Music theory classes at college are they worth it?

Thank you. Yes. Ear training is absolutely key to actually understanding what you're being taught. I've yet to meet someone who took this part of their musical training as seriously as they should. You can learn to identify almost immediately what somebody did in their composition, if it was creative or original, reference it to something similar you've heard, and make your own twist on it. That's how I write half my songs. I suppose I was a little cynical in my last post and I apologize. Even if you never learn to pick out every note fast enough or memorize the quality of every last scale and its modulation potential, it really couldn't hurt to get the basics in your mind and yes, you should be very good at translating your thoughts onto the keyboard.
 
Alot of the time I hear people say they put down what they hear but this never really happens to me. I dont know if its talent I lack or can just ear training mold this. Usually if I do come up witha melody its usually in a repeat of notes and scales im familiar with just cause I havent learned anythng else.
 
How long did you say this course was? If you see really good progress in your ear's ability to identify these things with a couple months or less, you've got talent. If the course isn't that long and you don't do anything further, it will be harder to say how much gift you have. Either way, I think you should get the basics you need to get your ideas into your music.
 
Solar Supernova said:
The key to understanding all the chord progression, scale, mode, modulation jargon is to train yourself to listen to every note being played at any given moment, which believe it or not is entirely possible. It doesn't matter how dissonant something is for a brief time, first identify the sound of the chord and in the next instant identify the note in the bass to get an idea of the chord in the scale and its inversion. The actual scale or mode is usually identified easily enough in the melody. If this sounds like too much already, you may not want to study music theory as it may not be something you can apply to in listening to or writing music. Most great musicians would have no idea what I just said, meaning understanding music really isn't important for enjoying it or writing it.
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I will agree that nowadays, most "musicians" wouldn't know what you're talking about. And yes, you can learn to hear these things specifically through listening our for melodies and intervals, but I still say that music theory can be a great aid to a musician, no matter what he's trying to accomplish in the future. But, this is just my opinion.
 
Well my school is just a 8 week course mixed with theory,music production and sing writing so its kinda not focusing on theory
 
OK I should have paid closer attention. Once again, I apologize. That actually sounds like a perfect course to take, and 8 weeks would probably get you going with that combination of training.
 
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