[I am not a music theory expert but just finished two semesters of music theory at community college and have several decades of experience as an adult] Functi

[I am not a music theory expert but just finished two semesters of music theory at community college and have several decades of experience as an adult] Functional harmony is usually what people mean by music theory. Functional is the key to my understanding. Functional Harmony is what has been done harmonically and melodically in styles of music derived from The Period of Common Practice. Functional Harmony describes what some people did. Using it makes music that sounds like what those people did. From the street where I live, I see cultural institutions that ascribe moral value to the conventions of The Period of Common Practice. There’s an industry built up around The Period of Common Practice and the flow of money means there are jobs for those of jobbing age and careers for those of careering age. It is a disjointed mess like any jobs program.