Music theory encompasses chords and how they are built and structured, understanding and building scales, building a melodic passage, learning about rhythmic meters, and studying ear training. Most music programs in a typical college level curriculum include the study of music theory. Many students presently don't want to spend the time on music theory because they feel that it doesn't relate to their instrument and does not make sense to them.
Except for people that are intellectuals, most people believe music theory is boring and needlessly complicated and music is supposed to be fun, not a mathematical exercise; and it's hard enough training the muscles of the hand and learning to sight-read without bothering with all that theory. Music theory helps tremendously with training your ear and gives you very enhanced improvisational and compositional powers and learning chords and how to play them is a very valuable tool for the pianist.
All music schools and music departments furnish a number of theory classes for students, as well as ear training. Perfect pitch is a rare gift for most musicians, but even those individuals who have perfect pitch still have to study theory so that it helps them with relative pitch and learn how melodies and harmony are constructed in works of music. Also, even if you can identify and read notes easily doesn't mean that you can compose great works of music or that you can easily understand a great piece of music.
Imagine listening to someone reading out loud using no expression or emotion, with a lot of hesitation. Still, they are able to read and speak the words. The problem is that they do not sound good because there is no understanding of the words they are articulating.
Even if they know the meanings of all or most of the words, the true meaning and all of the mental and emotional subtleties contained in the content are going over their head. They would do so much better if they actually knew what they were reading about. It's the same with a musician.
No matter if you have perfect pitch and are naturally gifted with dexterity, the confidence you will gain from knowing why certain notes should fit together will affect other people who hear them. Most music students are required to study music theory as it is a basic fundatmental skill they must learn. They must learn why music sounds the way it does and how it is put together. - 16036
Except for people that are intellectuals, most people believe music theory is boring and needlessly complicated and music is supposed to be fun, not a mathematical exercise; and it's hard enough training the muscles of the hand and learning to sight-read without bothering with all that theory. Music theory helps tremendously with training your ear and gives you very enhanced improvisational and compositional powers and learning chords and how to play them is a very valuable tool for the pianist.
All music schools and music departments furnish a number of theory classes for students, as well as ear training. Perfect pitch is a rare gift for most musicians, but even those individuals who have perfect pitch still have to study theory so that it helps them with relative pitch and learn how melodies and harmony are constructed in works of music. Also, even if you can identify and read notes easily doesn't mean that you can compose great works of music or that you can easily understand a great piece of music.
Imagine listening to someone reading out loud using no expression or emotion, with a lot of hesitation. Still, they are able to read and speak the words. The problem is that they do not sound good because there is no understanding of the words they are articulating.
Even if they know the meanings of all or most of the words, the true meaning and all of the mental and emotional subtleties contained in the content are going over their head. They would do so much better if they actually knew what they were reading about. It's the same with a musician.
No matter if you have perfect pitch and are naturally gifted with dexterity, the confidence you will gain from knowing why certain notes should fit together will affect other people who hear them. Most music students are required to study music theory as it is a basic fundatmental skill they must learn. They must learn why music sounds the way it does and how it is put together. - 16036
About the Author:
Georgia Reader reports on for PlayPianoGuide.com, which is a site that reports on the latest and most effective piano courses currently online. Music theory is necessary for piano students to learn as well as learning the notes and how to play the instrument.
