What You Make It, Part One

Music theory isn't even a theory, it's a half-baked hypothesis, a forever uncompletable mess of historical and geographically specific data that still defines to most listeners (consciously or otherwise) what is acceptable to call "music" and what is not, and worse, which allows a certain kind of musician to define what is "right" and what is "wrong". Western music theory in particular is a huge and unwieldy set of rules, (sometimes somewhat arcane) mathematics, and a huge array of assumptions and prejudices that change according to the prevailing cultural climate of the times, the rubber room that where so many musicians willingly don the straitjacket and bounce off the same four walls for the rest of their creative lives. People like Wynton "there has been no new jazz made since 1955" Marsalis are the product of theory making, not music making, seeking to reduce whatever music it is they profess to love to a set of rules or procedures, deviation from which is punishable by ostracization or ridicule, a high-minded, academic approach which allows no room for true creativity or progression and leads to ossification, turning what should be living, breathing art into a static exhibit to be admired from a respectful distance, not engaged with on a visceral, emotional level as music should be.

To be continued shortly...