Uselessness of Music Theory

In the previous section we saw minimal history of music theory.

“Classical Harmony” and “jazz theory” are two major branches of music theory, compared like below.

Neither is made for modern pop music like rock, EDM, hip-hop and so on. And, of course, neither is created for the current pop, rock, or EDM genres that make up “modern popular music.” So, the question then arises: which school of thought does the so-called ordinary “popular music theory” come from?

7. About “Pop Music Theory”

However, in reality—as was the case with classical and jazz theories—popular music theory is by no means unified. Each content is formed in a way that mixes “classical theory” and “modern jazz theory,” reflecting the background of the authors.

There are many generally shared aspects, but at the same time, the content diverges depending on which school of thought’s opinions are adopted. There are also different variations in notation, and the way authors address the gap between theory and practice varies in their writing styles.

While the branches from the Berklee College of Music, a kind of jazz theory school, may be the majority, books written by “classical parties” still have significant influence as wekk. There are also books that mix the two contents, resulting in an infinite variety of combinations. In this sense, there is no such thing as “ordinary music theory” in the world. There is always some degree of school of thought or individuality involved.

Sometimes such blending of branches causes confusion and perplexity — Definition of a word conflicts between books, so does categorization for chords or symbolization system.

“Ordinary music theory” that appears to be the same at first glance actually teaches different content. This is a major factor contributing to the confusion in modern music theory education.

The Versatility of “Mixed” Theories

However, regardless, one might think that a theory created by skillfully mixing classical and jazz theories would be the ideal content, wouldn’t they?

—But, unfortunately, it’s not. While these theories definitely help you understand music (I’ll mention later), I have to acknowledge that there’s a large gap between theory and reality.
Therefore, I first would like to confess the useless side of music theory by picturing a miserable case.

Pops Forms x Pops Sounds

This is a simple and ordinary short piece. Musically, it is quite standard for modern popular music, and most general listeners would not find it particularly unnatural or unpleasant to listen to. However, the chord progression (the way the chords are connected) in this piece is actually quite “unorthodox” when judged from traditional theory. If you were to evaluate it based on conventional jazz theory or classical theory…

It’s like this. Although ciphers like A or C_m will not yet be intelligible, you can clearly see that there are a lot of warning signs⚠️ saying “weak”, “bad” or “prohibited”…¹

In fact, it was not until the latter half of the 20th century that this type of chord progression became widely generalized. Therefore, when analyzed with theories based on music from before that time, this piece is judged as abnormal or non-standard, despite the fact that the actual hit charts are overflowing with such “abnormal” music.

And since general “popular music theory” inherits these traditional views, the gap between this theory and reality remains unresolved. Naturally, even if you mix the two schools of thought, it cannot handle music that is newer than both!

The Case of Classical View

Some “popular music theory” books explain the basic forms of the classical music as “standard” or “basic” forms. So, what happens if you strictly follow these formats? Let’s try reconstructing the previous piece.

Classical Forms × Pops Sounds

…It inevitably sounds like 18th-century classical music, and it evokes the strong sense of incongruity. It’s similar to the feeling you get when an old song like “Amazing Grace” or “Silent Night” is covered with a modern arrangement. Of course, it’s elegant and beautiful, but from the perspective of general today’s pop music, this is unusual. Considering the history of music and music theory, it becomes clear that deeming this the “correct form” is total nonsense.

When you create a piece that strictly follows the “basics” written by theory books, it ends up sounding old-fashioned and uncool… This is a rather tragedy, but it is inevitable that it will sound old because you adopt forms from over 200 years ago.

Of course, in reality, it’s rare for someone to produce such a too much typical “classical pop” piece, even if they’ve studied from classical theory books. However, then, where do these people learn the pop music style from? It is from actual songs. Because the forms taught in books are outdated, they ultimately learn by trial and error on their own. This makes it a double effort and diminishes the merit of studying theory in the first place.

Classical Forms × Classical Sounds

To add in defense of classical theory, the theory itself is by no means flawed. However, classical theory can only exert 100% of its power when creating classical-style music. For instance, if we use the classical chord progression above in a piece with a traditional classical arrangement…

As you can see, combined with the elegant sound of string instruments, it fits perfectly. The charm of classical theory lies in enabling anyone to recreate music like Mozart’s. It’s quite unfair for classical theory to be pulled into the pop field and receive low ratings—The theorists from 200 years ago wouldn’t have wished for their theories to be repurposed in such a manner.

