What is Music Theory?
Many people, even many musicians, use the term music theory to refer to all of the wrong things. People treat theory as rules or as a means to demean popular styles of music and lift up certain genres above others as more complex or more “correct.” This video is just my small contribution to helping to define music theory in a manner that I hope increases humility and curiosity about this subject.
0:00 Misunderstandings about Music Theory
1:17 Purpose of Theory
1:57 Competing Definitions
3:30 Misuse of Theory
5:22 Another Aspect: Philosophy
6:20 Why is this Important?
Some research links
University of Miami Article: https://news.miami.edu/uonline/storie...
Britannica Definition: https://www.britannica.com/browse/Mus...
Plagiarism Analysis using Schenker: https://repository.law.uic.edu/cgi/vi...
Chechen Music Ban: https://www.npr.org/2024/04/09/124363...