 This video is sponsored by DistroKid. Follow the VIP link in the description down below to get 7% off an already amazing price to distribute your music to the world. Hi folks, I'm Mike and I hope you're well. The notion that music theory will kill your creativity is often proposed in debates about the subject, which I personally find rather fascinating. However, I also find that the purpose of music theory is often misunderstood. I'll be talking about that later as well as my final conclusions about the pros and cons of using music theory. But first of all, I'd like to ask you a couple of questions about why people may be deterred from it. When we look at the many genres of music that fall under the umbrella of rock-pop, we often find we can trace their lineage back to 50s rock and roll. And since that time, we can also see that the music doesn't exist just as an art form in itself, but it's often attached to some kind of cultural movement or other. Whether it's the rebellious teenagers of the 1950s or the hippies of the 60s or the punks of the 70s and the rap artists of the 80s and 90s, a common theme is anti-establishment. I'm not going to be told what to do by the man. I want to find my own way of doing things and in fact, I don't mind if I upset you along the way. And what could be more establishment than a formal training in music theory? So my question to you is, do you or someone you know think you've been deterred from music theory because it's just not very rock and roll? The so-called Yamaha method of teaching music presupposes that music can be taught just like any other language and that there are four main stages to it. We hear, we imitate, we speak, we read. And I think the influence here is that it would be kind of silly to approach a one-year-old and teach them the English language by starting out with lessons on grammar and spelling. It probably wouldn't yield good results. We first allow them to experience the verbal language, we allow them to have fun with it, to incorporate it in their lives, and then we start to formalize the teaching of it a little. Unfortunately, I feel that many music lessons have overlooked this or many music teachers have overlooked this and go in way too early with music theory and music reading. I reckon that may have left some scars on some of you. Let me know in the comments if that was your musical experience with, say, piano or violin lessons when you were a child and did it leave you with scars. So I'd like to quickly differentiate between knowing about music theory and a formal training in music theory. It's quite possible, especially these days, to know all about music theory without a formal training. And the reason I bring this up is often in these arguments people will say, hey, look at Keith Richard. He never had a formal training in music theory, but he was a great success. And that's very, very true. But I don't believe that he didn't pick something up along the way, at least by osmosis. Because if you're a working musician, especially if you work with other musicians, I think you're bound to pick up a few bits and pieces of music theory, whether you like it or not, even if it's just the names of the chords that you can tell your other band members. But it's also going to be things like noticing patterns. Hey, when I play this 12 bar in A and then D and then E, but the singer asked me to play it in G, the chords are now G, C and D. And when it's in C, it's C, F and G. And over time, you start to notice that these three chords always go together. You may not have identified them as the first fourth and fifth chords, as you would in music theory. But you've picked up a little bit of music theory along the way, even though you're a rebel, and you didn't want to. I'd also like to differentiate between reading music and music theory, because I've often seen and say articles that talk about Jimi Hendrix couldn't read music. And then they conflate that with the idea that he didn't know any music theory. Knowing music theory and reading music are connected, but they're not the same thing. You can learn about music theory without learning to read or sight read musical scores. Nonetheless, I find these examples of these untrained musicians becoming incredibly successful, very compelling. I think it speaks to the desire that I would have that music should be open to all people, regardless of their level of education or wealth. However, it still doesn't prove that knowing music theory will kill your creativity, because there are other examples that kind of counter that. For example, Frank Zappa or Steve Vai, two individuals who had an incredibly rich grounding in music theory who remained creative, and I guess we could say they were successful as well. One of the biggest myths I see about music theory is that it's prescriptive rather than descriptive. Prescriptive meaning it tells you what to do. It has a set of rules which you must obey. People assume that because music theory tells you which notes are in the key of C, that when you're playing in the key of C, you must only play those notes. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, music theory has a term for the notes which are not in that key, and those are the non-diatonic notes, and you're perfectly free to use them in your composition if you want to. Remember, music comes first, theory comes later. There wasn't some big book of music theory created at the beginning of time, which all people followed after that. No, music was created first, and then music theorists came along and described what people had been doing. One thing you definitely won't need any music theory for is releasing your music through our sponsor DistroKid. They'll get your music out to major platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Google Play, etc. at a really great price and it's really easy to use as well. Check the VIP link in the description down below and you'll get 7% off an already amazing price. So what are some of the pros of music theory? Well, firstly, it's a shared common language which we can use to easily communicate quite complex ideas in an efficient way. Secondly, it provides you with a great set of tools. Let's say, for example, you want to transpose a song from one key to another. If you use just a little bit of music theory, that can be quite quick and efficient, whereas if you do it by trial and error or by ear, it can be slow, inaccurate, and somewhat cumbersome. Thirdly, it's a great way to analyze existing music and hopefully try and get inside the minds of some great composers. And fourthly, I think it can actually make you even more creative at times. Let's say, for example, you learned about a new mode and you started to apply that to your solos or improvisation. It could take you to places that you otherwise wouldn't have thought of, but it's not all pros. There's definitely some cons as well. I think the major cons that I see with music theory are related to two myths. The first is one we talked about earlier, that music theory is a set of rules. If you fall for that and start following those perceived rules, then I think you're bound to create rather bland and predictable music with no surprises. And let's face it, surprises are an awesome thing to have in music, and they're usually pretty inspiring. The second misconception I see is related to the fact that we can analyze music with music theory. I'll sometimes see people analyze, say, a great Beatles song using music theory, and they'll say, hey, look, look at this great and unusual thing that they did here. And that can give the misconception that the composer, in this case the Beatles, were using music theory to create that music. I don't think that's true. I think most often than not, they were just playing their guitars and perhaps accidentally did something, or they just had something in their mind and played it and they said, hey, that sounds great. And they possibly didn't even know what they were theoretically doing. So I wouldn't want people to believe, hey, I must learn and understand music theory in order to create great music like that. I don't think that's true at all. So here's the thing. I actually find music theory rather interesting in a nerdy kind of way. And it can be an interesting subject to study and a little bit useful as well. It could even make you feel a little bit superior to others. But here's the thing. You can understand all the rules of football or even the history of football. You may learn about all of the tactics, but none of that can replace getting on a pitch and kicking a muddy ball. In other words, the menu is not the food. Don't confuse theory for actual music. It does have its place in my opinion. And I don't think that it can make you less creative unless you misunderstand its purpose. Let me know your thoughts in the comments down below. Like, subscribe, do all of that funky stuff. And I may in theory be grateful.