How much does music theory really shape your compositions?

[Benedict]

My approach: If it sounds good it is good.

I’ve noticed that the first two albums of a band often contain the most immediate and emotionally direct music. Later albums tend to be more polished and theoretically refined, but sometimes feel less raw and spontaneous.

In summary: I feel like too much theory can start to weight the music down and kill its natural flow.

While I indeed get this. I think it is not a case of correlation being causation.

I think we can say that Keith Emerson knew about as much Theory on "Just Take A Pebble" as he did on "Hot Seat". Same with Eddie V from "Eruption" to "Dreams". The biggest change here would be age and experience. Also a push for sales. It is all well and good to make Throbbing Gristle records, but sooner or later the label wants you to be able to feed their execs (not to mention your own kids) so you need to do a Genesis. That said, from having started in piss 'n' vinegar, at a certain point, it was no longer me, so I took different paths. And that, for a more mature person, tends to be smoother. No harm in that as an older person generally should be less 'mental'.

My two cents on the "If it sounds good it is good" thing. If it sounds good, chances are it is pretty solid Harmony anyway. So whether it was noted out by 'book rules', or felt, it is still good Harmony.

[cryophonik]

About 100 years ago when I was in my first year as a music major, I recall my first composition prof using an analogy that went something like “music theory is the language, composition is the poetry” and I’ve heard a few other variations since then, but that always stuck with me. Music theory is descriptive, not prescriptive.

[AsPeeXXXVIII]

Now that I give it some serious thought, I've known music theory on some level for the entire time I've been composing/producing, and I feel like it's definitely shaped my output in a way that's not entirely insignificant. But I also don't go out of my way to employ it to the fullest extent possible. I just follow my own ears as to what sounds good and what doesn't.

[stoopicus]

About 100 years ago when I was in my first year as a music major, I recall my first composition prof using an analogy that went something like “music theory is the language, composition is the poetry” and I’ve heard a few other variations since then, but that always stuck with me. Music theory is descriptive, not prescriptive.

Yeah this is it exactly. It's a signpost, not a cop.

[EyeCloud]

I think Charlie Parker put it best (at least from the perspective of playing jazz). There are a few variations recorded, but they’re all along the same lines:

“First you learn your instrument, then you learn the music, then you forget all that shit and just play.”

Theory shouldn’t be something that constrains you, but it can be a great guide.

For me, I think it helps me get wherever I am try to go faster, and helps me figure out how to make music more interesting.

[cryophonik]

Now that I give it some serious thought, I've known music theory on some level for the entire time I've been composing/producing,..

I think that’s probably more common than you’d expect. When I was young, I had a piano/organ teacher who taught me to not only read the notes, but to look at the key signature, chord markings, follow the bass, etc. and helped me relate everything, rather than just reading the notes on the staves. She also showed me how to decipher chord markings when I asked her “why does it say F#dim7 over the bar?” Over time, I sort of instinctually starting incorporating that into my bass playing and it never even occurred to me that this was all music theory. When I started my first semester in college, I got several weeks into my Music Theory 101 course and started thinking, this is all basic music knowledge, when are we going to start learning music theory? I recall having a conversation with my professor (who, incidentally, purchased the house I grew up in) and he explained to me that all the knowledge of chord progressions and harmony I had learned from my previous instructors was all really just the fundamentals of theory. By the time the semester was done, I didn’t really learn anything new, but it really did help solidify all the pieces of knowledge I had gained in my younger days. It was like the whole course became one giant “lightbulb moment” for me.

[Cuauhtli]

I heard that quote from a guitar player: ' first you learn the rules of music and then you try to forget them.'

[Ciderwell]

Charlie Parker -
“First you learn your instrument, then you learn the music, then you forget all that shit and just play.”

When Brian Eno was asked in an interview how he created his music he said that one method he likes to use is to pick a single note and play it until it resonates. If it took an hour or two then he played that note for an hour or two. Then he would find a different note, and if it took an hour or two for the two notes to resonate then he would play those two notes for an hour or two. This would continue until he had built a chord and then a chord sequence.

This isn't a method I use per se but understanding it has been crucial to how I make (original?!) music. Sometimes it's important to play only one or two notes, no sheet music or record button, and simply listen to the sounds the instrument makes.

[TechHaus]

My girlfriend who has a masters in something music related, can't remember what exactly, gave me a book called "Harmony" when I asked her about music theory. The thing is...I have to read music notation in this book. Made it until about the third chapter before I gave up. (Chapter 1 - triads. I could read that notation!) I guess I COULD learn to read music and finish the book.

The last time I read music was a piano book when I was a child, before my piano teacher died of lung cancer and then I just became a noodler for the rest of my life.

[eassae]

I heard that quote from a guitar player: ' first you learn the rules of music and then you try to forget them.'

I've heard basically the same quote applied to many artistic fields. The problem is that most people can't forget.

[EyeCloud]

Charlie Parker -
“First you learn your instrument, then you learn the music, then you forget all that shit and just play.”

When Brian Eno was asked in an interview how he created his music he said that one method he likes to use is to pick a single note and play it until it resonates. If it took an hour or two then he played that note for an hour or two. Then he would find a different note, and if it took an hour or two for the two notes to resonate then he would play those two notes for an hour or two. This would continue until he had built a chord and then a chord sequence.

This isn't a method I use per se but understanding it has been crucial to how I make (original?!) music. Sometimes it's important to play only one or two notes, no sheet music or record button, and simply listen to the sounds the instrument makes.

He has also described himself as a “non-musician”, and hasn’t particularly followed any conventional musical theory. Oblique strategies and the Portsmouth Sinfonia are more his cup of tea than formal musical education.

[Ciderwell]

Charlie Parker -
“First you learn your instrument, then you learn the music, then you forget all that shit and just play.”

When Brian Eno was asked in an interview how he created his music [...]

He has also described himself as a “non-musician”, and hasn’t particularly followed any conventional musical theory. Oblique strategies and the Portsmouth Sinfonia are more his cup of tea than formal musical education.

I'm surprised Eno would say that. I guess that's what makes the difference between "art students" and "music students". Art student treat music like paint for example, as something that can be blended and mixed and stretched and blurred, etc...whereas music students tend not to. One reason why Charlie Parker and Brian Eno sound so distinct.

[zerocrossing]

Music theory isn’t music. It’s just a language that describes music. Birds don’t know the science behind flight. Gymnasts don’t need to understand physics.

Once, I asked my brother, a Berklee graduate, to explain modal theory. I had tried reading some stuff about it and it wasn’t making sense to me. He just showed me on a keyboard in 2 seconds, and explained why one of my songs was in a Lydian mode.

So evidently, I’d written a song in a mode that I didn’t have a name for, and I didn’t even understand the concept of a mode when I wrote it. I had to have a drummer point out that one of my songs was fun for him to play because it was switching from 7/4 to 4/4. That was clear to me when I began recording it on a DAW, but initially it was just the music I wrote. So, it might have been useful for me to pay attention to what I wrote so it could be more easily explained to my band, but showing it to them seemed to work.

[lfm]

When Brian Eno was asked in an interview how he created his music he said that one method he likes to use is to pick a single note and play it until it resonates..

I can dig that, it's all about the frasing in the end. Suddenly something clicks.

That's why I always had a dictaphone within reach, because if frasing is gone it's all gone.