What could be scarier than a meteoroid headed for your house?

Music theory.

Dun dun duhhhhhhh…

Few things can scare a musician more than mentioning theory.

Well, to be fair, theory is kinda terrifying.  It’s a bunch of inscrutable rules that no one really needs, right?

Um, no. 

First, let’s define music theory.  Because I am finding that many people believe that music theory is all about reading music. 

Um, no. (I promise I won’t write that again in this post!)

Theory is the rules of music.  It is the grammar if you will.  Music theory is about music.  Listening to it, making it, enjoying it, identifying it (especially identifying that it is music as it is different from other sounds).  You know music when you hear it.

You don’t have to be a genius to understand theory!

Theory is actually quite helpful.  And I think it gets a bad rap.  When I was studying piano, every week we did a major scale and its concomitant exercises (arpeggios, inversions, etc.).  Later we moved on to the minor scales.  We never did theory.  I was always assured that I’d study it later.  Sneaky – I was learning theory in practical form, learning the rules as I went.  Best of all, I never felt a thing – no pain at all!

I’ll try to be just as gentle with you.  Don’t freak out – just like you speak your native language, and you know (mostly) the rules for speaking the language, you already know (mostly) the rules for music.  If you didn’t know the rules, you’d never have to make the “wrong-note-lemon-face”.  Why?  Because if you didn’t know the rules, you wouldn’t know that you made a mistake and then you wouldn’t need to make the pucker puss.

Are you convinced yet?    

You should be, because nothing I have said so far has

a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g

to do with reading or writing. When you speak a language, you don’t have to be literate to be fluent.  So too, with music.  And frankly, while reading and writing are certainly helpful, we existed for millennia relying on spoken word and learning by rote – so, reading and writing, while helpful are not, in and of themselves, necessary.

So, I think we have established that you probably already know your theory.  But here’s a little test – if you hear something (anything – Tallis, Bach, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Britten, Muhly, BTS), do you recognize it as music?  Of course you do, because you know the underlying rules*.

In other words, you know your theory!  I hope you’re convinced now.  Because it is that understanding of these rules that helps you be a good musician!  No need to be scared!

However, that’s not the end of the story.  Because to continue to be a good musician you want to be able to not just parrot back specific frequencies.  You want to be able to understand what you’ve got, think critically about it, and leave at least a frisson of yourself there.  

The basic bones of theory are going to be melody and rhythm stitched together with harmony. 

• Melody is the thing.  It’s what matters.  It’s what you hum when you’re thinking of a catchy tune.  I say it’s “the thing” because it really is the center – the song, the thread, the butterfly you follow.
• Rhythm (from the Greek “to flow”) is what happens over time.  This isn’t as complicated as it seems – you already know that music comes out over time.  If all the music came at once it would sound like a door slamming!  Rhythm is how we express the serial part of sound (which can be music, speech, or other noises).  And…
• Harmony – the thing we stress over when we play!  Harmony is when we have more than one sound going at a time.  Harmony is how we express our hope that the sounds go together in a pleasing manner!

Any of this a surprise to you?  I told you that you already knew theory!

Like just about any subject, theory can get…quite complex.  After all, we use theory words to be able to articulate the rules when we want to communicate with someone else.  Or when we want to document our own thinking (either to share with others or to help us remember).   Having the words and symbols may also help us think differently about what we already know and help us to learn more than we currently know.  Finally, just like some people jot thoughts while reading, we can do the same while we’re playing, composing, and improvising.  And to do those things, you do need to have some understanding of the basics and the vocabulary.  

We can talk about more complicated things (including reading and writing) another time.  For now, does this make sense? Do you feel like you have a strong theory background?  Or do you run and hide when someone starts talking about theory?  Or were you hoping that, as a trad musician, it wouldn’t ever matter?  In the comments, let me know where you are – and we’ll take a stab at ensuring we are all solid on theory.

* if you’re making snide remarks in your head that I included some random modern pop group – stop it, you know it’s still music even if you’re too old for it (I am too!)