Welcome to my blog!
I’m Erik Kowarski and I’ve been a musician and music teacher in Perth, Western Australia for well over 40 years. Throughout my career I have benefited from my music theory knowledge and I believe there is a useful place in every musician’s toolkit for a basic understanding of music theory and notation.
My main instrument is violin. I was brought up with Classical training including music theory, which I studied to AMEB (Australian Music Examinations Board) Grade 6.
When my musical interests widened to include many popular music genres I was lucky enough to be invited to “play along” in a variety of local bands of different genres, largely because to many the violin was considered a novel instrument outside Classical music (and traditional folk music).
I found it relatively easy to adapt to these various styles because of my understanding of music theory. I could recognise chord structures, identify and play characteristic rhythms and recognise other qualities that define the genre or style, enabling me to sound plausible in the band even though the instrument wasn’t native to that genre. (In other words, I was good at faking it).
I’m not trying to claim that I’m a great player: far from it, but my knowledge of music theory gave me an edge in learning and adapting to what was for me, new territory, which in turn gave me more insight into the inner workings of music.
Why music theory?
I have met many musicians who believe that music theory is only valid for Classical music and is irrelevant to popular music genres. Even Classical students often struggle to see a point to music theory beyond learning to read music. Creative players, especially, are afraid that learning music theory will stifle their creativity.
I can see why they feel concerned: music theory is often portrayed as highly theoretical and in most cases it is taught as a complex series of rules and conditions.
Sure, there are some aspects of music theory that must be learned by heart to be effective. Basics such as the names of musical note pitches and the symbols indicating note length require this approach because note names, note values and staves are the written language of music. Just as we learn basic spelling and grammar in order to speak and write English, note names and note values, keys and time signatures provide the basic communication of musical language.
Classical players are taught basic theory and music notation as part of learning to play an instrument, much of it by rote.
To me, though, music theory is more than that. Music theory allows us to understand the fundamental principles of music. These principles are natural phenomena: forces which are always present. Understanding these forces helps us in listening to, playing and creating music.
Mode and Time signature
When we play or listen to music we can feel that the piece has a certain overall character. In part this is due to the mode the piece is based on, such as major or minor, and the piece’s time signature and tempo. The mode and time signature/tempo provide a basic setting within which the piece is written.
Phrases
Within this setting, individual pieces can vary hugely in the emotions they invoke and how direct or complex they are. Just like a spoken language, music is based on phrases. Musical phrases, like sentences, have a beginning, middle and end. One phrase leads to another, forming a melody, the musical equivalent of a sentence.
Just like sentences, there are open phrases, equivalent to questions, and closed phrases, which are like answers. Often a melody is made up of one or more open phrases followed by a closed phase. We can feel the music lead from one phrase to the next, often arriving at a conclusion; a place where the melody feels that it has arrived.
A sense of home
One of the key concepts of music theory is the idea of home. Home is a note: the root note or tonic. Every piece that sounds like music in the conventional sense has a root note. Without an obvious root note, we can’t make sense of what we hear.
When we combine a root note and a mode we have a key, such as C major or A minor. Knowing the key of a piece tells us what the overall character is and which note it’s based on.
Often a piece starts and finishes at home and visits various neighbouring keys along the way. The most prominent chords that accompany the melody indicate these keys by pointing to their respective root notes.
Knowledge is power
It is my belief that music theory would be easier to accept as valid and useful if based on an understanding of the principles: how music actually works. Too often students are expected to take on faith a large number of rules and conditions without knowing why they exist. By understanding the musical principles at work we can see that these are not actually rules: merely ways in which to achieve a certain musical character or effect.
I have touched on just a few of the most significant musical principles to illustrate that an understanding of these principles greatly enhances our understanding of the music we listen to, play and create. I believe that knowledge, if presented clearly, is power that can only add to our musical skill set, not take away from it.
Music theory is especially useful for creative music, be it composition/ songwriting or improvisation. Every note we play has an effect – a consequence. An understanding of music theory allows the composer or player to choose which note produces the effect that they are after. This greatly speeds up processes like finding a nice solo to play or writing a melody that captures a certain emotion or character.
Music theory for working musicians
That said, I realise that such an in-depth approach doesn’t appeal to everyone.
There are many competent working musicians who have achieved their skills without the benefit of music theory. Over time they have developed a sense of the musical principles through listening and playing by ear. For many such players, the idea of delving into the theory behind the music may seem redundant.
Even so, I would like to recommend at least a basic grasp of music notation, if only for the communication benefits. I believe that it’s much quicker to learn a piece of music by reading it than by having to play an audio file 1 or 2 bars at a time, several times over.
Most musicians are familiar with the natural note names, A to G, and possibly sharp and flat. As letters on a page we can’t tell whether a note is in a high or low octave without some made-up symbols to help. I believe that it’s actually easier to learn to read these notes on a stave: the music is much more graphic in terms of high and low notes. Key signatures may look strange at first but they make sense once you can associate a key signature with a root note and a scale.
Musicians who play by ear are also familiar with beats and bars and the use of strong and weak notes. Note values and time signatures provide the rhythmic information of a piece in a way that makes it easy to teach yourself the rhythm. If the rhythm isn’t one that’s familiar to the player, I believe it’s both quicker and clearer to read as notation than to learn by ear.
Music notation has evolved by and for musicians. Notation exists because it makes musical sense.
One other useful aspect of musical language is being able to name intervals. An understanding of interval names is the gateway to understanding chords and chord symbols. It’s quite easy to learn the basics of interval names as they are based on counting notes in the major scale, something quite familiar to most musicians.
Please feel welcome to make comments or ask questions.
In the coming months I intend to put up posts in two categories:
- Music notation and basic theory tips.
- A holistic approach to understanding the principles of music theory.
If you can’t wait and would like to get started straight away with a quick course in basic notation and music theory, you can purchase my e-book, The Tiny Music Theory Book: How to Read and Talk Music in 16 Tiny Chapters, either as an EPUB or PDF, from my Shop page.
NOTE: my blog is entirely based on Western music theory. Many other cultures use different modes or even different tuning systems and are beyond the scope of this blog.
Erik Kowarski