It’s funny how one can devote their whole life to the study of those little black dots we call notes. Did you know that in western music, there are only 12 of them? You’d think that after a year or two, one would be able to deal with these 12 notes and go on their merry way and make great music. Music is a language, and ultimately it is a vehicle to communicate ideas. It’s sort of the same thing as learning the English language in the public school system. You’d think that by grade 12, you wouldn’t need to be taking English classes right? I mean, you know how to read, you know how to write.....what more is there to learn except maybe adding a few words to your vocabulary?
I think we all know that it’s not really about the mechanics of the language...it’s about the application of the language. A person needs to develop the skills necessary to communicate with other people be it written or verbal. For a writer, there are many ways they can go about doing this. Maybe someone is a poet, and they express their ideas in a more abstract way by using metaphors and employing the use of imagery. Maybe someone is a journalist and their job is to tell people the facts about what’s going on in the world and be as clear and concise as possible. Maybe someone makes their living as a public speaker, and they have to be able to communicate clearly and effectively in such a way that their message reaches other people. The study of the mechanics of any language I think is finite....but the applications of the language are infinite.
Studying music is much the same way. You learn theory and the mechanics of what makes music tick and once you have a decent foundation, you can start to apply it and make the music you want to make. You might spend a long time playing, studying and listening to the music of other people to progress. As a teacher myself, I tell my students how essential this is for becoming better musicians. A student should have a sense of what’s been done before. which in turn will influence the manner in which the student communicates their ideas....and here we get to the big question which every artist will have to confront....what do I want to communicate?
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