I mostly work with pre-classical and classical (pre-romantic) music. For me the utility is mostly about quickly learning and sight-reading music. Quickly gettin

I mostly work with pre-classical and classical (pre-romantic) music. For me the utility is mostly about quickly learning and sight-reading music. Quickly getting an idea of phrasing, by seeing where the tension-release should be. Or figuring out how to tune with others in ensembles, when you're not bound by equal temperament (basically anything without piano, organ, guitar). > Conversely, there appears to often be many ways to "explain" a certain composition in terms of music theory. Remember that music theory is descriptive, not prescriptive. It's a description of existing musical practice, not a set of rules that say what is right and wrong.