Music Theory Online Style Guidelines

Revised September 2026

1. Submission Guidelines

[1.1] Submission types. MTO accepts submissions in the following categories:

  • Article (presentation of scholarly research)
  • Essay (an opinion piece on a general topic)
  • Commentary (response to a prior publication)
  • Report (description of a music theory event, usually a conference)
  • Review (of a scholarly book or textbook)

[1.2] Length of submissions. Submissions of any type should contain no more than 12,000 words in the main text plus up to 3,000 additional words in notes. Works cited lists and example captions are not included in those totals. Here are the typical word counts for each submission type:

  • Article: usually 7,000 to 12,000 words
  • Essay: usually 3,000 to 6,000 words
  • Commentary: length varies
  • Report: usually around 2,000 words
  • Review: usually 2,500 to 4,500 words

[1.3] Formatting requirements for text. Authors may submit their main text as a Word or PDF document. Submissions do not need to conform fully to MTO style to be reviewed, but upon acceptance authors will be required to update their text to MTO style before proceeding to publication.

[1.4] Abstract and Keywords. In addition to the main document and examples, prepare the following before submitting:

  1. A list of 5–10 descriptive keywords. Keywords should be either topical or the names of composers or theorists. If topical, they should be general in nature (e.g., rhythm, form, acoustics, etc.), or should identify a genre discussed substantively in the article (e.g., symphony, hip-hop, film music, etc.).
  2. An abstract of no more than 250 words (articles and essays only).

[1.5] Graphics, including musical examples. In submissions, all graphics should be embedded as images within the text or gathered in a single separate PDF file. Every graphic example should be numbered and should include a descriptive caption (see [2.3]–[2.4] below). After acceptance, authors will be asked to prepare individual, high-resolution graphics files for each example prior to publication.

[1.6] Other file types. Audio, video, and other media examples are encouraged. Authors may submit these in any standard filetype (MTO will convert to mp3 and mp4 upon publication). Short excerpts of copyrighted audio or video normally qualify as fair use. See, for instance, the use of video excerpts and movie stills in Frank Lehman’s article “Hollywood Cadences.” In the case of longer excerpts or entire works, the example must be transformed in some way, as with the addition of an analytical layer, in order to qualify for the fair use exemption. For an example of transformed content, see the timeline diagram of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” in Mark Spicer’s article “(Per)Form in(g) Rock.”

[1.7] External media. In the interest of durability, we encourage authors to provide media files rather than linking to external URLs whenever possible. When external URLs are necessary, authors should make every attempt to provide full citation information, rather than simply a link. MTO does not embed media from external sites.

[1.8] Special symbols. If your submission contains mathematical or other special symbols, please provide MTO with any needed fonts and with a PDF file that correctly displays the appearance of those symbols.

[1.9] Ensuring Anonymous Review. All article submissions to MTO are read anonymously. Authors should not identify themselves anywhere within their submitted files; this includes indirect identification, in which one signals one’s personal associations with past publications and/or positions on arguments. Authors citing their own work should refer to themselves in the third person. Authors should also remove all metadata from submission components that could disclose identity. (See [here] for removing metadata from Microsoft Word and [here] for an online app to remove metadata from pdfs.)

[1.10] Inclusive citations and language. MTO encourages authors to adopt inclusive citation practices by citing authors from diverse genders, races, ethnicities, and abilities. Authors should also follow the Society for Music Theory’s Guidelines for Non-Sexist Language, available here.

2. Guidelines for Text

[2.1] MTO’s text style is based on the 18th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. Authors should refer to that resource for any matters not addressed in this section.

[2.2] Paragraph numbering. MTO uses paragraph numbers for reference. Paragraph numbers are placed at the beginning of each paragraph in brackets. Most articles should use two-part numbering in the format [x.y], in which x refers to the section number and y refers to the paragraph number within the section. Introductions may begin numbering with [0.1]. Other body paragraphs typically are numbered [1.1], [1.2], [1.3], [2.1], [2.2], etc. Shorter submissions, such as essays and reviews, may simply number all paragraphs consecutively with a single number (i.e., [1], [2], [3], etc.).

