Music Theory and White Supremacy 

It would be a great feature if youtube showed what percentage of the video you watched beside your comment.

In high school I used to compose music heavily inspired by Japanese video games. When I showed my piano teacher, she said "it's not supposed to end on a chord like this" "there are certain rules you need to follow" this video helped me gain a new perspective on what that could have meant because she definitely didn't explain lol

i think what really grinds my gears about music theory is that they laud composers that broke the rules of the time (like Beethoven, Stravinsky) or had immense talent (Bach, Paganini), but we in the modern day under formal tutelage cannot break any of the rules ourselves because then it won't sound "correct", despite it being a more genuine expression.

Learning how to improvise for jazz taught me more about music theory than AP Music Theory. The way chords are identified and labeled has helped me with everything from understanding Claude Debussy to transcribing my favorite pieces from video games. Like any other form of theory, it's just a tool, and it might not work for everything. Anyway looks like I've got some music theory channels to check out. I've been looking to learn more about non-eurocentric styles of music ever since I got a taste of their structures.

I'm a guitar player, and this is a great excuse for me to continue the guitar player tradition of not learning stuff

I'm so glad you specified NORTH Indian music. Lot of people aren't aware of the stark difference of cultures throughout all India and Asia!

This is touchy I spent some intimate time learning what we all generally call “music theory,” and I have grown to love it. But I love your new name for it (the harmonic style of 18th century European musicians). That’s accurate and helps to place it as its own individual contribution to music as a whole. Truly there has been so much development in music around the world, and sadly many of us didn’t study those contributions and styles ☹️

I am 77yo, played by ear most of my life, but decided to learn music theory since everyone said this was a must know for song writers like me. Jazz was my main inspiration because being able to improvise is what motivated me to play for over 60 years. Music theory is not bad, but it does limit your music to a European based music. I like all kinds of world music because music they sound nice and do not stick to western rules.

Hi, I am an Indian. While it's nice to see you highlighting the fact that we have our own theory and a very elaborate grammer divided into multiple scriptures. I would also like to point out that our music theory doesn't do harmony very well. It's mostly about the mood of the melody. Raag's even have their own catchy tune written inside the raag. But for an outsider trying to learn western music the traditional method did provide a good framework (credit where it's due). Also I can't fathom the fact that people actually believe that there is only one music theory.

Adam, I would definitely pay top dollar to see you debate Ben Shapiro’s MUSIC THEORIST father who went to music school.

While I have been a great admirer of your channel for several years and have been inspired by your insights into music, I have not been compelled to express by admiration of your work until viewing this video. I am a black man, with a doctorate in music composition, who taught jazz theory and improvisation over twenty years ago at an "illustrious" institution that only with great trepidation indulged my passions. I say trepidation, but also great resistance to changes in music curriculum that I represented and which most of my colleagues viewed as unfortunately necessary. Viewing your video brought back some pain and anguish that I thought I had "gotten over," but it would seem had only repressed. Alas, that I didn't have the presence of mind and the calmness of spirit to express back then what you have done with such passion and aplomb. I salute you!

I feel very lucky that in my school (Higher School for the Arts, department Music and Technology, Netherlands) we are being taught "music theory" in a different way. I started last year, about to start the second. I had a significant basis in understanding western harmony and had trained my ears passionately. When we started going to these theory classes, I was surprised to see that we were not only going over the origins of western theory (think Gregorian singing, unison, that kind of thing), but also traditional Indonesian instruments, composing with it, playing it, and even synthesizing it to make it playable with al the weird temperaments included. Furthermore Balkan music, clave rhythms, Jamaican and Caribbean rhythmic composition made the rounds and it felt new and refreshing, comparing what I already knew and understood about western music to this new thing I hadn't heard of before. Edit: "... with all the weird temperaments..." is not the right thing to say. Let's change it to "... with all these - in western - uncommon temperaments

In Uganda we don't really have a word equivalent to "music". Rather music is defined by how one dances to it. Studying it therefore invariably means studying the dances.

