composition feedback tool in Gradus.

Maestro evaluates your work across eight dimensions: Intent & Style, Melody, Rhythm, Harmony & Tonality, Voice Leading & Texture, Contrapuntal Craft, Unity & Variety, and Expression & Performance. Each dimension is scored 1–5 by a deterministic analyzer from the note data itself. Maestro then writes a narrative critique interpreting those scores.

Uploading a Score from Notation Software

1. Export your score as MusicXML (.musicxml or .mxl) from MuseScore, Sibelius, Finale, or Dorico
2. Go to Compose → Critique by Maestro
3. Drag and drop your file onto the upload zone, or click to browse
4. Gradus parses the score and shows a summary (parts, measures, key, time signature)
5. Fill in the submission form: choose your style period, check the focus areas you want evaluated, and optionally describe your intent
6. Submit — Maestro analyzes your composition and returns the full scorecard

Requesting a Critique from the Master Sketchbook

1. Write or load a composition in the Master Sketchbook
2. Click the ✦ Critique button in the toolbar
3. Fill in the submission form and submit
4. The scorecard appears in a panel above the score

Reading the Scorecard

The scorecard shows all 32 dimensions grouped by family. Each dimension has a 1–5 bar score (or N/A when the dimension does not apply to your composition). Below the score grid, Maestro identifies your three strongest dimensions, three areas for growth, and one concrete next step for your next practice session.

10. Practice Tools

Gradus includes a suite of practice tools for building fundamental musicianship skills alongside your composition work.

Practice Room

Your daily practice hub with a metronome, MIDI keyboard display, and spaced-retrieval review system. The metronome supports 7 time signatures, subdivisions, and tap tempo. The review system schedules concept review cards based on how well you remember them.

Ear Training

Four interactive modules: an interval library with famous song associations, an interval quiz with four difficulty levels, a chord quality quiz (major, minor, diminished, augmented), and a scale identification quiz (six scale types). Supports MIDI keyboard input for answers.

1. Go to Practice → Ear Training in the nav bar
2. Choose a module: Interval Library, Interval Quiz, Chord Quiz, or Scale Quiz
3. Select difficulty, root note, direction, and timbre
4. Press Play to hear the sound, then identify it
5. Your score, streak, and accuracy are tracked per session

Sight Reading

A 10-level progressive sight-reading trainer. Three practice modes: pitch identification, timed flashcard, and interval recognition. Levels 9–10 include real Bach chorale excerpts. A Historical (Fétis) mode offers 22 progressive solfege exercises from Fétis's Solfèges Progressifs.

1. Go to Practice → Sight Reading
2. Choose a level (1–10) and practice mode
3. Study the excerpt on the staff — rhythm, intervals, phrase shape
4. Identify the notes or intervals as prompted
5. Switch to Historical (Fétis) mode for graded melodic studies

Notation Quiz

Test your knowledge of musical notation terms with four quiz modes: selection, flashcard, multiple-choice, and matching. Filter by grade level (I–V) and category (tempo, dynamics, articulation, expression, ornaments, and more). Pairs with the full Notation Reference.

11. Figured Bass & Chorale Harmonization

Figured Bass

Practice thoroughbass realization — reading figured bass symbols and constructing chords above a given bass line. Six historical collections of increasing difficulty are available:

1. Go to Practice → Figured Bass
2. Select a collection from the dropdown (start with Vidal or Insanguine)
3. Read the figured bass numbers below each bass note — a reference table at the bottom explains all figures
4. Click the staff or use the piano keyboard to place soprano, alto, and tenor notes above the bass
5. Click a beat number above the staff to select that beat, or click directly on the staff
6. Click a placed note to select it — use arrow keys to adjust pitch, Delete to remove
7. Use the accidental buttons (♯ ♭ ♮) for chromatic notes
8. Toggle "Show Solution" on collections that include one to check your work

Chorale Harmonization

Harmonize soprano melodies from Bach-Schiorring chorales in four voices (SATB). Write alto, tenor, and bass parts, then check your harmonization against Bach's own solution. Each voice is color-coded for clarity. This develops voice-leading instincts and harmonic vocabulary.

1. Go to Practice → Chorale Harmonization
2. Select a chorale from the sidebar (filter by difficulty category)
3. The soprano melody is given — select a voice (alto, tenor, or bass) to write
4. Click the staff or use the piano keyboard to place notes at the correct pitch
5. Click a beat number above the staff to select that beat for editing
6. Click a placed note to select it — use arrow keys to adjust, Delete to remove
7. Play back your harmonization to hear all four voices together
8. Compare against Bach's original solution

Partimento

Partimento takes figured bass further: instead of realizing predetermined chords, you compose a complete piece from a bass line. Four progressive levels take you from fully figured realization to unfigured composition to imitative counterpoint over a bass — the method that trained the entire Baroque generation.

