Jan

22

How Music Theory Can Assist Musicians

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A lot of music players like to see themselves as a solo artist. They may sit on an artist piano bench and play solos on their own, and so they never see a reason for learning how to read music or learning music theory. The time will come, however, when a musician will want to play music with someone else, and start playing on a duet piano bench. When this occurs, both players will need a common language through which to communicate, and it’s here that having at least a littlee knowledge in music theory and reading music can have a huge advantage.

It’s often believed that if one were to learn music theory, it might be like being told the “correct” way to play music, and that any kind of freedom the musician wanted to have would be lost. This is not the case, of course, as music theory only opens up a set of options to thinking about the way music can be played, it’s not a set of laws. The usefulness in learning music theory is that it leads us to the long history of music, and displays to us what previous musicians have found out to be true when it comes to composing and creating tunes. We’re free to disregard all their notions and ideas if we want, but the act of learning and experiencing them is something that can greatly raise the quality of our playing.

Consider that the technique of playing that tends to be thought of as the “freest”, jazz music, in fact requires an in-depth knowledge of music theory to be practiced well. When the famous trumpeter Miles Davis was first starting out in clubs, he was constantly told by jazz veterans to “Learn those chords man, learn those chords”.

So, let us take a look at some basic music theory. First off, we have the chromatic scale. This is all the notes that can possibly be played on the piano, and the same notes are the only notes playable on a properly tuned guitar. The word “chromatic” means color, and you can notice when each of these notes are sounded that they give off a certain color, or mood, when they are sounded. What also affects this mood is the order in which these notes are played. If you play a middle C then an E, this makes a much different mood than if you were to play a C and then an F sharp.

Try playing all the white notes on a piano, starting from C and playing the six notes above, when you get to the B, your brain will be wanting to hear the C that’s next in line. If you do play it, you’ll feel the release of tension. Western songwriting has always been about utilizing this tension in order to create emotion.

Hopefully this short essay has made it apparent that music theory can be a key to unlocking deeper meanings in music, and shouldn’t be considerd a dry, stale way of thinking that’s only thought of as useful by University professors. Studying music theory can make your playing more interesting, exciting and engaging.