I’m constantly perplexed by how you manage to cover ...several dissertation’s worth of material in each video. So awesome!!

The fact that Chevalier got ignored by the music loving scene (even the figure skating one!) despite him being an aristocrat from royal France and being a legit composer is....very telling. I've always loved Chevalier, and seeing people discover him and his work through a long overdue movie is gratifying af lol

"Beethoven was an above average composer" Understatement of the century

I didn’t even think that there are other “musical theories” but now I don’t understand why such an obvious thought has never came in my mind

“Works of art make rules, rules do not make works of art.” --Claude Debussy

Just watched it, and it's still up to date. Great job !

I remember learning music theory in high school. It was interesting because somehow they taught me that figured bass was antiquated and not worth learning until college, if at all. BUT somehow when I wrote a piece for an exercise that resolved from a V7 to a IV to a I, I was wrong because that couldn't happen. Except, of course that I had learned it from blues and blues-based rock, where it's the most common resolution. In other words, traditional music theory doesn't even explain blues and classic rock very well (even ignoring neutral 3rds and 7ths). And forget about explaining something as harmonically sophisticated as bop or modern jazz. How can it be universal?

Adam: You can't dance to Bach's chorales Me: You haven't seen me drunk

"Western Classical Music theory". That's what it's called here in South Africa, there is clear line here say between, cape jazz theory, and western classical theory

No way someone asked " does joel use music theory" you cannot NOT use music theory, making music IS music theory

Thank you! Years ago, my wife and I were driving in Ireland and listening to Irish National Radio. The DJ was playing some Duke Ellington and followed that up with Beethoven, and the lightbulb went on in my head - we in the U.S. have Jim Crow radio. I have been ranting about this to whoever would listen ever since. Most people think I'm crazy so thank you for putting this video together.

The best music genre and tradition, in my opinion, is Tony Hawk's Pro Skater & Underground soundtrack.

"You can have the pentatonic scale without the bending." *blues has left the chat.*

6:46 wait until Adam finds out how mandarin taught in Taiwanese high schools keep using thousands of years old text as teaching material

I’m proud to say I was taught to think for myself as a music major at Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson, CA. I learned so much there that I have used in my life; whether it musical or not. I learned the foundation of many theorys of music, and most importantly that it was simply just that; a theory. Or a way of understanding these noises we make with our voices and other devices (instruments). It’s all just sound pressure waves that we can translate into anything. The most important thing is how we connect them together to convey what we are trying to express. The rules of how we notate or understand are just guidelines of something much bigger and clearly not tangible. This is my “theory” of why certain people chose to make music more universal. Because innately there is something more universal and primal about it. Something uniquely human.

I die laughing every time I hear Ben say "my music theorist father, who went to music school."

OGs remember when this video was titled "Music Theory is Racist" Edit: I don't want arguments about white genocide and scientific racism under a dumb and lazy comment I made in a less than a minute

I’ve actually been interested in better understanding the structure/language of music for a while now. Having seen this, I think I’ll look beyond the usual western “music theory”. Thanks for the tip and all the insightful info. :)

i love this so much man, i did a school projecy on scott joplin in 4th grade and when i heard ragtime my first thought was “this was the inspiration for foundation of the beginning of american music” but i never saw it acknowledged, this is gracious

Interesting. We in Korea learn three kind of music theory in a school. Classical music(old European), practical music(contemporary African American) and Korean traditional music.

The most important thing I ever learned about music theory is that "if it sounds good, and theory says it is wrong, then the theory is wrong."

This was surprisingly eye-opening. Thank you!

God bless you for making this video ... the algorithm has sent you my way a few times, and your content is always terrific. I was pleasantly surprised to see the depth of your cross-disciplinary acuity, here.

