Isn’t music theory taught in college and is too complex for my kid? Yes and no, it depends how it is shown and explained by the teacher. My teachers in the beginning taught me the ideas but did not give me a way to use it or play it. If it’s just head knowledge it doesn’t make sense until it’s used on piano, guitar or with the voice and put into songs.
Learn, know and do
I found the best way to learn music theory is one idea at a time. For an example I will show and explain the Major Scale and only have them play a few notes until they can play the whole thing going up and down with one octave, 8 notes. That’s the physical learning part. Then we examine what the notes mean and where they come from. That’s the knowing part. Then we pick a song and experiment or jam with different notes to a song. This works really well whether it’s a child or adult. It works great for guitar, piano, bass, voice or any instrument.
Music is a lanaguage
Just like we speak a language and can communicate our ideas to friends and family,. We can communicate our ideas to other musicians. A pianist can explain their ideas to a guitar player. Or a vocalist could tell the band what they want to happen in the song.
It can even give young children the ability to compose their own music when they know how music theory works. Music theory sounds so academic but it’s really understanding how music works. I’d rather it be call Music Understanding. All the great composers from hundreds of years ago know their music inside and out. Songwriters today like a Stevie Wonder or a Prince know and understand totally how music works.
It allows us to analyze the music to see what they’ve done. We can learn from the greats and then create our own. We only have 12 notes to play in our music system. Isn’t it mind boggling that with those same 12 notes Stevie Ray Vaughan can sound like Stevie Ray, Eddie van Halen can sound like Eddie and they don’t sound anything alike. That’s the magic of music!
Conclusion
Whether it’s guitar lessons, piano lessons or voice lessons, your child should be having fun and learning music skills. My feeling s they should be better musicians and people after coming out of their lesson than when they went into their lesson.
At Metairie Music Academy my mission is to help your child learn and appreciate the beauty and the art of music. Located in the heart of Metairie, La. serving our community with the arts. If you have any questions or would like to book lessons for your child call Sid 504-421-8811 or click on the Request Info button below. Thank you!