What comes next?

Congratulations for mastering the fundamentals of theory.  You may now be asking yourself, "what comes next?"  In truth, this is only the beginning of what lies in music theory.  There is so much more out there and so much more music to explore.  Below will you give you a brief overview/idea of what is coming up next.

4 Part Writing

With a mastery of the basics we can now begin composing.  Rather than starting with composing a symphony, we will start small (can't run till you walk).  We will spend a great deal of time composing in the 4 part format, a.k.a. SATB (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass).  This of course comes from the tradition of church music and vocal singing.  We won't worry about lyrics for a while, but rather focus on the musical and compositional techniques.

Analysis

The other area we will spend a great deal of time with is analysis.  We will look at real examples from the musical literature, listen to recordings, and analyze what we are seeing and hearing.  All of this will allow us to explore what makes the music sound the way it does, why does it sound good, and what can we take from it and apply to our own musical compositions.  Throughout all of this, you will hopefully develop a greater understanding and appreciation into the genius minds of some of the great musical composers.