I remember stumbling across the limitations of western theory when an Persian guy tried to commission me to write some iranian-style music for his film (that sadly never got made, couldnt get funding to move out of preproduction) and I thought "OK this is a challenge, I'll try" (Also, this was well before the current popular understanding of appropriation, it just wasnt on the radar) , and after about 3 weeks I had to call him and cancel out. Other than his fairly specfic requirement of the style of Iranian from a village in the north his famly comes from, the theory is just lightyears away from ours. The microtonal adjustments required to replicate the scales was fine, but the rest was absolutely alien to me. I found out there was a Turkish professor who specialized in "middle east music" at the conservatorium so I made an appointment with him and he just straight up said "Dont do it. *I* wouldn't attempt it and I learned my theory in the country next door to Iran." He pointed out that even within Iran, a person from one area would be learning completely different styles and rules to a guy in a village 100km away. Even more, musicologists have actually struggled to understand the persian music families in any sort of analyical framework that can be translated into english concepts. Even saying whats *different* has proved a struggle. So a 20yo amateur composer with no experience of Iranian music outside of cab driver radios had no chance. I mean I could have faked it and come up with something that sounded to ME like "Iranian music", but anyone from that region would have found it offensive, or at best embarassing, and I just dont wanna be THAT guy. My turkish contact gave me a contact for an actual Iranian composer which I forwarded onto my guy. And I think this is all excellent ,because its a reminder that music is a language, and languages are always historically and spatially practices, filled with excesses of meaning and filled with implication, explicit and implicit. All of which is part of why music has been such a powerful expression of the human condition.

We have so much to gain by expanding music theory education to include more approaches from the ground up. I wish that dancing and singing was emphasized as much as harmony when I was first learning. Luckily, I’m not dead yet, there’s still time to learn! Thanks for this illuminating video and I’m glad I could contribute in a small way!

We use Music both as a form of community cohesion, such as dance, music, or music that tells a story, but also as a serious art form in which the listener is challenged and surprised, and taken on a new adventure. It is the second form that “rules“ are frequently broken, and the structure of the music is opened up into new areas. 2. There is more than just rhythm and chord, progression and tone. There is also the space that arrest can take up.; There’s consistency of style and intentional lack there of.; references to other musical styles and individual songs, etc. and I’m sure there are more elements than I can think of. 3. Western 16 -18 century music of the court (and possibly other traditions) was often a civilized rendition of folk tunes, some of which came from Hungarian or Spanish gypsies, folk music, and probably other influences, giving evidence to the idea that this music was classist at the very least.

I was fortunate enough to be trained in acting, dancing and music and I never really got what the huge differences between those three things was. Each requires rhythm; each requires a deep understanding of emotions; each requires harmony between multiple parts, each is a form of storytelling, and each is a performance art! I'm always dumbfounded when people go, "oh wow! That's really incredible. You have so many talents!" to me, growing up, they were kind of the same. I was never good at music school because I couldn't separate them. I would sing, dance, all the time. I could not understand how other students were making music if not by living it through your body as much as possible!

I took AP music theory in high school, and my awesome teacher always made it clear that "AP music theory" was one approach to music and that outside the confines of the course, the rules of 18th century baroque and classical did not apply to "all" "music" (both in quotes because each word in the term is loaded). Lead to me filling my uni's diversity credits by taking classes on American music and non-Anglo world music, and while I'm a very amateur hobbyist I noticeably write better music because of it.

In my swedish middle school which specialised in choir music, we were taught that we shouldn't say "classical music" but instead we should say "västerländsk konstmusik" which translates to "western musical arts" or "western art music". Our choir teacher made it very clear that what we were learning was only but the tip of the iceberg of the great wide world of music.

im currently studying the harmonic style of 18th century european composers at a community college with that as my major and i was honestly really disappointed when i started and realized all they wanted us to do was classical music. i was trained as a rock/metal singer and it really does not work with my style at all which i find so frustrating. i also really hate all these music "rules" and have been trying to break as many as i can writing my own music lol. great video! really made me think.

I have BA and MA in music education. This is a fantastic video and I can’t wait to share and discuss this with my peers.

