Music Theory: Answering “The Why”
i was at rehearsal the other night when the question came about where should somebody start who wants to know more about music theory.
fair enough, but talk about an unintentionally loaded question. if you picked up a few books from the library they would start out with the fundamentals (notes, clefs, keys, scales, intervals, chords…), but after you learned that information what would you really have learned and what could you do with it?
i think when somebody says they want to learn music theory what they really are wanting to know is really “how does music work”. on that hand i don’t think many books do a great job (although i’d encourage others to happily prove me wrong and i’ll share that info).
along the lines of my previous theory post (making the simple more complex) is that learning ‘theory’ should be synonymous with teaching how music works; the skills needed how to create music i.e. composition (and implicitly imitation) rather than teaching students how to only analyze and dissect music.
thinking about this in practical terms this would mean making some big changes on how I would teach lower level theory fundamentals, asking students to transcribe and analyze a melody and/or chord progression that they liked (pain in the ass to grade). the big point here is to figure out how intervals and chords work in the context of a real piece of music (unlike the traditional way of teaching them divorced from the actual music making experience)
to skip ahead a bit the big point I’m continually trying to make is that:
- the best way to learn music theory is to analyze music that is ‘interesting’ (to us)
- this analysis should focus on answering the question ‘why?’
- learning music fundamentals (and music theory) should be connected to answering ‘the why?’
making the simple more complex?
I’m starting to think we should teach theory by performance practice. pieces by bach, beethoven, and handel can be so different that without context these pieces can be incompressible to most students.
pedagogically most theory textbooks are organized by teaching students the skills to analyze basic harmony in a sequential manner. first we teach students how to identify and create the fundamentals; scales, intervals, chords, and non-harmonic tones, and then things get pretty tricky when many books start to wade into the deeper waters of counterpoint (via 4-part writing which has major pedagogical limitations and is a whole other post) and harmonic analysis in which we get to the crux of some major problems.
after the fundamentals are mastered, treating harmonic analysis and part writing as music theory are like treating phonics and sentence structure as reading. further separating the elements of music into different classes (like form and analysis and orchestration) make it pretty hard to give the students the big picture needed to make sense of the music they are playing (and later teaching and conducting)
after the fundamentals are mastered, another option would be to focus on teaching full works, which brings up even more problems like how do you give your students enough skills so they can open a score and understand the western canon of art music?
i’m also not going to say all the music theory textbooks are bad, but i think we are doing are students a huge disservice by using mostly short excerpts as primary our source material. even with the best if intentions the main strategy of each chapter use brief musical example with easily identifiable answers of the concepts being taught which leads to the students inability to make sense of the same concept when it presented in a full score (especially if it isn’t as clearly delineated) .
for the past couple of years this has been my struggle while teaching lower division theory. i have looked at lots of textbooks, read michael rodgers great book on the subject; and had some pretty interesting conversations with other composers/teachers who share my frustration and are trying something new.
i guess right now i’m struggling with the ‘bigger picture’ questions like:
- is it possible to learn it all? (western canon of art music)
- if not what should we study?
- the ‘best’ pieces?
- the most commonly performed? and what do we leave out?
no matter which pieces we decide to study i really think the sooner we can start looking at music from the it’s elements (form, melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre) the more relevant our teaching will be of the skills needed to decode and perform music.
at the end of the day we need to find better ways to make the complex more simple instead of the simple more complex
Bookmarks for November 10th through November 16th [del.icio.us]
![Bookmarks for November 10th through November 16th [del.icio.us]](http://www.paulbailey.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/gold-line1-150x150.jpg)
Bookmarks from November 10th through November 16th:[del.icio.us]
- I dreamed the press would be forgiving – Life’s a Pitch -”Due to the high price point of this box set we will only be able to send out review copies on loan on a case by case basis and will not be able to provide any contest copies. However, we can do contests using single disc bundles from the box set. Please let me know if you would like to run a contest. I have also included a widget below which includes a video describing the box set. … PS. Because there are no review copies we are allowing members of the media to purchase Outside The Box at the wholesale cost $475. Let me know if you are interested. Bold. Call. I understand the loan thing, but the “wholesale” cost? Is that almost insulting, or is it just me? I can’t imagine someone from the classical music press in 2009 paying $475 for a review copy, unless he or she was going to turn around and sell it on eBay for a profit. Which would probably make them more than their paper would pay for the review itself! “
- Greg Mitchell: The Great Atomic Film Cover-Up -
“In the weeks following the atomic attacks on Japan 64 years ago, and then for decades afterward, the United States engaged in airtight suppression of all film shot in Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the bombings. This included footage shot by U.S. military crews and Japanese newsreel teams. In addition, for many years, all but a handful of newspaper photographs were seized or prohibited. The public did not see any of the newsreel footage for 25 years, and the U.S. military film remained hidden for nearly four decades. I first probed the coverup back in 1983 in Nuclear Times magazine (where I was editor), and developed it further in later articles and in my 1995 book with Robert Jay Lifton, Hiroshima in America and in a 2005 documentary Original Child Bomb. To see some of the footage, go to my blog. “
- Michael Kaiser: Does the Symphonic Orchestra Model Work? -
“One of the Fellows participating in the Kennedy Center Arts Management Institute raised a serious question with me: can the traditional model of a symphony orchestra work in the United States? He observed that salaries are very high for musicians, conductors and guest artists, and ticket demand is not strong enough to cover most of these costs. High ticket prices are stifling that demand and contributions will continue to have to grow very rapidly to cover inflation. I cannot argue with this analysis. Somehow the cost structure for American orchestras has risen to the point that every orchestra is likely to struggle to make ends meet.”
