SergeOfArniVillage

GREAT post, I completely agree.

Now I have finally gotten around to putting up my music on a website, to listen to it for free. Here it is on YouTube: I hope you enjoy it! =)

MusicBanter: The words "music theory" probably conjures up images of a studious professor type analyzing every detail and note in a piece of music, much like a high school student dissects a frog. Music is math. There are a myriad of ways you can perceive a quantity, or a formula/equation, and there are a myriad ways you can perceive music. Some form of understanding of music theory really is necessary to create true art, whether the artist realizes what he or she is doing, or not. It's not like you have to know how every chord relates to its tonic -- some people are more intuitive than others. I should probably clarify I'm somewhere in the middle, personally. I know some level of "academic" music theory, so to speak, but half of me is more intuitive as well. No. Never. In fact, classical music is where theory is really most important. A performer excels when they understand why the composer chose to make this particular section crescendo or diminuendo, or why the composer chose to add an accel. or rit. marking, or why the music trains of thought are voiced the way they are voiced and phrased the way they are phrased. There is no room for McDonald's-style performance in classical music. Do you really imagine this performance would be possible if the pianist did not fully understand the story of the music, rather than "just the notes"? And just imagine how difficult even straight-up memorization of the notes would be if you didn't see how they related to each other!

This is a great idea for a forum thread -- I'm surprised I actually haven't seen one like it until now. Personally, I seem to go through long periods of music writing slumps, where I don't do much of anything, except simply listen to music. (That's where I happen to be right now.) And then I go through long periods of the opposite, where it's nothing but a crazed frenzy to write music, making sure it's structurally sound, harmonically/rhythmically appropriate for what I'm striving to convey, and melodically strong. I try to avoid writing a whole lot of ideas at once -- for me, focusing on one piece of music on a time is most effective. What did I do with music today? Listened to Beethoven's Op. 131 for the first time. Listening to music by composers you respect is an education in and of itself, even when your inner "musician mode" isn't engaged.

I was speaking from the standpoint of someone wishing to compose music, and from the standpoint of one wishing to enjoy music that deviates from what is obvious. I wasn't even talking about performers -- pianists, guitarists, violinists, etc. Yet even then, knowledge of music theory, combined with muscle memory, makes learning and retaining a piece of music much easier than just seeing music as random notes on a page the composer decided to throw on there, or as just a motion you make to cause a sound you want. Like you said, it makes a performance better when you know what it is you're "saying" in the music. It's like the difference between reading words on a page, and comprehending what you're reading. However, I think what you're saying is that it would be detrimental to a performance to over-think it while performing. I'd definitely have to agree -- straightforwardness in performance is a good thing, a lot of times.

An understanding of music theory is of the utmost importance to a musician... period. Great music can come in all shapes, forms, and sizes, just like living, breathing people. The more one understands the various angles you can look at music, the more doors open to appreciation of music that may never have even been conceived of before. Anyone can enjoy a song with a good melody and a good harmony -- there's certainly nothing wrong with that. But music theory expands the comprehension of music on a deeper level, so one can enjoy pieces of music that would cause others to simply tilt their head and think to themselves, "What utter nonsense". To say that this piece by Beethoven is a sublime masterpiece is still, somehow, an understatement. Knowledge of music theory is definitely required to appreciate it fully, however.

Careful! Don't try to limit yourself to only having a melody come first, and adding harmonies later. Melodies that could seem rather bland and uninspired when hummed, can become magical when paired with particular harmonies. For example: Imagine this piece's melody all by itself. Pretty lousy, right? Nope. Rachmaninoff's unique pairing of intertwined voicing and harmonies, paired with this largely chromatic melody, amount to a surreal, luscious experience that gives goosebumps. The same goes for sung music as well; don't confine yourself to the obvious melodies that appear only by themselves, without accompaniment. When you find a melody, and find that certain lyrics don't quite gel, it's ok to change the melody. Experiment, and see if you can find something that works as a whole with everything else.

I had posted some of my music on this site several months ago, music that was very close to its completion. I wasn't expecting much of a response, but I received extremely positive feedback, which was very encouraging, given I have worked myself to death on this album. So I decided I would make a version of the album that I would be completely happy with, and find a way to sell it online. I have now finished this album, "Free Of The Chrysalis". The album includes a better, more realistic piano sound, as well as more fleshed-out ideas at parts of the music that I had been meaning to revise. Also, you'll be feeding a starving artist! Yay! http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/zacheaton1 Thank you all very much for your interest in my music -- it has been a huge help in me finishing this album.

Well, you said lyrics, but I suppose the music itself applies, and I never, ever write down music on my software until I have planned it out thoroughly on empty-stave paper. Otherwise, my music would be lacking subtlety and depth, even structure, that would really affect the overall quality of my music. I want to make music that people can listen to over and over again -- and I can't do that without my trusty pencil and paper.

Ravel's "Bolero" contains, when you simply hum it without the accompanying harmonies, one of the worst melodic lines I have ever heard, sounding banal, contrived, and all those other words referring to something negatively. Yet when you actually play it with the music ... you get something remarkably less awful. (I happen to think it has a certain charm, but it's not everyone's cup of tea.) I suppose with lyrics, it's similar. I think it was Voltaire who said "Song lyrics are words too stupid to be said", or something to that effect, but when you put them to music, Ah!, now it becomes involving and artistically meaningful. Or, of course, the lyrics can be forever terrible no matter how you slice them. My humps, my lumps, my bumps.

I think for me ... I'm often inspired by my own imagination. I don't have a particularly active or interesting life, due to certain circumstances, so I find that creating music helps me to add a little bit of excitement in my life. Telling a deep and meaningful story in music is, for me, very rewarding.