[2.3] Example numbering. All examples in MTO are called “Example,” “Audio Example,” or “Video Example.” We don’t use perfectly reasonable labels like “Figure” or “Table.” Examples, Audio Examples, and Video Examples are numbered separately—so, you’ll often see “Audio Example 2” following “Example 13.” A few things to note about MTO’s example numbering:

  • Subexamples indicated with letters, such as “Example 1a” and “Example 1b,” are combined into a single graphic (see, e.g., Examples 2–4 of this article). If you want the examples to be presented separately, please number them with different integers, such as “Example 1” and “Example 2.” Multipart examples should include an overall caption that applies to the whole example, and optional subcaptions for each (a), (b), etc. subexample.
  • Audio files that accompany visual examples do not receive their own number, as they will be embedded within the example itself (as in Example 1 of this article). Label such files as “Example 1 audio.” The label “Audio Example” is reserved for examples that are audio-only.
  • MTO encourages authors to include audio files for any example that refers to a specific piece, song, or passage.

[2.4] Example captions. All examples should contain a caption. Captions should not end with a period unless they are complete sentences:

Example 6. An example of the Dosillo rhythm [no period]
Example 12. First page of Mvt. II. The first measure sets out the 8-note row harmonically. [period after complete sentence, and after initial sentence fragment]

When examples contain subexamples, the overall example should contain its own caption; subexample captions are optional. (For example, for Example 1a and Example 1b, we need a caption for “Example 1” as a whole, and optionally additional captions for the “a” and “b” portions).

[2.5] Quotations. Use “double” quotation marks for quotations; use ‘single’ quotation marks within double quotation marks for a quotation within a quotation. Place commas and periods inside closing quotation marks. Other punctuation goes inside the quotation marks only if it is part of the quotation.

“This is a quotation that quotes somebody else yelling ‘hey!,’ with the exclamation point part of the quotation”; the semicolon, though, is not part of the quotation.

Shorter quotations should run in with the main text. Run-in quotes should assimilate into the grammatical syntax of the overall sentence; authors may silently change capitalization if needed (no brackets required). Citations for run-in quotes should usually immediately follow the quote and precede any final punctuation:

David Temperley, for instance, defines formal analysis as “both dividing a song into sections and labeling each section with regard to its formal category” (2018, 150), which describes well the general approach seen in other works.

[2.6] Block quotations. Longer quotations (more than 100 words or so, or more than one sentence) can be set off as block quotations. Block quotations are not enclosed in quotation marks and are set off from the main text by beginning a new line and being indented. A block quote is generally not its own paragraph, and should not receive a separate paragraph number. The text that follows a block quote may further continue the paragraph, in which case it does not receive a paragraph number. See paragraph 2.3 of this article for an example. For more on quotations, refer to the Chicago Manual of Style (18th ed.), chapter 12.

[2.7] Endnotes. Endnotes should be reserved for prose annotation of references, discursive asides, or a relatively large number of references (more than three), and not merely for one or two references.

Appropriate notes:
16. Cognitive thresholds for entrainment challenge the possibility of eight-measure hypermeter in minuets. With a reasonable minuet tempo of 112 bpm, eight measures of music take more than 12 seconds, falling outside the upper limit of 5–6 seconds for meter perception (London 2004, 27). Thus, technically, section 2 deals mostly with hypermeter, section 3 with both hypermeter and phrase structure, and section 4 with phrase structure rather than hypermeter.
29. See Oinas 2023 for more on this topic, particularly on the expressive potential of shared unisons in performance.
Inappropriate notes:
3. Butler 2006.
4. Ibid.
26. See also Attas 2015.

Endnote reference numbers within the main text should be placed at the end of a sentence or clause as much as possible.

[2.8] Numbers. In general, spell out numbers below 100 (e.g., five, seventeen, ninety-six) and use numerals for larger numbers (e.g., 230; 1,024); also spell out round numbers (e.g., three thousand; seventy-three million; but 325,000; 1.2 million). Spell out centuries (e.g., the twentieth century; the mid eighteenth century) but use numerals for years and decades (e.g., 1828; the 1960s; the ’80s and ’90s). Use numerals for pages, chapters, sections, measure numbers, etc. (e.g., pages 3–22; chapter 7; as shown in Example 8; m. 3; minor 6th). For more, see Chicago Manual of Style (18th ed.), section 9.

[2.9] Number ranges. In general, abbreviate the second number in a number range to two digits (e.g., 1–8; 11–13; 123–45; 1896–99). If the first number is a multiple of 100, do not abbreviate (e.g., 100–105; 1,200–1,201). If the first number’s penultimate digit is 0, the second number uses only the changed portion (e.g., 101–7; 307–14; 1103–4). See Chicago Manual of Style (18th ed.), section 9.63.

