Music theory self-education

I stumbled upon this site recently, and while reading many posts I found myself increasingly inept at understanding some of the more technical jargon the many composers here throw around.

I have never received any formal music education but have been composing for roughly 2-3 years now, basically playing it by ear and throwing notes around until a piece develops. I've learned alot in that time, but unfortunately very little about the language musicians use to describe... well, music.

Now that I am moving on from Midi and into FL studio and eventually Finale, I'd like to learn what I've missed in order to perhaps improve my ability past the point of just wingin' it, and also be able to communicate better with other composers.

Are there any resources out there on the net or even on paper that people could recommend? Or mabye just a glossary of music terms and whatnot?

I'll probably take a formal Music Theory course in College sometime in the future, but who knows when that will be.

In any case, any help would be appreciated :D .

I got my band director to teach me in high school.

Go to:

• Google
  
• Library
  

Try Music Theory Online.

Go to:

• Google
  
• Library
  

huh? What are you talking about?

huh? What are you talking about?

I mean:

To learn about music theory go to Google (i.e. an internet search engine through which one could find many websites focused on what you want to learn about). Or, alternatively, one could go physically to a library where they keep many books printed on paper and have entire sections devoted to various disciplines, including music theory (Library of Congress ML, or MT; dewey decimal 780's).

Those were my suggestions for where one could find resources pertaining to music and music theory.

What's not to understand?!

Try Music Theory Online.

This looks promising. Thanks

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Ricci Adams' Musictheory.net