Why music theory matters for pianists
Imagine hearing an easy song once or twice and being able to play it by ear. Visualize knowing how to transpose pieces from one key to another. Consider the freedom of looking at a new piece of music and recognizing patterns and forms that your hands already know. What if you could see a brand new piece and hear it in your head without playing a note? What would you give to have all of these powerful tools in your musical tool belt? How much of your time would you be willing to dedicate to acquire them?
All of these things and more are available to pianists when they choose to learn functional music theory. Music theory is the vocabulary of music. It teaches us how each piece of music hangs together. Music theory gives us the templates that allow us to hear things and play them, to read things easily, and to feel the pulse of the piece before we play a note. Music theory makes us musically literate.
Many students hate music theory. I was one of them. I told more than one teacher that music theory killed the mystery of music. I didn’t know the purpose of all the exercises I had to fill out in my theory books. I didn’t understand why I needed to drill my scales, arpeggios, and chords. All of these things felt like a distraction. After all, I could read music well so why waste time on all of this unmusical stuff?
When I started teaching I saw my early dislike of theory mirrored in my students. But by then I’d learned what I’d missed when I was a student and had become an enthusiastic theory convert. My evolution from theory hater to theory lover came about not through my work as a classical pianist but rather from a jazz instructor. He taught functional music theory. His practical, hands on, “use it now” approach changed my teaching and expanded my own musicianship into areas I never thought I’d be able to go.
Functional music theory teaches templates and is grounded in a complete understanding of scales, chords, arpeggios and ear training. Let me explain: When, for instance, you know the patterns of whole and half steps that form the scales, you can find the notes to all the scales. If you know how to build 3 note chords—triads—you can create them anywhere on the keyboard. If you know which chords are built on each note of a scale, you have a working understanding of which chords belong in which key.
Having these templates makes playing by ear and transposing much easier. Instead of seeking random notes while playing by ear, our knowledge of scales shrinks possible choices from every note on the piano to those notes found in a specific key signature. Where we might have once tried to play by ear by first learning the melody, we learn to listen, instead, to the bass line of each piece, to identify the chord changes, and then find the melody once the structure of the music is in our hands. When we want to transpose a piece, we learn to see the score in chord chunks, arpeggios, and scale patterns, rather than painstakingly transposing everything note by note.
So here’s my challenge to you: learn (or brush up on) your scales, chords, and arpeggios. Then use these tools in a practical way. Here are some ideas:
Learn a simple song by ear. Learn the chord pattern first and then the melody using nothing more than your ear, and your knowledge of key signatures, scales, and what notes belong in what key.
Transpose a simple song, using your knowledge of intervals, chords, arpeggios, and musical patterns.
Challenge yourself to play 12-bar blues in any key on the piano, understanding that the chord pattern is predictable and that the famous “blues scale” uses the notes of a minor 7th chord plus the 4th and flatted 5th note of whatever key you’re in.
Look for patterns and templates in everything you play—especially the written music you’re diligently practicing every day. You’ll uncover them everywhere, and when you do, reading music will transition from feeling like facing a mountain of notes to playing things that you recognize at sight and your hands already know.
When we know the vocabulary of music we have the tools to make music in multiple ways, not just reading notes on a page. This knowledge makes creating music a much richer experience, and this is why I encourage amateur pianists everywhere to commit to learning the boring bits such as scales, chords, arpeggios, and all the other music fundamentals that can feel like a waste of time. Learn these things and then apply them in a practical, hands on way to something you wish to play. The rewards of this work last a lifetime.
Need some guidance? Visit Essential Piano Education Resources on Pianodao.
Photo by Andy Song, courtesy of UpSplash