12. Boulanger’s Harmonic Standards & Exercises

Nadia Boulanger's systematic approach to harmony, codified by Philip Lasser, lives in two places — one for reference, one for practice.

13. Keyboard Harmony & Improvisation

Two advanced practice disciplines that build the deepest musical fluency — the kind where theory becomes instinct.

Keyboard Harmony

Following Nadia Boulanger’s method, keyboard harmony exercises progress through five levels: chord voicing in all keys, figured bass realization at the keyboard, transposition around the circle of fifths, melody harmonization, and the ultimate challenge — singing one voice while playing the other three. These exercises require a keyboard (MIDI or acoustic).

Classical Improvisation

Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven were legendary improvisers. These structured exercises restore the lost art: melody over a given bass, figured bass improvisation, melody continuation, theme and variations, and fugal improvisation. Start simple — even five minutes of daily improvisation builds fluency that written exercises alone cannot.

14. Score Study

In-depth annotated analyses of major orchestral works from the Baroque through the 20th century. Each study pairs a piece with measure-by-measure commentary explaining harmony, orchestration, melody, form, voicing, rhythm, texture, and dynamics.

1. Go to Library → Score Study
2. Filter by era, difficulty (1–5), composer, or topic
3. Click a work to open its detailed study page
4. Read measure-by-measure commentary alongside the score
5. Use Listen Mode to follow along with a YouTube performance
6. Mute or solo individual parts to isolate voices

15. Orchestra Reference

A complete reference to every instrument family in the Western orchestra. Each of the 20 instrument pages covers range, technique, transposition, notation conventions, and characteristic uses in the repertoire.

1. Go to Library → Orchestra Reference
2. Browse the five sections: Strings, Woodwinds, Brass, Percussion, Harp
3. Click any instrument for a deep-dive page
4. Each page includes: written and sounding range, available techniques, transposition rules, and notation tips

16. Instrument Combinations

A catalog of 117 orchestration pairings and ensemble groupings across six categories: strings, woodwinds, brass, cross-family, special effects, and tutti. Each entry includes a timbre description, best registers, balance notes, famous repertoire examples, and common pitfalls.

1. Go to Library → Instrument Combinations
2. Filter by category (strings, woodwinds, brass, cross-family, special effects, tutti)
3. Filter by color tag (bright, dark, warm, brilliant, mysterious, ethereal, powerful, neutral)
4. Sort by category, alphabetically, or by color tag
5. Search by instrument name, composer, or description
6. Click any card to expand the full details, balance notes, and repertoire examples

17. Music History

In-depth profiles of 55 composers spanning six centuries — from Palestrina and Monteverdi through John Williams. Each profile covers biographical background, compositional style, orchestration approach, key works, and historical influence. Composers are organized by era.

18. Library & Reference

The Library dropdown in the navigation brings together all reference materials. Beyond the major sections covered above, these references round out the collection:

Voice-Leading Patterns

Cadences, Rules of the Octave, sequences, and galant schemata from Derek Remes' scholarly edition of the thoroughbass Compendium. Filter by category, mode (major/minor), and voice count (2–4 voices). Each pattern includes notation and audio playback.

Fugue Reference

The complete Marpurg Treatise on Fugue (1753–54), both volumes — organized by chapter. Covers imitation, fugue subjects, answer, countersubject, exposition, episode, stretto, double/triple/quadruple counterpoint, inversion, retrograde, augmentation, and canon. Kirchhoff's 16 Preludes & Fugues serve as companion works. Integrated into curriculum Steps 14–16 and 32.

Palestrina Practice

A scholarly thread comparing Fux's pedagogical counterpoint rules (1725) with Palestrina's actual Renaissance practice. Based on Jeppesen's research, it shows where the species method diverges from real Renaissance polyphony — and why both matter.

Melody Writing

Seven principles of the beautiful line — contour, stepwise motion, rhythmic variety, phrase rhythm, implied harmony, memorability, and character. Grounded in the aesthetic foundations of proportion, radiance, contrast, and balance.

Musical Texture

The four fundamental textures — monophony, homophony, polyphony, and heterophony — and how texture change functions as a compositional event.

Dynamics & Expression

Dynamics as structure, articulation as character, tempo as emotional landscape. Includes a complete table of standard markings.

Notation Reference

Over 150 musical terms across 11 categories — tempo, dynamics, articulation, expression, ornaments, repeats, note values, clefs, time signatures, symbols, and techniques. Each entry includes the Italian original, pronunciation, and definition. Searchable and filterable by grade level (I–V).

Orchestration Assignments

Ten progressive orchestration assignments from “Your First Orchestration” (Bach chorale arrangement) through full orchestration projects. Each includes a piano sketch, master orchestration example, detailed notes, and teaching hints.