What is Music Theory (MT)?
The MT is the study of the language of music.
It explains how you can make a piece that brings a meaning without making it sound like a bunch of random notes. Furthemore it is a extremely powerful tool for the musician to convey emotions.
What are the topics of MT?
Rhythm
Everybody knows what is the rhythm: it's the way the notes are played over time.
Knowing the rhythm theory gives you the following stats:
✍️ know how to write notes keeping their pulse
🥁 develop complex and interesting rhythmic patterns
💃 understand how a piece can make you dance while another may appear relaxing
Melody
Why do we remember so well the Pirates of Caribbean theme or the Harry Potter theme? The melody theory answers this question. It explains how a musical theme is born from little chunks of notes and tells how these pieces linked together build a theme or an entire piece.
Knowing the melody theory gives you the following stats:
✍️ know how to write pitches (musicians loves pitches)
💯 costruct 100 pieces from some notes
Harmony
Harmony is what we feel around the main theme. Why do we appreciate more Closer from Chainsmokers rather than Mary Had A Little Lamb? Both of them has a simple melody and rhythm, however something in the first one is more pleasing than in the other one. That something is the harmony.
Knowing the harmony theory gives you the following stats:
⤵ know how from a phrase follows another one
❤ make fall in love the girl you like
💤 understand how not to be boring
The MT explains lots of other topics but these go beyond an introductory post like this. I will write later about them after I'll talk on the concepts of rhythm, melody and harmony.
Why should I care?
Because although you are not a musician you can better appreciate what you listen to. Knowing the MT one can figure out how the song producer has succeeded in transmitting happiness, anger, sadness, pride, or any other feeling the piece conveys.
How come? I'll give you an example.
If I eat pasta with a bunch of spices I can feel it is good but I cannot distinguish the tastes. But if someone who cooks tells me what he put in I can better distinguish what the tastes of the original ingredients are.
Similarly if I listen to a song I appreciate it for the emotions it transmits, but if someone tells me the MT I can understand what the original chunks were and how the producer used them to write the song.
You do not need to know the harmony to appreciate the music, but knowing harmony you can appreciate more the fineness in a piece.
Can the MT explain every piece?
Yes, MT has application in classical music, but also in improvisational music such as jazz and rock, and even more rhythm-based music such as rnb and hip hop. Knowing the few basic concepts the theory is applicable to any kind of music.
Thanks for your listening, leave a comment and tell me what you think.