The Case of Jazz View

On the other hand, As for the jazz-originated popular music theory, even if the style may differ from latest pop music genres, it appear to be more practical, since it’s over 100 years more recent than classical theory. So, what happens when one fully tries out the techniques learned from such theories?

Jazz Forms × Pop Sounds

Many complex chords are used, resulting in a considerably dissonant sound. Since jazz chord theory emphasizes the use of such advanced chords, this is the inevitable result when attempting to apply it. Some may find this peculiarity interesting, but within the context of this genre, it unnecessarily complicates the music and the techniques don’t necessarily enhance the charm of the song.

Well, yes you can just restrain from excessively using such advanced techniques and adjust to the genre. However, if one were to seal away the skills acquired, it would be a waste of the time spent learning them.

Jazz Forms × Jazz Sounds

Even this intricate and peculiar chord progression fits exceptionally well within the jazz format.

It has a distinctly mature jazz feel to it and has turned out to be extremely captivating. Jazz theory shines when it is devised for this type of music and demonstrates its true value when creating such music.

This may be a bit exaggerated story, but the gap does exist. What we can see from these comparison is: Pop music today is largely different from Classics/jazz in terms of both “basic formats” and “advanced techniques” so however you mix classical/jazz theories, it can never be an ideal theory for pop music.

• Composing according to theory might actually sound mismatched in pop music.
• Since the forms of recent pop music are not explained or explained in insufficient detail, ultimately one must learn from actual songs on their own.
• There’s a risk of misinterpreting common practices in today’s pops as “errors”.

Learning these theories could even harm you if you hesitate to use something you genuinely like just because it is contradicted by theory. Therefore, learners must individually assess how applicable the learned content is in modern contexts.

For you, as someone about to embark on learning theory, having to make such judgments is a significant burden. A great teacher might possibly address such deficiencies and burdens, but those learning alone may not receive a helping hand.

Pedigree of Pop Music

Jazz-influenced popular music theory often goes by the name “Jazz & Popular Music Theory“, subtly suggesting an appeal like “It’s us, jazz, not classical, who can rightfully claim popular music.” However, in reality, today’s popular music is a complex amalgamation of various genres and it’s not as simple as being summarized under “Jazz-Popular”.
Last time I briefly introduced the influence of South American music, but even that is just a small piece. Africa, Asia, Northern Europe, Eastern Europe—all around the world, influences from each region contribute to the music we have today. Here’s an interesting video about the transition of “popular” music.

This is a visualization of the number of CD/Vinyls released during 1910-2019, grouped by genres. At first Classical genres such as Opera or March dominate the chart. Country overtakes them, then jazz. And around the time jazz is replaced with Bebop, various genres jump in. And as new genres appear, each share is spread over. As a result, no single genre gains over 20% share after 1985.

Pop music today is full of diversity. In fact, it is about 80 years ago (1934-1946) that jazz was in the center of “pop music”. No wonder its theoretical framework is not much compatible with today’s music.

“Learn, Then Forget”?

Due to such mismatches in frameworks, learners often find themselves disregarding theory in practice. And they question, “Was there any point in learning theory at all?” At such times, learners and teachers find solace in the words of world-renowned jazz players.

What profound words indeed! Yes, forgetting the learned theory is the necessary path to becoming a top-tier player!🥺🥺

…No no no, don’t be tricked. These words are meant to convey the idea that; while theory provides a common foundation, breaking away from it is also essential in pursuing creative sounds. It is a great deceit to use such quotes as an excuse for the situation that the common foundation itself is so outdated and unhelpful that learners have no choice but dismiss it.

Indeed, last time we observed a history of rules being broken. However, that drama is always set alongside the epilogue of theory being updated afterward. If educators fail to question the current situation by using the “history of destruction” as a pretext, it is not only negligent but also evil.

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Briefly this is why you hear bad reputation of music theory here and there. It can really happen that you’re forced to remember numerous terminology and notation, “standards” and techniques but you don’t have much opportunity to use it in practice…

21c : Time to Update

However, these defects can be fixed if music theorists admit this obsolescence and update the whole doctrine—just like jazz theorists did 70 years ago.

Some recent books actually take these gaps into consideration, and so did I throughout this website! Provided that the renewal has been done properly, music theory does help your songwriting substantially, without taking too much time to learn.

So next, let me explain the usefulness of music theory.

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