Music theorist here (I actually have a degree in music theory pedagogy, if you can believe that's a thing!). This is a conflicting video for me and I want to try and lay out a sort of middleground (pun intended). I'll do this with some general observations: 1. I think the idea of diversifying the music theory canon of composers and genres is a noble pursuit. The issue mainly stems from the difficulty in teaching Western classical music theory. It is a very complicated and deep subject that contradicts itself in many instances and students have a hard time wrapping their heads around a lot of the concepts, even fundamentals. Theory is often taught from this perspective because it is referencing the kind of music that a conservatory musician is most likely to engage with throughout their careers and, contrary to a few points in this video, is actually applicable past the Western classical canon (more on that later). But we are making progress here (also more on that below). I think we also forget how diverse the classical music canon actually is... compare the music of Bach to the music of Mahler to the music of Debussy to the music of Prokofiev and I dare you to say that it is appropriate to put those composers under the same label. 2. I think this video does a huge disservice to the endeavors and work of many American music theorists who have diversified their curricula. When Adam says "the harmonic style of 18th century European musicians," this is at best reductive and at worst misleading. Any American music theory curricula worth its salt covers Western music from as early as the 1500s and as late as the present. For example, my alma mater has a 5-semester undergraduate curriculum which begins with fundamentals and ends with post tonal analysis with the last few weeks covering more modern trends! A diverse set of composers and styles are covered anywhere from the Renaissance to Jazz to 18th century Western classical to minimalism to Broadway to Rock, etc. This curriculum is filled with examples from as many relevant styles and eras as possible and MANY theorists are actively trying to diversify their rep and the topics they cover. (Example: lament bass as a harmonic/bassline concept. The examples given include its Renaissance origins, its use in Baroque music, Classical music, Romantic music, and also in songs like "Hit the Road, Jack" or "Hotel California.") 3. Music from other cultures should definitely be more represented, but this takes time to do properly. I've been adding as much as I can to my own curriculum but it isn't easy when the theories are as complex as they are and students are already struggling with the basic concept to begin with (i.e. what the difference between A major and C major is or what their parallel and relative minors are... everyone starts somewhere and even this "simple" concept takes time to internalize). I completely agree that teaching these concepts can be made even more interesting with the inclusion of comparison to Indian music, for example. Theorists just need to finish learning these things themselves PROPERLY. At the very least, citations and resources should be made available to students who are interested and wanting to learn more. More classes should be offered for student who are interested in these things and they should be taught by experts! Once a better grasp is attained by teachers, then it becomes much easier to diversify. 4. Schenkerian theory is used outside of its intended group of composers all the time. Schenker lists 12 composers, but there were far more composers who were writing in the style that he was interested in whose work can be understood better with his theory. Schenker doesn't list Wagner or Strauss for example, but their music still can be analyzed with this theory, albeit with some additional challenges/considerations. There are theorists who apply his theory to Debussy and Scriabin as well, composers who most would think have NOTHING to do with the theory. Useful information can still be gleaned from using it though. Schenker himself did an analysis of Stravinsky's piano concerto! True, he did it to explain why he though it was bad music, but we all know Schenker's own ideas about what is good and bad aren't really relevant. What matters is that he himself used it on music that it wasn't intended to explain. 5. Another Schenker point: the graphic notation itself is immensely useful outside of its intended purpose! One can use it to more effectively explain more nuanced elements of any piece of music. The ursatz and urline do NOT need to be implemented to use the graphic notation itself. It is, however, important for someone using this theory to understand its intended use so they can use it elsewhere, just like how Adam suggests using a much more modern theory to understand Chopin (something Chopin certainly never would have thought of himself). 6. As someone who studied how to teach music theory specifically, I can tell you this conversation is not new at all. We have been talking about the textbooks we use, the examples we cite, and the issues we face for years. Adam uses Aldwell/Schachter as an example, but this textbook is one of the oldest that is still used. Take a look at something like Clendenning/Marvin. This is a much more diverse (more and more) source of Western music theory knowledge. An effort is made to include women composers, American composers, and more than just the Bach to Brahms canon in the pursuit of teaching Western music theory. I myself don't use textbooks, but have studied many of them to understand useful pedagogical models. This gives the freedom to teach a more diverse rep while also having a tried and true model of teaching. 7. Figured bass has uses outside of preparing a student for Schenker. The most relevant and useful is that it helps with improvising in the Western classical style. Understanding the basis for this style and the method of thinking is obviously useful if a student wants to improvise! It's basically like having a lead sheet and, once learned, opens up a wide variety of possibilities for any student who is looking to improvise stylistically. Improv as a pursuit is becoming much more relevant in conservatory training and figured bass is really needed in order to do this! We also use it as an addition to Roman numeral analysis which is a relevant method of analysis for music spanning almost 300 years. 8. Final point. It is a little worrying that a field that is already thought of as "boring" or "a waste of time" is being labeled "racist" by such a high profile figure. I can speak from experience that the VAST majority of the students I have taught for the past 7 years have had nothing but positive things to say about their experience with music theory. Again, this sort of reductive label of "racist" is ignoring all of the progress theorists are actively trying to make in this field. This is tearing down instead of looking to the ones who are trying to rebuild. New voices in the filed are added every day, more and more we are diversifying. Yes, CALL OUT the individuals who are promoting German or classical music as superior. But please don't label the entire field this way. Don't give a voice to ignorance. I want to be clear that I have 0 desire to defend the opinions of Ben Shapiro or Schenker (and other problematic figures mentioned) regarding music. But I want to make it clear that many of us are trying and are implementing as much as we can. Let's keep up this trend and show how amazing MUSIC is! The best theory teachers teach theory because they love music. Not because they want to prove some music is better, but because they want to give more people the tools necessary to start somewhere and grow as musicians, no matter what their interests are.