[2.10] Punctuation conventions.

  • Commas: Use the “serial” or “Oxford” comma for series of three or more items: “major, minor, diminished, and augmented” (comma before “and”).
  • Dashes and hyphens: Use hyphens only for compounds (e.g., “voice-leading graph”). Use en dashes for ranges, progressions, or to substitute for “to” (e.g., “in mm. 52–53”; “in verse–chorus form”; “the A–D interval”; “a I–IV–V–I progression”). Do not use an en dash in the construction “from X to Y” (e.g., “from measures 4 to 7”; “from 1963 to 1991”). Use em dashes, with no spaces around them, for side clauses—such as this one—within sentences.
  • Ellipses: use three periods separated by non-breaking spaces (ctrl+shift+space) for ellipses. Do not include ellipses at the beginning or end of a quotation. See Chicago Manual of Style (18th ed.), sections 12.59–63.

[2.11] Capitalization and italicization.

Capitalize:
  • Example x; Figure 5; Table 9; Audio Example 7.
  • All key and pitch-class names (E major, the flute’s C, etc.)
  • Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classic, etc. (historical eras)
  • Dorian, Ionian, Aeolian (but major, minor)
  • German nouns
Lower case:
  • stanza 1, level 2, section 3, chapter 1, etc.
  • modifiers in prose (major 3rd, diminished 5th, C minor)
References to racial groups:
  • Black
  • Indigenous
  • Native, Native American
  • white or White
  • brown or Brown
  • see also Chicago Manual of Style (18th ed.), section 8.39
Italicize:
  • Foreign words, unless common in English (e.g., Ursatz, piú mosso, currulao; but tresillo, étude, status quo)
  • Titles of larger works such as operas, musicals, ballets, tone poems, song cycles, some instrumental works, albums (e.g., Don Giovanni, Liederkreis, Abbey Road, Hadestown)
  • First use of a newly coined term (e.g., “which I will call textural cues”)
Use quotation marks:
  • Song titles (e.g., “Erstarrung” from Winterreise; “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”)
  • Terms coined elsewhere (e.g., This article uses Emily Schwitzgebel’s concept of “textural cues”)
Capitalization for titles of musical works:
  • Piano Sonata op. 2, no. 3 (opus not spelled out; no comma before “op.” unless the key is given as in Piano Sonata in C major, op. 2, no. 3)
  • Sonata K. 545
    • Symphony no. 35 (“Haffner”)
  • String Quartet no. 16
  • but Beethoven composed sixteen string quartets; many piano sonatas have four movements

[2.12] American English. MTO uses American English spellings and conventions, such as the following:

  • labor, color (not labour, colour)
  • organize, analyze (not organise, analyse)
  • traveling, canceling (not travelling, cancelling)
  • toward, forward, downward (not towards, forwards, downwards)
  • while, among (not whilst, amongst)
  • collective nouns are singular: the team is winning; their family was large (not the team are winning; their family were large)
  • “that” introduces restrictive clauses: the theme that modulates (not the theme which modulates) [if the clause is non-restrictive, use “which” preceded by a comma: “the theme, which modulates, introduces several motives”]

Authors may silently Americanize spellings within quoted text (e.g., changing “analyse” to “analyze”), but should retain original wordings (e.g., retain “flat” rather than changing to “apartment”).

[2.13] Musical symbols and terms.

  • Accidentals should be indicated as Eb, F#, B-natural, etc., highlighted in yellow. MTO will substitute the sharp, flat, and natural symbols when preparing items for publication. When referring to the title of a work, the accidental should be spelled out: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major.
  • Chord suffixes should be superscripted in Roman numerals (e.g., V7) but not in lead-sheet symbols (e.g., B7).
  • Scale degrees (e.g., 3ˆ) can be given as ˆ3 (highlighted).
  • Stacked figured-bass symbols (e.g., 34) can be given as 4/3 (highlighted).
  • Octave identification: MTO uses the Acoustical Society of America’s convention for indicating specific pitches, where middle C is C4 (no subscript or superscript). The number need only be used when needed to disambiguate pitches; if there is only one G in the bar, for example, there is no need to refer to it as G5.
  • Measure numbers: when referring to specific measure numbers, abbreviate “m.” or “mm.” except at the start of a sentence (e.g., “In mm. 2–4,” but “Measures 2–4 begin with…”). When referring to a specific beat within a measure, use a period to separate the measure number from its subdivision (e.g., “m. 8.2” to signify the second beat of m. 8).

