advice on music theory classes

[ecsmix]

Hi guys,

I was wondering which approach should I take in order to learn to compose music to do electronic music.
I believe I don't need the baggage of real musician do I?
So I need to know what tell the music teacher to teach me so I can learn what i need to create good harmonies,melodies,basslines,leads,strings,pads and put everything right together.
I know some and I have tons of books with chords and stuff so I dont need to know them by heart.
I know it's a very tricky question, it's how you teach enough theory to a deejay so he can compose simple club songs, something like that....
Which topics would be more important to a deejsy for example.

Thanks for the patience.

[llatham]

Hi guys,

I was wondering which approach should I take in order to learn to compose music to do electronic music.
I believe I don't need the baggage of real musician do I?
So I need to know what tell the music teacher to teach me so I can learn what i need to create good harmonies,melodies,basslines,leads,strings,pads and put everything right together.
I know some and I have tons of books with chords and stuff so I dont need to know them by heart.
I know it's a very tricky question, it's how you teach enough theory to a deejay so he can compose simple club songs, something like that....
Which topics would be more important to a deejsy for example.

Thanks for the patience.

I like how you said you don't need the baggage of a "real" musician to make electronic music

There's got to be some good philosophical discussions there, but I'll hold my tongue on that for now .

To be honest, you really don't need "lessons" or "theory". I say "really" because I mean you don't have to take "formal" studies. Of course, you do hav to "study" what you want to emulate.

The very best teacher is the music itself. Listen to as much as you can, immerse yourself in the style. Then what you need to do is dissect it, and see what makes it tick - what are common patterns, what happens when you do X, and Y, or X and Y together. Basically, that's experience.

Lessons are a "shortcut" in many ways - basically, a teacher can cut down on the amount of time it will take you to learn the things, because, you can use their experiences and learn from them (in other words, the trial without the error!). Additionally a teacher can present things in a logical manner - a lot of people who try to learn things on their own get frustrated because they're learning something here, and something there, and don't see how those things work together, or fit into the big picture.

So you need a teacher/instructor who is familiar with what you want to do (or who can figure it out and present it in a logical fashion).

Studying theory too is a "shortcut". You can take courses formally, or you can try and assimilate on your own. A good instructor helps with the same thing here (I assume you meant like an instrument teacher - like a piano or guitar teacher above, and that's what the "Lessons" paragraph refers to).

One probably with formal lessons (especially in Theory at an educational institution) is that they are too genre specific - they are about classical period (I teach theory at a university). You don't typically study styles of pop music. HOWEVER, if you go into the class knowing that the TOOL you learn there are or can be applicable to many styles, you can get a lot from it. All too often, rock guitarists come in and get pissed off because they can't write parallel 5ths, which they play all day as power chords. So you have to understand it's a different style (though some institutions teach jazz, and more are starting to teach pop styles) but you can still get useful information out of it.

But to be honest with you, I'd rather be a "real musician" and play a style that might not require any skills/theory/technique, etc. than not have any skills/theory/technique, etc. and find I can't play or create the music I love.

YMMV

lsl

[Chester Desmond]

There are many websites that will teach you theory in a linear fashion, ie not "here and there" as llatham mentioned which indeed is a recipe for frustration. Learning things like how chords and scales are constructed can make a world of difference;
for example: knowing the interval between notes in a minor scale are always the same, you discover that you can construct a minor scale in any key (and on almost any instrument) without having to reference a scale chart ever again. Same with chord construction and other basic rules. To be able to play a "correct" chord progression and know what notes will work with it is such a saving in time and effort that it is worth the time investment to learn imo.
It's extremely powerful information and not nearly as difficult as you might think once you put your mind to it. I spent years fighting against learning theory until I actually did take the time to get some fundamentals into my head and see that these building blocks are a huge portion of everything else.
How deeply you want to get into it is optional, but it's like anything..a NASCAR driver has many little things he does to win a race, but knowing what the pedals and steering wheel do is essential information which allows a person to get into nearly any wheeled vehicle and get going.
Here's a good informative site that I used to get started I am still very new to all of it but at least I got myself over the mental hurdle that theory was "trying to control me and stifle my creativity".

http://cnx.org/content/col10208/latest/

[llatham]

I got myself over the mental hurdle that theory was "trying to control me and stifle my creativity".

I wanted to add here that I find many of the students that come through have that same perception at first - they like Green Day, or Rage Against the Machine, and they're afraid that theory will "corrupt" them. Nothing could be further from the truth. If anything, theory might make you simply appreciate and enjoy some things that you might not otherwise have enjoyed (and give you the skills and knowledge to play and comprehend more). As I always say, you can learn theory, and not use it at will. But, if you don't learn it, you can't use it!

steve