Nahre Sol trying her best to calm us down

But, it isn’t evident that European music by European musicians like Bach, Chopin, rachmaninoff, Beethoven and so on was made with race in mind.

When he says "the harmonic style of 18th century musicians" he just completely skipped all Renaissance and Baroque music 💀

Speaking as an Indian learning Western Classical Violin, My teachers did use some Indian Music Theory in teaching me, and it was hugely beneficial, both in understanding different musical traditions and appreciating their similarities and differences, and in innovation! Indian Classical Musical Traditions( Hindustani, Carnatic and various others) are wonderful and deserve some more appreciation!

PROTIP: make sure the piano and the 18th century musician are in the same key.

In my Advanced Analysis class we supposedly were learning Schenkerian analysis, but to be honest, I did not learn anything nor do I care to now several years later. To me, music theory is about studying the elements and building blocks of any type of music, from any culture. That's how I was consistently taught in high school (I did not take AP Music Theory as it was not offered at the time) and in my college music theory classes. In high school music theory class we even had ethno-musicology units covering India, Middle East, Far East Asia, music from different parts of Africa, and South America.

Jazz is the antithesis of "the style of 18th century western composers" and probably the BEST understanding of music "theory" in my opinion.

12:12 "...and rarely performed after his death" im sorry but it took my brain a moment to realize that you meant his MUSIC was rarely performed. It sounded to me like you were saying HE rarely performed after his death, which, in fairness, is the case for most musicians,

As an indian, seeing you talk about Indian music theory shook me because I rarely hear about all this in my own country. There are so many music classes that aim to teach music through the western lens and others through the Indian lense, but never got any satisfactory understanding of either. It scares me. I should watch her.

Absolutely Love this video, Great work!

Very amazing video! Insightful and inspiring, one of the greatest RU-vid videos I’ve ever seen honestly

Having watched the full thing, I just kept realizing that the problem is not the method of analysis or the naming of certain musical phenomena, but the implication that fitting perfectly within their box is 'genius'. It's okay to analyze any music with these methods, as long as we forget the idea of "pieces lending themselves to this method of analysis are objectively better'. Using music theory to name what you just played is a good thing, but saying that the name itself implies greatness is not

When I suggested that Schenker was valuable but "not the be-all-end-all," as this video also suggests, I was eliminated from consideration by Carl Schachter for a position on the Queens College music faculty. That was over 25 years ago. I guess I was ahead of my time, so to speak.

