[Dixielandjazz] Re: Music theory

[Dophin88 at aol.com]

> "I have a good friend that's really good with all sorts of scales, whole
> tone, mixolidian, (all the Greek scales) and a few that I don't know.  He's
> fast as hell and can wow just about anyone but his solos sound like scales
> and something out of a exercise book.  That's what you'll get if you delve
> too much into the theory."
> 
Well, that's not necessarily what you'll get if you delve too much into the 
theory!   If you do it right, you get a deeper, more thorough understanding of 
the music, and can express it (or compose it, or hear it) more freely and 
beautifully.   If you have better listening chops (which is what theory can do), 
you have better chops in every area of your musical life.   Theory is best not 
learned/taught purely as a paper exercise, the way it is commonly done 
(especially in this country).  As a theory teacher myself, having studied with the 
best, I teach based on the ear and the music in the most fundamental sense - 
understanding the function and the importance of each note/interval/chord/line.   
I don't think about scales and intervals per se when I'm playing - but those 
years of study totally inform my musicianship and the way I play, hear, and 
compose music.   

If someone's solos sound like scales from a theory book, that's not an 
example of the benefits of studying theory in my mind, and certainly not a necessary 
end of "delving too much into the theory" (which in my opinion isn't 
possible, if it's done right!).  It's an example of studying theory the wrong way, or 
of studying only one of the elements of theory (the non-musical part) ans 
stopping before you get to the important part.   Those scales are not being fully 
understood or used musically if they sound that way, even if they are 
"correct."   It is the work that is done AFTER you have the scales, etc. under your 
belt that is the important part.   If you stop there, you miss the beauty of how 
that study can inform your playing and listening and composing.