Is music theory useful?

[Joxe]

Hi all,

I have been studying music theory as an autodidact for over 1 year and I would like to know your opinions about whether music theory is really important when it comes to composing music on the computer and especially house and electronic music.

Best regards.

[cacti]

i would say that music theory is useful for anything involving music.

[ethios4]

I studied theory in music school for 4 years. It can be very helpful, and it can also be a barrier. It's important to remember that music comes before theory...theory simply tries to explain music. The most important thing to me when it comes to writing music is to be able to translate a feeling into music, which many of the best have been able to do without being schooled in theory, although what they are doing can be explained theoretically. If a person can marry the intuitive feelings that go into pursuing an elusive sound with theoretical knowledge in a meaningful and powerful way, then you have the best situation.

For myself, I write music for many years before studying theory. It was quite simple harmonically, but it was uniquely my own and communicated what I was feeling fairly well. For a few years after studying theory I had a hard time getting beyond thinking about what I had learned in theory....the music became more predictable and less passionate. Now I am getting back into pursuing the feeling. Knowing the map (theory) now helps me to translate much more complex feelings, and do it more quickly since there is less need for fumbling around. The knowledge of theory has itself become intuitive.

[d-track]

no

[Tone Deft]

I think it's useful when I get stuck. "I have these elements, what key might they be in? what chords/scales/keys are similar? what cliches can I work with?"

or if I'm uninspired I use theory as a way to make stuff up, basically with scale harmonization. C-Dm-Em-F-G-Am plus a capo (for guitar, pitch plug in for keyboards) is years of fun.

plenty of people get by without it. YMMV. I don't see the harm in knowing something, you still have the option of not using it.

[hurlingdervish]

i thought this was a joke

[ChiDJ]

no

+1!

Music Practice is what counts!

[chapelier fou]

i would say that music theory is useful for anything involving music.

Does house involve music ?
Just kidding.

[gurumonkey]

Well, as a foundation I'd say that music theory is useful, though i'm in agreement with the other posts so far in that it's not necessary. Usually when people talk about "Music theory" they are referring to the math involved in learning how chords fit together, scales, and things like that. I don't particularly think that studying that kind of stuff is super important to the kinds of music that you're interested in.

However, I would spend a lot of time on music analysis. And learning what i refer to as "playing theory". It's more important to understand what kinds of playing might fit a certain style and when, for instance, a fill is helpful vs. harmful. The best way to learn that kind of stuff is to listen critically to music that you like. Ask yourself why you like the parts that you like so much, try to figure out what the instrumentation is for each section, notice the structure of the song. If you can learn to listen like that I believe you'll learn a lot more for all genres of music then you would simply learning how certain chords flow together.

[sunaivod]

I try to break music-rules ;P
As long as it sounds cool, it's cool. Best things come from muciscal-accidents imo
so no

[jeffplaysmoog]

yup, music theory is VERY helpful...

[stringtapper]

Music theory is unavoidable. Anything you know at any intellectual level about music is music theory, whether it's that the drum sounds "different" when I hit it here as opposed to there, or whether it's about combinatorial 12-tone matrices.

Theoretical knowledge is useful for attaining expected results. The less you have the more experimentation you will be doing. Experimentation is necessary for progression, but it depends on what level the experimentation is happening. Having secure theoretical knowledge about how the timbre of the drum is affected by where I hit it enables me to attain an expected array of results from the instrument, which I can then purposefully organize in a way that I choose. Without this most basic theoretical knowledge even the lowest level tasks become an act of experimentation. In this sense one becomes not the creator but the "instigator" of the "music." The more theoretical knowledge you have, the more easily you can let experimentation occur at higher levels.

[hangar17]

+1
for music theory

[djsynchro]

Music theory is totally useful! let's take another example: Knowing what a compressor does it absolutely helps to know what ratio's, attack, make-up gain and so on do.
BUT and this holds true for all theory, the final decision needs to be made with the ears/heart/soul/intuition, and breaking the rules is fun.

The good thing about not knowing stuff is that you're then the wide eyed child, messing around alertly listening to what happens. I have noticed all the really good engineers I have worked with tend to have this attitude, not make assumptions, just try out stuff and see what works. I call this "beginner's mind".

[palSLAPS]

.