Re: theory and tuba


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Posted by Tony Z. on March 19, 2003 at 08:27:29:

In Reply to: theory and tuba posted by lisa on March 18, 2003 at 20:53:56:

We know that from our initial upbringing as college students that music is totally comprehensive. Everything that we learned in theory lends itself to our growth as a performer. I've never understood the defensive stance many musicians take with the study of theory. Perhaps we have done too much to call theory the "weeding out" mechanism for music school, but let's face it; we all use our theory skills when performing. As Sean said, finding thematic links and placement within a chordal scheme. I think that far too many of us think of theory as Roman Numerals and twelve-tone matrices. Yes they are there, but what about phrase and form analysis? If you don't understand how a piece is put together, how can you effectively perform it? Yes, you will say "Instinct." Good theoreticians are a bit instinctive, i.e. if you are properly trained, you will hear things such as phrase lengths, temporal proportions, and harmonic structures, and we all should have heard enough music to make some informed decisions as well.

Your theory skills are being used even if you claim they are not (and keep doing it, PLEASE!!)

TZ


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