“Music Theory...What's it all about??”

What is Music Theory?

 Music Theory is learning how to understand and communicate using the language of music.

Learning how to read notes is like learning how to read the alphabet, similar to the English alphabet where we use the alphabet make words and sentences, in music the notes ("alphabet") are organised into musical harmonies and phrases. Just like sentences join together to make stories, musical harmonies and phrases join together to make a whole piece. When we can recognise words quickly, it is much easier read a book. Similarly, when we can recognize harmonies and phrases quickly, the music on the page looks familiar before we even play the first note!

 The Benefits of Music Theory

 Reinforces Skills

 Learning music theory will help consolidate the music concepts you learn with each piece. Reviewing these ideas away from the piano helps to give a deeper understanding, which in turn will make them easier to apply to each new piece you learn.

 Saves time by helping you learn songs faster

 A good understanding of how a piece is built helps you learn faster. Music theory will help you find patterns and landmarks in your piece, which will also make your piece easier to memorise.

 Helps you communicate with other musicians

 Being able to speak and understand the language of music theory will help you share your musical experience with other musicians.

 Improves sight-reading skills

 Being able to recognise intervals, common chord progression and the structure of pieces is a short cut to reading new music. Being about to identify the patterns of notes allows you to read notes in groupings, rather than one by one individually.

 Enjoy music even more

 Music theory can help us become familiar with standard features and rules used in composition and give us the capacity to appreciate unusual features that a composer has used to make their composition unique.

 Understand how music is built

 Music is quite complex and music theory will give you the skills to understand what all the symbols and page markings mean. To become a successful musician, you must understand scales, keys, and intervals, which are things a course in musical theory will teach you.

 Independence

 Without a solid grasp on music theory, you will always rely on the knowledge of others to help you interpret music accurately, in particular when learning more complex pieces.

 Helps you be more creative

 While anyone can be creative, without music theory your creativity will be limited to your personal experiences. Learning music theory will open a myriad of creative possibilities. Knowing the music "rules" will allow you to apply them when fit and break away when appropriate.