HookTheory – hands down THE BEST new resource for music teachers

by Tim Topham in Pedagogy on May 17, 2014. 4 Comments

What I’m about to share with you is one of the coolest and most useful things I’ve found on the internet for music teaching. Ever.

No, it’s not an app, and no, I’m not being paid to write about it.

It’s just really unique…and brilliant.

If you’re a music teacher and you’d like to teach students more about popular music, chords and progressions, then this is the ultimate new resource for you.

So, what is it?

It’s an amazing new resource called HookTheory.

Basically, a few guys got together an analysed the chords and progressions behind 1300 pop songs (and growing everyday). They put all the data into their purpose-built software which you can use online for free to find out about how the songs are constructed, general trends in chord progressions and how to make your own progressions.

Along the way, you learn a heap about music theory too.

The website has also now spawned an eBook and a composition tool which I can also highly recommend.

Oh, and they’ve got a great blog that explains it all. Make sure you read their article: I analyzed the chords of 1300 popular songs for patterns. This is what I found. Explains a lot.

The main benefit of the software is that you can easily analyse how pop songs are constructed with your students. They can also learn heaps about music theory in a practical way using relevant, modern-day examples, and they can start thinking more harmonically about composing their own progressions.

It’s truly revolutionary.

Who’s it for?

Teachers and students of any instrument who are interested in pop music construction, practical theory and chord progressions.

The eBook is a great read for adults who are committed to self-directed learning which can be followed-up by practical work in lessons. It’s also a great read for teachers who want to develop their understanding of chords, pop and progressions in an interactive manner.

Show me!

The website is split into four main sections:

TheoryTab – search for a pop song and watch and listen to how it was composed. Get an analysis of the chords and the melody in HookTheory’s specially designed online interface.
TheoryTab – Trends – find out what chords work together in an interactive and fun online database that also shows you other songs that use the same construction. Listen to the song on YouTube within the app and watch as it’s analysed in front of you. Brilliant.
HookPad – software to help you build your own progressions.
Dictation – an online aural test that’s actually practical! Can you work out the chord progression that’s used in the examples?

Want to see it in action?

Here’s a quick 6-minute demo about how I use it in my studio:

Check it out now and let me know what you think!

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About the author

Tim Topham

Tim Topham is the founder and director of TopMusic. Tim hosts the popular Integrated Music Teaching Podcast, blogs regularly at topmusic.co and speaks at local and international conferences on topics such as integrated teaching, creativity, business, marketing and entrepreneurship. Tim has been featured in American Music Teacher, The Piano Teacher Magazine, California Music Teacher and EPTA Piano Professional. Tim holds an MBA in Educational Leadership, BMus, DipEd and AMusA.

4 Comments

Jennifer Foxx says:

05/18/2014 at 2:30 am

I had heard of Hook Theory but hadn’t had the time to check it out yet. Wow!!! Thank you for putting together that YouTube tutorial. Now I’m really stoked about checking it out further!

Reply
Barbara says:

05/17/2014 at 11:46 pm

WOW!! Not enough ways to say “Thank You” for bringing this to my attention, Tim.

Reply
Robin Thomson says:

05/17/2014 at 5:29 pm

Jeez, doesn’t it piss you off when you find out a great site like this has been built in that dinosaur Flash and you can’t access it on IOS devices. C’mon folks get with html5.

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Rebecca, www.sightreading.com.au says:

05/17/2014 at 2:37 pm

Oh wow. Oh wow.
One of my students wants to learn Counting Stars, and now I can walk into the next lesson with my Android Tablet and get straight into it without having to do any extra prep.
So many possibilities! Thanks so much for doing your video intro, it was all I needed to get started.

Reply