I just caught the dance bit. My alma mater had us take eurythmics in our freshman year, literally a bunch of us dancing around a stage to music for exactly the purpose you and the West African experts you quote here say - mind/body connection with rhythm is a great way to improve understanding of meter. I just assumed that was a thing everyone did.

I have a music degree in Jazz . I learned classical theory of course but specialized in Jazz theory and performance. So there is music theory and genres specific to other cultures. It’s true about self expression and the rules of music. It is so stifling as an artist to have to follow certain “rules” when one can totally come up with their own styles and rules of expression.

"here's me eating Fritos.... ...in the harmonic style of 18th-century European musicians"

As a North African aspiring musician, since I started learning theory, I started with western, Indian, and Middle Eastern. Many people told me that I should stick to one but I didn't listen. I think I have a lot better understanding of theory than they do.

Bravo Adam! My love for New Orleans music and tradition led me to pick up a bass guitar, that led me to your channel and that led me to this video. This awareness was like turning on a light bulb for me, It all makes prefect sense now.

Currently watching this and I’ve got to say, I don’t think I’ve looked Chopin using figured bass as the basis (haha) of analyzing the chord progressions, given they’re from the Romantic period rather than Baroque. I do agree with a lot of what you mention though and a lot of this is discussed at my university. “Music Theory I-IV” is very much taught through the lens of European classical music, but we have a class where these issues and distinctions among different theories are the main focus.

It's not even "the harmonic style of 18th century European musicians" - it's more "the harmonic style of 18th century Western European musicians". There's a rich tradition in Greece, for instance, of Byzantine music theory which is wildly different to classical western music theory. The 8 modes of Byzantine chant (and however many sub-modes within them) express a broad and deep variability that I haven't seen mirrored in western music (though to be fair to western music, it seems to have converged on a tuning which allows for a lot of flexibility in the colour of the melodies). The Byzantine scale is one of 72 pitches (called Moria), and each mode and submode is a scale which uses a different set of 8 subdivisions of those pitches - for instance, the Plagal 2nd mode is divided among the 72 moria like this: 6-20-4-12-6-20-4. For some modes the subdivision changes depending on the directionality - you might flatten a particular note if you're going down in the scale. There are also particular runs and accents which are specific to a mode. In old Byzantine notation they would have a few symbols which indicate an entire run, though more contemporary notation tends to just write out the run explicitly. Byzantine notation is also quite cool; instead of expressing the note on an image of the entire scale, the notation tells you to move from the point you're at - so there's a symbol which means "go up 3" or "stay on the same note", etc. This has (I reckon) led to a different emphasis - Byzantine music tends to jump around the scale less than western music. Though this is likely also because it's a vocal music tradition, not an instrumental one. The influence of Byzantine (and Turkish theory on western theory can be seen in the more recent prominence of microtonal compositions - though even there, the way western composers use microtonality, in my experience, doesn't really mesh with eastern theory. Eastern microtonality still aims for that concordant feel of being within a certain scale, and we have the concepts which allow for that. The western microtonality that I've heard feels more discordant, as though the entire point is to move away from classic western tonality, and not necessarily to embrace the particular feel of a new tonality. But still, it's cool and I look forward to seeing the evolution of western microtonality. It's definitely an interesting variation on the classic western tuning which always has the same pitch subdivisions.

37:34 i've been scrolling through the comments for a while now, how on earth is no one talking about the fact that Adam says he didn't include a wikipedia source, yet when you go in to the source document there clearly is one, and it turns out to be a rickroll article? XD

Fantastic. I have a graduate degree in music theory from Eastman and your video is absolutely on point. Keep fighting for real music and an open approach to everything all peoples have made on this planet!

The piano was invented in Europe 50 years before America was even a thing and for almost 200 years it was europeans who mostly played classical music, of course the most famous composers are white..., why does everyone want to turn everything in to a race issue?

