The Point of Music Theory

[m1469]

Well, I'm sure there is not only one point, but I wish to express an opinion anyway  .  

For one, I guess I am just happy and a little excited about it, not because of any other reason than the fact that certain kinds of knowledge, etc., are just exciting to me ... but, usable knowledge, is especially exciting to me .

The other day, I performed ABEGG in a piano group gathering (which I hadn't been to for almost 3 years, so it was a "pronounced" kind of return) and it was my first live run in public with solo repertoire since my last time in that group (I've played some stuff in church, but the rep. is way different and so is the performance (though it's helped me A LOT, too)).

Anyhoo, the point is, I had a great theoretical moment during one of my performances (I actually played it twice! for them!).  I may have had more than one such moment, but one particular moment which was extremely memorable for me and convinced me of the need to become even more proficient at ... well, theory and so many other things  .  

BUT (I keep getting sidetracked), THIS moment was a little conversation in my head in a very split moment, which ended up aiding me greatly!  What happened all in a split, factional moment was that I for a very split moment couldn't quite remember what note I was supposed to play next, and directly following that very moment I reminded myself what scale I was in, and --in this case-- what the leading tone was in that scale, and therefore the next note I needed was E natural, not Eb.  All of this happened in such a split moment that absolutely nothing in my playing was disturbed!  In my world, that is really a welcomed experience!  

Anyway, it really brought home to me how helpful ear training, theoretical understanding, practical application and practice of this all, can be!

This post would probably fit into my "What I learned during practice today" thread, but I would love to give a little shout out to this board, dedicated to Music Theory ... which I would like to better dedicate myself to getting better at . WOOT!

[nanabush]

I agree completely.  If you are fluent with music theory, 'little mistakes' or 'memory lapses' don't seem nearly as scary in anything you play.

One thing that bugs me to no end now... if I'm playing some music with my friends (engineering, history, and poli sci majors), they come up with guitar riffs or a little beat or something like that, and my mind is telling me that it's either completely simple and pointless, or that it "shouldn't" go that way.

My brain is a music theory nerd, and I can't shut it off!  If I'm away from the piano, at any other instrument, I instantly start overcomplicating things, and end up talking circles around other people, and we end up getting nothing done. 

I am grateful though!  The theory knowledge combined with ear training is probably one of the things I am most grateful for learning over the last 10 years.

[vandermozart3]

I completely agree with this! I notice it mostly when I'm memorising a piece, and there's a section that's simply the first bit but in a different key (like if it modulated). Instead of getting confused between the two sections I just remember like "oh I've already done this in Ab, now I have to do it in Eb"