Music Before Theory

     

    There will be quite a bit of discussion about music theory on this site, and while it can be useful for developing into a good musician, it's important to not get bogged down in it.  As musicians, we study music, and the only real tool we need is our ears.

    It's important to keep in mind what music theory actually is.  It only exists to describe music that has already been written.  It's based on what someone else thinks sounds good.  As a musician, you are meant to play and compose music that sounds good to you.  For that to happen, you need to determine what you like.  The only way to do this is to listen to actual music.

    In my experience, I've found that the importance of listening to real music is often overlooked, whether you're self taught or studying with an actual teacher.  I would even say that it is THE most important part of developing as a musician.  Now, when I say "listening," I don't mean putting on some music in the background while you're doing the dishes.  I mean directing all of your attention to listening and analyzing what's going on in the music.  Listen to how the drummer and bass player are interacting with one another.  Does the song have 2 verses before a bridge into the chorus, or is there even a bridge at all?  What did the soloist do to build to a climax?  When you find a song you like, listen to it over and over until you can sing that badass sax line in the bridge.  Listen!

    Music theory simply provides you with terminology that makes it easier to categorize and label the things that sound good to you.  That's it.  It can provide you with guidelines to work within, or you can ignore it entirely.  It doesn't matter.  There are no rules in music other than what sounds good or not and that is different for everyone.  That being said, the more ways one has of conceptualizing something, the better the understanding of the whole can be achieved, and maybe even present an element of clarity that might not have been previously realized.  Remember that music is only relative to itself, so find your own way of thinking about it.  After all, art is a personal expression.