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A gentle reminder that this is a theory of music, not "the" music theory, or more specifically Western European music theory, rooted in 17th century Germany. A
by jedimastert 5y ago
A gentle reminder that this is a theory of music, not "the" music theory, or more specifically Western European music theory, rooted in 17th century Germany. A problem for many "21st century classrooms" is how they VASTLY over-state the universality and "superiority" of this form of music theory.
Thing about the snooty elitist vibes of the "classical" chamber music world, then realize that almost every base assumption made have real-world counter-examples. 12 equal-tempered subdivisions to an octave is (possibly) obvious one, but most people don't realize that many musical cultures don't subdivide measures into even pulses, or have even/equal-sized measures (see "additive rhythm").
- incrudible 5y agoI suspect the joy for people versed in classic theory is sparked from being able to identify the name of a recurring concept in a segment of a classical music piece. On a related note: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga_7j72CVlc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga_7j72CVlc
- ahthat 5y agoTrue, but even beyond world music, as far as I can tell there is no widely accepted academic theory of modern production technique, where note-based harmonic language is secondary to general creativity in sonic landscape. This is a large part of what most people find interesting in music today, that is popular music production for distribution via sound systems, which arguably represents the current pinnacle of evolution in human musical ingenuity.
- amanaplanacanal 5y agoThere has been a gradual shift in where new exciting stuff happens from harmony (in jazz music) to timbre (in electronic music). The science for that is in acoustics rather than music theory.
- jedimastert 5y ago> even beyond world music sidenote: this is sort of part of the problem: a lot of the academic world has positioned one specialty of music as the default and everything else in the wide world of sport in to one "world music" bucket. Also, there are absolutely schools of music theory that place other aspects of theory "above" pitch. For example, while Hip-Hop and EDM are based on western harmonic structures, I would argue that there is a much larger emphasis placed on rhythm and timbre, as the other comment mentioned. Many American Indian and African musical traditions (which may not have a "widely accepted academic tradition" but should not be viewed as less valid) place much less emphasis on a specific pitch at all, as opposed to the motion of pitch over time, and very percussion and rhythm forward. If you're interested in theories around tonal shaping, look up electro-house and dubstep sound design tutorials. Dead serious, these guys do things that would never occur to us mere mortals because of the understanding of timbre and the tools they use. A personal favorite of mine is Virtual Riot. His "4 producers 1 sample" entry was truly mind bending: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvKY_DnM1PA&t=7m43s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvKY_DnM1PA&t=7m43s
- amanaplanacanal 5y agoAdam Neely has a wonderful video on music theory and white supremacy, for those interested in some history of where western music theory came from. Also as an alternative, the jazz piano site has a really good intro to music theory from a jazz perspective, including videos demonstrating everything in each lesson.
- jedimastert 5y agoWhile it was sitting in the back of my mind for a while, Adam was the one who really got me to think critically about it.