What is it? How does it work?
I’m constantly surprised by how little many musicians know about music theory, including musicians and producers who have been making music for a very long time. In my work as a mix engineer, producer, educator, I encounter projects that require that I reverse engineer some of the most basic decisions on songs that are brought to me to work on. Things like the bass line not being in the same key as the chords, and melodies also not in the same key as the chords.
Or even nothing being in the same key as anything else !
These mistakes are all based on a lack of fundamental knowledge of how music theory works. I have taught music technology and produced music for many years. Often, music is brought to me to mix,
and in the process of trying to mix a song, I discover fundamental problems that require more serious repairs before any kind of mix can happen. I’ve also had musicians and groups come to record where none of the musicians know what key they are playing in, or what the chords are ! You would think I’m making all this up, but I’m not.
I believe that the basics of Music Theory can be taught fairly quickly.
It’s really not that hard to understand. It does take time and practice to master some of the skills, but the basics are fairly easy to teach.
Here’s a short list of skills…
-Tuning instruments/hearing intonation
-What are overtones/What is the Harmonic Series?
-Knowing scales / What is diatonic vs non diatonic?
-How does harmony work / how to build chords and progressions
-How do I know what key I’m in?
-How does rhythm work
-Notation
That might sound like a lot of stuff, but once you understand some of these skills, it’s really not that hard. These skills used to be taught in school, or at the very least by good private music teachers.
But I’ve found that many musicians these days did not take private music lessons, or music in college. Without a basic understanding of theory, the same mistakes may be made over and over forever.