"But he was a relatively obscure composer in his day, and rarely performed after his death." I picture Bach with a portable electric keyboard playing on special occasions when important people visit his grave.

Spanish major, here. You hit the nail on the head. I spent a semester studying picaresque novels and hundred year old short stories. It was like walking on a combination of hot gravel and broken glass. I got a better grasp of Castilian chatting with folks in the grocery store, bakery and local cafés.

What an absolutely beautiful piano commentary! (The end is just brilliant!)

I am so glad I started this video. Mr. Neely, excellent work on this analysis.

Im kinda hungover rn so my thoughts maybe incoherent, but as a Japanese person who was taught "music theory" I just kinda assumed that it will be Eurocentric. Like I don't know how to explain it, but this whole discussion feels extremely obvious - Western music theory will have Eurocentric bias based on the the context and the personal factors of contributors. It kinda draws parallel to how medicine and medical sciences are viewed, as everything is in English and regional forms of medicine are small scaled compared to Western medicine. Idk this feels very weird to me that all of this is being addressed in the video when I just assumed everyone knew and kept in mind the flaws of dropping the "Western" from music theory. Western music is the largest field of music rn at least in academics, so it feels normal for me to just say "music theory" because we assume that it's Western (the majority) in the context.

When I took AP music theory, my teacher basically said up front: "this is an introduction to the way classical european composers made music. We will not be learning anything else in this course. College Board has decided that this is what you need to know, so that's what I'm teaching."

This is seriously one of the most impressive youtube videos ive ever watched. Your arguments and analysis are structured so well and so thoughtfully. Thank you, i learned a lot today.

I find music theory a way to interpretate a musical idea to figure out some patterns, that can help you write a piece of music in the same style. I mean, Mozart hasn't written C chord after G7, because it's right and it's music theory. That was just the style where he lived and wrote. He took no complex jazz chords only because he didn't know them or/and he could think "that sounds weird"

Swear to god this title said music theory is racist. EDIT: To all replying, he already mentioned this on his Twitter. He thought it was too clickbaity.

I stumbled across this "lost in translation" issue with music when I was talking to a colleague. I learned most of my music theory through the lense of jazz so when I mentioned that I used the circle of 4ths for developing solos he had no idea what that was. When I showed him it he told me "oh, you wrote the cycle of 5ths backwards."

Thanks so much for this video. I love your in-depth analysis of the subject matter.

First, this is an excellent video and voices a lot of ideas that I didn't have language for in orchestra growing up but have since thought more and more about. I played violin from 4th grade through sophomore year of college and took a break from performance. Lately I've been focused on electronic music and synthesizers and hope to start performing again in a less traditional sense. (I found this video because I'm giving a presentation tomorrow on the history of sampling). I just finished taking a class on learning to use Ableton and realized over the last several months that my efforts to begin composing my own music are a bit stunted by a lack of "music theory" education in my orchestra classes growing up. After watching this, I'm wondering if that's not as bad as I thought. I think it would be incredibly useful to still learn chord structures and how to apply those to achieve a particular mood in my music but I am glad that my music education background is not entirely colored by exactly what you were talking about. Especially during college, I got into listening to more diverse music genres (previously my staples were indie/alternative/rock/metal/etc.) and in the last year or two alone I've deep-dived into a lot of synth-oriented experimental artists. Branching out of the music that was handed to me by people in my life as a kid has been so helpful in breaking out of that bubble of 18th century Western music traditions. I'm going to share this with everyone who will watch a 45 minute video in hopes that other people realize that they're in the bubble too.

Bach rarely performed in the years after his death Interesting

As a teenager my family lived on a Marine Corps base on Okinawa, and for a while I got really into traditional Okinawan folk music. My mom didn't like it so we never played it on car rides 🤣 Same kinda thing happened at church. My family is Russian Orthodox, which generally uses very westernized music. On the rare occasion we had to use the eastern, Byzantine style tones (common among the Greek and Antiochian churches, among other) my mom would get frustrated, as conducting the choir using such an unfamiliar style was really difficult for her. Edit: not a dig at my mom, she's a wonderful lady. Just pointing out how a perception of one style as "standard" can affect your enjoyment of other styles.