3. Reference style

[3.1] MTO’s reference style is based on the author-date system as outlined in the Chicago Manual of Style (18th ed.), section 13. Authors are encouraged to consult the Chicago Manual for any matters not covered in this section.

[3.2] Citations in the main text. All citations in the main text are placed in parentheses. Citations generally include the author’s last name and year of publication, e.g., (Krebs 1999). There is no comma or other punctuation between the author’s name and date of publication. When the author’s name appears nearby in the text, their name is not duplicated in the parenthetical citation.

The former are called displacement dissonances, and the latter are called grouping dissonances (Krebs 1999).
Harald Krebs (1999) refers to the former as displacement dissonances and the latter as grouping dissonances.

[3.3] Citations in endnotes. Endnotes in general follow the same citation guidelines as the text. An exception, though, is that citations in endnotes can appear outside of parentheses when mentioning a work rather than an author.

2. For other explanations or definitions of groove, see Keil and Feld 1994, 22–24; Pressing 2002, 288; and Pond 2005, 206n41. On “vital drive,” see Hodeir 1956, 207–9.

[3.4] Page numbers in citations. In-text citations should include page numbers when referring to a specific passage or subsection of a larger work, e.g., (Krebs 1999, 31–39). All quoted text should include page numbers or paragraph numbers, unless the source does not contain such delineations.

Successive page number references from the same source can omit the author and date, and just include the page number. Authors should avoid multiple citations of the same page range within a single paragraph; these should instead be combined into a single page-number citation.

Janet Schmalfeldt (2011, 3–21) discusses the “Tempest” Sonata, using its first movement to exemplify “the notion of becoming” (10).

Paragraph numbers in citations of MTO articles should be placed in brackets, e.g., (Spicer 2017, [2]–[3]).

[3.5] Works Cited list. Complete references are compiled into a list with the heading “Works Cited.” These references follow the format of the Chicago Manual of Style’s “reference lists” in the author-date system, as outlined in section 13 of the 18th edition. Some sample references appear below. Authors should note the following recent changes:

  • Omit cities of publication for books (e.g., “Oxford University Press” instead of “New York: Oxford University Press”).
  • For multiple works by the same author, repeat the author’s name in each entry, rather than using a 3-em dash.
  • Omit page numbers when referencing a chapter from an edited collection (page numbers may still be included in the in-text citations).

Journal article (print):

Beavers, Jennifer P. 2016. “Integrating Incompatibilities: Melodic, Harmonic, and Formal Dissonance in Ravel’s Duo and Violin Sonata.” Indiana Theory Review 32 (1–2): 120–60.

Journal article (online):

Brown, Jenine L., and Yeonju Lindsey Lee. 2026. “Examining Minor-Mode Scale Practice.” Music Theory Online 32 (2).
https://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.26.32.2/mto.26.32.2.brown_lee.html

News article from an online source:

Sloan, Nate, and Charlie Harding. 2021. “The Culture Warped Pop, For Good.” New York Times, March 14.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/03/14/opinion/pop-music-songwriting.html.

Book (omit city of publication):

Schmalfeldt, Janet. 2011. In the Process of Becoming: Analytical and Philosophical Perspectives on Form in Early Nineteenth-Century Music. Oxford University Press.

Edited volume (cited as a whole):

Marvin, Elizabeth W., and Richard Hermann, eds. 1995. Concert Music, Rock, and Jazz since 1945: Essays and Analytical Studies. University of Rochester Press.

Chapter in an edited volume (omit page numbers):

Folio, Cynthia. 1995. “An Analysis of Polyrhythm in Selected Improvised Jazz Solos.” In Concert Music, Rock, and Jazz since 1945: Essays and Analytical Studies, edited by Elizabeth W. Marvin and Richard Hermann. University of Rochester Press.

Multiple works by the same author (list chronologically, repeat author name, and differentiate works from the same year with “a” and “b”):

Agawu, V. Kofi. 2009. Music as Discourse: Semiotic Adventures in Romantic Music. Oxford University Press.
Agawu, V. Kofi. 2016a. The African Imagination in Music. Oxford University Press.
Agawu, V. Kofi. 2016b. “Tonality as a Colonizing Force in Africa.” In Audible Empire: Music, Global Politics, Critique, edited by Ronald Radano and Tejumola Olaniyan. Duke University Press.
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