Music Theory, Boring? Or Can It Transform Your Music So That It Can Pound Away The Competition?
Unfortunately music theory (MT) is one of those topics that once said people turn off and want to listen/ read something else. I don't want you to stop reading Why? Well, MT is not reserved for someone classical, someone who has a lab coat, or even someone who relishes physics. No, MT is far more advanced than that. In fact if your have listened to:
You would have listen to MT in action. So any song in the charts and yep, most MP3s that you have downloaded have used this cool gem to its full effect. You see without music theory none of those songs would be rememberable, none would have made someone cry, none would have make you excited and happy, none would have stayed there at the top of the charts for weeks on end. That is its power. "With music theory you will be able to communicate musical ideas, explore music in whole new ways, and redefine the tremendous scope that entails the world of music"- MusicianHome.com You want to be different from other people. And hey, with the amount of musicians out there at present time, we all need something to differentiate ourselves from the competition. Most of those other musicians won't even try to look at music theory, they probably would turn off the Internet and look at something else. That is a mistake, but one that you can capitalize on. So why music theory?I bet that is a question that is zipping round in your head at the moment :) But it is a good question. Music theory is the heart, soul and guts of a song. Anyone can play notes on a page, but if you do not understand the make-up of the song, you can not give it the feeling, the voice it is trying to have. Check out the Das Boot theme. Brilliant. Slow start, guitar middle and a quick end. I know the film, but listening to the music you can see the crew members traveling and overcoming adversary- the start. The middle is finding problems, maybe a death or a downfall? The mood is brilliant and one of my favourite guitar tracks. The ending is jubilation, all speed ahead and accomplishment. Read the comments people have left, and the song now is cult level. It has lasted the years of time, mainly because of music theory.
Have you every watched a band play, such as those on late-night TV talk shows? The pianists seem to be able to pick up any song, off the cuff, and begin playing it without the advantage of sheet music or having practiced. That's music theory at work. A musician at a concert will know music theory and will play one of their songs that everyone knows but will also add different elements to it, there and then. That is what people want to see. "If you ever want to try your hand at actually writing or improving a piece, you have to understand how the song works"- Louisianna Piano Teachers. Those musicians with a bent toward writing original music will find that knowing theory is essential in creating music for lyrics. ALL of the stage musicals are written by people who know music theory, and that goes for film musicians as well. To come up with original pieces of music that portray the emotions of the film and also make it interesting enough so that people want to buy it is only possible due to music theory. The top DJs know how to play the piano, but in turn, they also know music theory. They can knock out tune after tune with no hassle. Each of them sounds slightly similar but are completely different, engaging, fund and rememberable. They don't think "how can I make this tune?" They think "Ok I want to make this type of tune, and this is how I am going to do it". And... Jaws is the best example of this. It is an ominous piece of music that is only made up of 2 notes, derr- dum. Thats all, yet those two notes are the most worrying notes ever. It is because of music theory that actually tells us what notes to play to make us feel worried, happy and even sad. So I want to make music all the time, having tunes people like:The first part of music theory is to understand Rhythms. This is the very core of music. Whether you are trying to achieve a specific mood or trying to make something that grabs someones attention, then Rhythms are the key. When you look at a sheet of music therefore the first thing that you hit is something called a "time signature". This tells you the timing of a certain segment or even the whole song is supposed to go. You see the important elements are actually at the start of the song. Like the timing, what key to play the track in etc...the feeling of the song comes first, then the keys are played. The keys are also not hard to check out either. It all revolves around the playing of the same notes over and over again but with different pitches. If you have a look at a keyboard or a piano, you will see that the keys repeat after time, you see 2 black keys and then 3 black keys. The white keys underneath these are the same, they are repeated as well. And what are the notes? The white keys are C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. The black keys are just half a note up or half a note down. So you have 7 white keys and 5 black = 12 keys repeated throughout the piano...not hard is it. You press on one white key and find its equivalent further up or down the piano and it will be the same note but just pitched higher or lower. So what does the keyboard look like?
When people say they can read music, all they are able to do is look at a piece of paper and they are able to read off one of those 12 notes in a sequence. Now this is even easier because reading music follows rules and you can't get away from those rules. Because they have to be written on a staff, that is the 5 lines that all musical notes are written on. Classical music looks like a bunch of jumbled up squiggly lines and notes, but they follow the same rules that Jingle Bells and the Jaws theme follow. And that rule is? The feeling of the song has to be written down at the start, and all notes have a certain place on the staff. The squiggly lines tell the person reading the music that some notes flow into another, that you must stop at a certain point, that the song should go quicker here or there, that you should be using the 12 notes that are further up on the piano than the ones further down. It seems a bit understandable doesn't it? and actually logical. If you ask me it sounds like a recipe being put together. Stay with me on this one... If I made a fantastic cake I would like other people to make it as well, I would like everyone to make it, but I need to tell or write it down for everyone to understand my thought process in making that cake. I can't say "use a bit of this or a bit of that" because it is no measure, my bit is larger than someone elses (when it comes to chocolate that is very true). So I say 20 grams of, or 1 litre of. These are known measures that people know of, they are rules. It is the same with music theory, when you get to know the rules then you can easily read and make your own music. Because you understand the recipe of making music. Top Chefs are exactly like Top Composers and Musicians. They all understand the rules. I would never think of putting together some of these quick snacks that Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsey come out with. They sound disgusting. However, they know exactly the types of flavours that compliment each other, they know exactly what food clash and what foods make a sweet team. And it is exactly the same with a composer. They know what works, they know how to get the very best out of almost every tune. It is knowing the rules and figuring out an easy way to understand them is the key. Check out some more music articles. |
