Pithy insights on how to think about and study Music Theory and Ear Training like a human being and an artist, not like a computer…
Music Theory and Ear Training Micro-Lessons
Bite sized wisdom on the right way to approach your studies of music theory and ear training…
The goal of studying music theory is to perform better, not to get good grades on a music theory test. ~fjp
Textbook knowledge is not enough. You need to turn music theory into music skill. ~fjp
Music is not math; music is a LANGUAGE. ~fjp
When you perform music, always allow the music in your mind’s ear to be the leader. ~fjp
Music theory, properly studied, teaches you how to read, write, hear, and speak the LANGUAGE of music. ~fjp
If you learn to read music, you can read to learn music. ~fjp
You can’t just think your way to music theory; you’ve got to get the theory into your ears, eyes, and muscles. ~fjp
Music THEORY is valuable only to the degree that it illuminates Music PRACTICE. ~fjp
The way the “left side” of your brain THINKS about the music should match the way the “right side” of your brain EXPERIENCES the music. ~fjp
You can’t TRY to hear and feel something; you simply ALLOW yourself to hear and feel something. ~fjp
An extremely effective way to internalize a musical sound-feeling is to sing it out loud. ~fjp
Musical comprehension isn’t just about how a musical something sounds; it’s also about how that musical something feels and functions. ~fjp
It’s not enough to know what a musical something IS. You must study the music until you understand, hear, and feel what that musical something DOES. ~fjp
Melody, harmony, scales, chords, chord progressions, meter, rhythm, phrasing, and form need each other in order to make musical sense. ~fjp
You bridge the gap between theory and practice by studying scales, chords, chord progressions, meter, rhythm, phrasing, and form not as nouns, but as VERBS. ~fjp
Your UNDERSTANDING of the music will be heard and felt in your EXPRESSION of the music. ~fjp
The ability to “speak” the language of music is the inevitable reward for internalizing lots of musically-useful patterns… by ear, intellect, eye, and muscle. ~fjp
learn more… How Music Works