The Importance of Understanding Music Theory
July 17, 2008
We’ve all been there. It fills us with fear and stops us in our tracks. It makes us wonder why we ever got into this job in the first place. It is a question that we dread hearing. “How do you play a Cdim7?”
Music theory seems to be one area that many worship leaders are not comfortable with. Especially for volunteers, it can be a daunting subject. Without having any formal musical training except for a few guitar or piano lessons, many worship leaders are at a loss when faced with questions of how to play certain chords, what key the music is in and how fast a song is supposed to go.
Why bother?
You know how to play the basic chords in every key and pretty much understand what those fractions at the beginning of a line of music mean, so why should you make an effort to learn and understand music theory?
To help your volunteers. Many volunteer musicians (especially in smaller churches) don’t have any formal musical training. They need help knowing that 6/8 is different than 3/4. They need help knowing how to play Asus or G5. They need to be comfortable admitting that they don’t know these things and also need to be able to be confident in asking someone who does.
To help chart music. While it’s true that you might not be making your own arrangements of songs every week (or every month for that matter), you will be faced with charting music eventually. If you belong to a church that uses hymns in worship (and I hope you do!) you will quickly realize that hymns straight out of the hymnal do not include the guitar chords. They also are built on chords that shift on every beat which make them hard for inexperienced guitar players to play right out of the gate. It’s your job to be able to pick out and label the chords in the hymn and determine which ones are the most important to keep in the hymn’s structure and which ones can be left out for simplification. By understanding music theory, you will know that just because there’s an F# in the bass doesn’t mean the chord is an F# chord. It could be a D chord with an F# on the bottom.
To become more confident at leading. With a great grasp of music theory your ear will start to develop a sense of when certain chords should be played at certain times. You will know how to transpose a song quickly if you’re leading in a small group and you realize the music is too high or too low. You will know how to create chord progressions on the fly that you can use as a music bed under a prayer time or an encouragement to the congregation. You will know how to extend the end of a song without using predictable repetition.
There are many other advantages to understanding music theory. A great place to start learning is musictheory.net. Attend music theory seminars at conferences. See if you can get enrolled in a music theory class at a university. Learn it. Know it. Love it. You’ll be so glad you did.
Photo courtesy of verzek.
Related posts:
- Music for Little Ones
- Using A Cut Capo
- Theology Of Music, Part One
- Hendrix Style Double Stops for Worship Guitar
- Confessions Of A One Time Worship Leader
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Ryan,
Awesome article, bro … coming from a dude who has a college degree in Music Theory/Composition … I love it!
Thanks! I should really finish my composition degree someday…sigh. I got really burned out and ended up in graphic design, but music is my ultimate passion. Very fun to be involved here.
Dude, you’re right on. Luckily I got real music training before instrument training. So when I picked up guitar after 5 years on trumpet I already had a head start simply by knowing how music worked. Then I see so many worship leader friends who don’t understand basic theory. They know where to put their fingers to make a G major but have no idea what makes a G major. It’s unfortunate because the leader can’t take the band further than himself.
I echo Ryan wholeheartedly and highly suggest every church musician get some music training to understand why we play what we play. Especially leaders so we can take our bands to whole new levels.
Loved this post. We’ve always encouraged all of our musicians to learn some theory – even if that just means learning the order of the chords and memorizing the chords and their corresponding number for each key.
Not sure if you have ever used the Nashville number system, but it’s a great hybrid of chord charts and actual theory. I hope to take it with us wherever we go – EASY TRANSPOSITION!!!
I know just enough to get by, and consult with my wife on any theory I’m unsure about. She’s the coolest!
mjd
[...] My first article at The Worship Community has been published. Check it out, especially if you’re wondering why it’s important to know music theory as a worship leader. [...]
dead on…and that resource is fantastic…I am a guy with no music theory training. I have realized my limitations with that and I am trying to learn everything I can now.
Im a jack of all trades yet master of none and trying to fix that
I would say I know enough to get by, but I definitely prefer to focus on non theory stuff. I do agree, however, that it is a necessary knowledge even in the smallest churches.
@Chris – “he leader can’t take the band further than himself” – this is so true, even on the spiritual side of things!
@Matthew – I have seen and heard of the Nashville Number System – never used it – but I here it’s great. I prefer actually figured bass myself (the Roman numerals in music theory) but the NNS could definitely be a big help to many people.
@Joel – Good that you’ve realized your limitations and good that your soaking everything in. I just happened to stumble on musictheory.net – don’t even remember how, but it’s really quite a nice little site.
@Tyler – I think we should definitely focus on non-theory stuff – as in, exalting God above everything and making that the primary purpose, but as you said, it is necessary knowledge.