Mozart was Austrian, not German....

I super love this. A mentor i was working with pointed this out. Having played classical guitar and double bass most of my life It was shocking but glaringly obvious when she put it into perspective.

"My dads a music theorist" is basically "my wife's a doctor" for musicians

I fortunately had an incredible theory prof at UIUC. We learned 'theory' through various perspectives from western to eastern to American to various folk or tribal harmony. It took my 10 years of music study and opened my mind not just to new creative musical ideas but a new way of looking at the world around me.

As a composer in western music on a classical guitar i work from the german stuff but i also kind of just do my music my way. I legitimately developed my own theory of music.

Brilliant! I love your ideas for a new teaching. I find dancing essential when performing, as do many rockers, country and almost any style except orchestral, where we hire a conductor to dance! Keep on exploring. Oh, CRT, few really understand. You find excellent thinkers. Thanks,

im not a musician but im a dancer and this reminds me of how often ballet gets help up as this classical sophisticated style and anything else is considered alternative and other even when it comes to dance styles from other cultures that predate ballet existing

But that's just a theory, a _harmonic style of 18th century european musicians!_

I started with just intonation in the 1970s while at the Boston Conservatory. I start from a question "how are musical systems created", In the 1980s, a friend of mine built a 256-matrix keyboard as a result of a conversation we had. What I have done since that time was to pare down my ideas so that my system would remove as many presuppositions as possible and proceed in a quasi-axiomatic path. "Quasi" since we are living in a highly impatient period of time. I wound up not only question our predominant music theory but also our predominant mathematical theory. You'd be surprised how much of what we learn in mathematics comes from the same core period as the core music theory you are discussing.

Yeah, find more ways to get offended. After "Beethoven is an above average composer" I really can't take you seriously. I don't believe the colour of those composers skin has anything to do with anything. Western civilisation started to expand from Greece and Rome, from Europe, so mostly Caucasian people, you are a part of western civilisation, the colour of their skin just happened to be white. People from all over the world are watching your content. USA is not the world. You're seeing things from your tinted glasses. If white people oppressed the minorities in your country, that doesn't mean it happened all over the world. People from Eastern Europe were oppressed throughout history by eastern and western countries and they are white. Would you judge them by the color of their skin? Are we supposed to see how the composer looks like now before deciding we like their composition? There are reasons, other than those composers complexion, why people are learning that type of music theory.

When I was in college studying music theory, a professor once chastised me for listening to Indian music. He said the micro-tones are unhealthy! LOL! Thanks for another amazing video Adam.

the number of music profs who are about to be emailed a link to this video...

Que espetáculo de conteúdo! Salvo pra minha tese.

My goodness if I could see the dislike ratio again.

Thank you for talking about Barry Harris Adam. He is one of the most important figures in Jazz. Not only as a Master player but also as an Educator. He talks about Harmony based on 4 scales of chords. Major sixth diminished, Minor sixth diminished, Dominant diminished and Dominant flat 5 diminished. All 8 note scales. He actually talks about Bach and Chopin knowing and using these scales . He has taught and played all over the world spreading our beautiful music. He is an American treasure . Thank you again for using your tremendous platform to bring awareness to this Master.

My mentor DANILO PEREZ went to Senegal, Congo and other African countries. He told me something that changed my life for ever: in Africa, drummers FOLLOW the dancer's moves. That, combined with "no one who can't dance will get a music degree"... Booom

I learned music the- I mean The Harmonic Style of 18th Century European Musicians (still working on that adjustment) as a music major in college. I was ignorant, and I thought that was all there was, until I made friends with those who were involved in music outside of the Eurocentric bubble I was brought up in. It really changed my perspective and showed me that what I was learning was very limiting, and this video was an amazing explanation of this idea. Thanks for making it!

Learned this basically day 2 of harmony at my HBCU lol