Beginner Music Theory - It’s Hard to Sing If You Don’t Read Music

Music is an important part of our life. It has the power to lift up the spirit, empower the mind and touch emotional cords. Music can make us cry, laugh, think or simply smile.
For musicians, the highest form of praise is when a song touches the soul of a listener. This is why musicians and singers alike need to study and learn music theory.

Music theory is the mechanics of music. It encompasses the eight elements of music, which are:

• Melody
• Pitch
• Rhythm
• Harmony
• Consonance and dissonance
• Dynamics
• Texture
• Form or structure

Each of these has an important role in “musichanics” or the mechanics of music. It is utterly vital that a singer learn these as thoroughly as possible for several reasons. The first and foremost of these reasons is understanding. Without a complete understanding of how music works, you will be totally lost.

For instance, say you are singing with a group and the musicians say they are going to follow a chord progression in C major with a diminished fourth for flavor. Will you know what that means? If not, you are not only lost in the group but also cannot communicate with the others. When you perform the song, you will not recognize the shift in pitch and go off key.

That is, of course, a rather exploded view of a situation but you get the idea. All of the major composers, i.e. Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Chopin were masters of music theory. Beethoven was stone deaf and STILL wrote some of the world’s most beautiful concertos and movements. All because he understood theory and it’s relation to pitch and harmony. He couldn’t hear it, but he knew it went together as a result.

As a singer, music theory should be the first thing you study followed closely by reading sheet music so you know what to do when the music changes. These two skills together will give you an edge. It will also make you more aware of subtle changes that can be done to enhance the piece being sung.

All in all, music theory backed up with the ability to read music will allow you to become a better musician, and yes, singers are musicians in their own right. Once you have a grasp of theory, your eyes will be opened and you will want more. The more you learn, the better you will become and you will be able to communicate more effectively with other musicians and singers.

Learning music theory and how to read music is a vitally important part of the musical education experience.

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