Music theory is a way to organize your music, I can understand that, but when delving into chord theory you start to involve yourself into composition. How are these chords used? What emotion do they evoke in you audience? For instance, what emotion does an augmented chord invoke in you? Why are modes a necessity? It seems that music theory has developed into this complex language that is over useful. I wonder if it is just my ignorance that keeps me from understanding the finer points of knowing how these chords could help to create a piece of music. I know that dominants and diminished chords are good for key signature changes, I know that 13th chords are good for a long whole note rest in jazz, or for moving to a coda, but what does all that mean really? If you are good at your instrument you will pick it up, and you will play it. What you create with your hands is the ultimate test of musicianship.
I wonder how the musicians of the world think of my premise, hence, I ask you. How has music theory effected you? How has it helped you, and are you willing to share the knowledge you have about how composition can be manipulated by it?
music theory is a way to analyse yours and other peoples music; end of story.
that you can use it to reverse engineer other stuff is part of the wonderful aspect of being a human being.
that some people reject it because they can't be bothered to learn its forwards uses and therefore fail to see its reverse uses is also a common trait in human beings
- "I don't need no map I can find my own path through this stupid forest," might work for a pathfinder or scout but rarely works for the people or troops that follow in their footsteps
as for the use of chords in creating musically generated emotion
the key here is to classify them for yourself as no two people will agree on exactly what is going on and why it works the way it does
look at individual chords and classify them for your palate
things like happy and sad, in awe and scared work for the four basic triads
7th chords bring a whole new meaning to the table
I tend to get my students to use terms like pickles, mustard, sweet and sour, to identify the various 7ths
9ths and beyond take a little more detail to classify in terms that you can use
the next step is to classify pairs of these chord types into building units, in terms of their functional position within the current key center
an example that I would call uplifting is Em-Bb, in the key of C this is iii-bVII (comes from Bruno Mars' When I was your man (see link below))
that phrase continues in a four chord run to be Em-Bb-G7sus4-G7 (iii-bVII-V7sus4-V7), it is preceded by an Am so that the whole phrase runs Am-Em-Bb-G7sus4-G7 (vi-iii-bVII-V7sus4-V7)
the resulting sound of this progression is one of uplift and then resolution with a slice of tension ready to push you forward
move onto trios of chords then quartets, classifying them further
get to the end of this phase (groups of 4 chords in sequence that you have categorised/classified by their emotional power for you) and you will have a vast catalogue of progressions and meanings for them
Theory to me, is just a way of simplifying the language. Making sure everyone is on the same page. When I'm writing music individually I don't really think in theory, but when I'm improving with my band, there's no way we'd ever crank out a single decent song without theory. Theory's annoying? Yes. Helpful? Definitely. I do not think it is necessary for an individual composer, especially using computers to write music, to learn all sorts of advanced theory. It is an excellent language to learn though.
