[palimpsests]

my goodness. I appreciate your personalized take on music theory for its iconoclasm but would never in a million years subject any of my students to learning this beautiful topic in this way. Unless they were perhaps computer scientists / programmers who were having trouble with this material using more conventional, time-tested approaches. But I have yet to see that.

for anyone else reading this just know that music theory in study and application can be approached in a much more intuitive, less “algebraic” manner.

(nothing wrong with algebra...)

[jeofken]

Sorry if it’s not for you. I am rather frustrated by music teachers often even not knowing or being interested in the first principle of what they’re teaching, and think I was lucky to have a retired physics teacher teach me music. It is all about fractions, so why shy away from it? Many teachers can tell me about intervals and scales, but not answer why those sounds fit together - like how a 5th is 1.5x the frequency of the tonic. That’s no better than just memorising chords on a piano. I want to see the beauty in its essence!

Good thing this world can accommodate more than one style of learning! Take care

[palimpsests]

Thanks for your reply, no apologies necessary, and I am glad you found a teacher that you resonate with!

I have degrees in physics and music. I understand all of this from first principles.

Speaking as someone who has spent tens of thousands of hours in music, with other musicians at many different stages of learning - for probably the majority of music students, this is (initially) essentially useless and potentially even obfuscatory and unhelpful. It can be interesting to learn about later if someone wants to. Does nothing to help people get better at playing their instrument, which is what most people seem to want. Having an interest in acoustics and the physics of music can be helpful in driving someone to play and practice if it simply gets someone to spend more time with their instrument.

In your reply I wonder if past music teachers have emphasized memorizing theory without application - in what I have seen, this is not the norm. The emphasis is on practice and application, developing an internalized somatic memory (e.g. muscle memory & ear training), and technique in order to avoid hurting yourself.

Internalized somatic memory is not the same thing as memorizing concepts with your mind :)

Let me ask you this - it sounds like you are coming from a classical / folk perspective? I’m coming from a jazz foundational perspective, that’s the “form” of music theory education I am referring to. Which is quite common in the U.S. Do you have much practical experience playing / learning jazz or related genres on an instrument? (is this a genre that even interests you?)