- Homicides: Nov. 1 to 9 | The Homicide Report | Los Angeles Times -
“The year-to-date number of homicides in Los Angeles County is about 645. This number does not include a few cases in which specifying the cause of death has been deferred.”
- The McSweeney’s Effect « Mark Athitakis’ American Fiction Notes -
“[I]t does this incredible thing for people like me, or people like me five years ago if that makes sense. Because a lot of publishers, for reasons of legitimacy, feel the need to include big writers. Or maybe it’s not even for legitimacy, maybe it’s just to put names on the front cover that will sell. And usually, to be honest, it’s the crummier work from those writers. They rarely, if ever, take risks on folk who they’ve never heard of. You might not have heard of them as the reader, but it’s almost always someone on the magazine who knew someone, someone’s old professor makes a call and gets the story in.”
- Art review: ‘Collection: MOCA’s First Thirty Years’ | Culture Monster | Los Angeles Times -
“But this is not just a promotional treasure-house show. Installed chronologically by chief curator Paul Schimmel, it also tells a story — although one that’s rarely heard. The postwar rise of American art is paired with the simultaneous rise of Los Angeles, from shallow backwater to cultural powerhouse. At the Grand Avenue building, which spans 1939 to 1979, the distinctive emergence of a mature L.A. art is embedded within the larger postwar prominence of the United States, artistically dominated by New York. At the Geffen — the story picks up in the year MOCA was born. Two telling works flank the Grand Avenue entry. At the left, a lovely little 1939 abstraction by Piet Mondrian signals Modernism’s shift from Europe to America as war loomed. At the right is Sam Francis’ luminous cloud of gray-white color, painted in postwar Paris in 1951 as an atmospheric evocation of urban light. Francis later moved to Santa Monica and served as a founding MOCA trustee.”
- The Hundred Greatest Quotes From “The Wire” In Ten Minutes (VIDEO)
“The Wire” was arguably the best show to ever grace our televisions and now an entrepreneurial fan has strung together all the best lines from its five seasons into one ten-minute video. Omar, Bubbles, Bunk, McNulty, Rawls, Stringer, Avon, Snoop, Marlo, Cheese, Prop Joe, Clay Davis and more are immortalized for their funniest and most poignant lines. “
- The Source » Twitter users weigh in on the Gold Line Eastside Extension
“Six years ago when the Gold Line to Pasadena opened there was no Twitter. Today on the first day of revenue service for the new Gold Line Eastside extension, L.A.’s first light rail since then, Twitter is a global phenomenon. Angelenos are taking advantage of the technology to share their feelings about the extension in 140 character blips. I counted over 300 tweets referencing the Gold Line during yesterdays grand opening and the tweets continue today as revenue service gets underway. Early Sunday morning, Twitter users were sharing their anticipation for the day:…”
- John Cage Visualization on Vimeo -
“Kinetic typography sketch using an excerpt from Indeterminacy 136 and a section from Tossed as it is Untroubled, both by John Cage. The typefaces are Serifa and Bookman Old Style. The animation is done in AfterEffects.”
- Disquiet » Keith Fullerton Whitman Live at Root Strata’s On Land Festival (AIFF) –
“Back in September, the first On Land festival brought a wide range of quiet-minded electronicists and other music-makers to San Francisco. I caught the first of the three concerts, which were conceived by the Root Strata record label, but unfortunately for me not the one featuring a solo performance by Boston-based musician Keith Fullerton Whitman. Of course, missed concert opportunities aren’t what they once were. Chances are, someone recorded what you didn’t witness — sometimes even the musicians themselves. And fortunately in this case, Whitman has just uploaded a high-quality recording of the nearly 20-minute set to his soundcloud.com/kfw space:”
