Should I continue learning music theory?

Chords, scales, harmony, melody, etc.
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Ecto wrote:And i believe not knowing every thing behind the music makes you more free, and more likely to make something unique.
People with a limited understanding of music theory make this claim all the time, but I have yet to see it exemplified. Jancivil is right, knowledge isn't limiting, but ignorance is.
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The scales are man-made anyway, so only a guideline. That's just word salad, you know?
No.
Your belief is bollocks. You're going to be limited by limiting yourself. Knowing more, having more of a palette, is expansive, not restrictive. Having more vocabulary is more, not less.
Thats just one way of viewing it, i would rather use the glucose in my brain to figure out a way of making things how i want them, rather than following some kind of rule set.
What you're doing, applied to another art, let's take writing, would be 'I prefer only knowing some words, and this 'syntax' you're all on about isn't for me. I feel more free this way.
No. Writing is not anything like music, apart from both are languages.
There is nothing right or wrong in music.

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Cannon fodder... :o

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Tricky-Loops wrote:Canon fodder... :o
Fixed. :hihi:
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your music is boring because it isn't mixed well (not even mention mastering). nothing to do with music theory. i can listen 100 hours in a row if a sequence is mixed well. i cant stand a minute of a good composition which the frequencies of the different tracks clash the whole time. very annoying.
Whoever wants music instead of noise, joy instead of pleasure, soul instead of gold, creative work instead of business, passion instead of foolery, finds no home in this trivial world of ours.

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Ecto wrote:Thats just one way of viewing it, i would rather use the glucose in my brain to figure out a way of making things how i want them, rather than following some kind of rule set.
What makes you think that you have to follow the rules, once you know them? Even if you know the rules, you can break them.

I see lots of people every day who know (or should know) the traffic rules, but don't follow those rules.

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What makes you think that you have to follow the rules, once you know them? Even if you know the rules, you can break them.
Nothing, and i already answered that.
I see lots of people every day who know (or should know) the traffic rules, but don't follow those rules.
Traffic is not music, and music never killed anyone.

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I think music is perhaps the only art form where there are people claiming that being ignorant is better, and knowledge cuts freedom. :o
Pathetic. It would be funny if it wasn't sad. That's perhaps because of that that we are exposed daily ot massive doses of sh!t in the form of sound :(

And telling that literature is different from music :?:
Fernando (FMR)

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Enough dancing about architecture, where are the examples of something unique and creative that you've made by ignoring all those music theory "rules"?
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"Thus I'm afraid that music theory will 'trap' me inside, making me unable to figure out beautiful chords outside what the theory teaches, and unable to accept them, which I thought will sort of limit my creativity. "

This is like saying "knowing sentence structure sill make me unable to write fiction" or "knowing engineering will make me unable to build a really gorgeous sports car."

As for "beautiful chords" outside of music theory, um, no. If you think there's a chord that hasn't been discovered yet, you simply don't know enough music theory. Between jazz and classical, there are no new chords. Now, there can be note clusters, but the average listener does not find these "beautiful."

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fmr wrote:I think music is perhaps the only art form where there are people claiming that being ignorant is better, and knowledge cuts freedom. :o
Pathetic. It would be funny if it wasn't sad. That's perhaps because of that that we are exposed daily ot massive doses of sh!t in the form of sound :(

And telling that literature is different from music :?:
Exactly. It drives me crazy when someone salivates that someone wrote something and "can't read a note of music." Ah, so he's musically illiterate? How is that a plus. I learned theory in a summer school course in junior college. Folks, it isn't like it's HARD!

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fmr wrote:I think music is perhaps the only art form where there are people claiming that being ignorant is better, and knowledge cuts freedom. :o
Pathetic. It would be funny if it wasn't sad. That's perhaps because of that that we are exposed daily ot massive doses of sh!t in the form of sound :(

And telling that literature is different from music :?:
Now this is just getting of track.
And knowledge cuts freedom in the sense that, you only have so much brain space, and you will have to decide how you spend that energy. I feel like its more easy for me to come up with ideas, without having to know whats right or wrong.

I could be wrong though.

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cryophonik wrote:Enough dancing about architecture, where are the examples of something unique and creative that you've made by ignoring all those music theory "rules"?
I only make music for myself at the moment, but here is an example of one who don't:



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Ecto wrote:Traffic is not music, and music never killed anyone.
And that's just the whole point; There's noting wrong with breaking rules (or guidelines) in music. And for me, breaking rules is much more fun than not knowing them.
Ecto wrote:And knowledge cuts freedom in the sense that, you only have so much brain space, and you will have to decide how you spend that energy. I feel like its more easy for me to come up with ideas, without having to know whats right or wrong.
So, your point is: 'Ignorance is bliss.'

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Just one example: Michael (or Mihai) Cretu!

He has studied classical music theory even in the university, and he makes extraordinary CREATIVE music like nobody else does (with "Enigma").

I don't think that all this music theory is limiting him or making him less creative, quite the opposite, it helps him in his compositions and I can hear that in every song of him.

But I must admit, I had the most boring music teachers of the world, so I learned to hate music theory, too. Because they didn't explain how to practice it with an instrument, they just told the theory from books... Students should learn IN SCHOOL how to play an instrument, not only the plain music theory.

It's just since some years that I've seen how important music theory really is, and I wish I would have studied it in an university.

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