THEORY

Despite all our assurances that all teachers are good and should not be blamed for something they did not teach you, the reality in regard to theory is that most teachers do not give it enough emphasis or priority. Some teachers do not teach theory at all or believe they are when they really are not. In their defense, theory is just not as exciting for most teachers to teach as the technique and repertoire are. Likewise, some did not get it from their teachers when they were students, and have not realized its importance now that they are teachers. They would rather spend the lesson time working on Beethoven and Debussy, than checking a student's homework for chord figures and note values.

When one looks at the newest method systems it is very evident that teaching Music Theory has become a very important part of the system in ways it was never incorporated before. Likewise, wonderful theory systems have come on the scene (as recently as 1997) to help private teachers teach theory to their students. The existance of these new publications prove that the educators have identified the importance of improving theory as part of private music education. Teachers who have not embraced this new reality are simply behind the times and are still teaching in the style more common in the 1970s.

KMI and the Theory Approach to Teaching

Theory and Learning: How effectively a student learns a new piece of music is dependent on two areas of ability: 1) Knowledge (Theory) and 2) Technical skills (Technique). If the student does not understand the music, what it means, and how it works, the student will have great difficulty learning the piece. A weak theory background is similar to poor reading skills in an English class. If the student reads slowly, does not understand words, does not understand complex sentence structure, does not understand literary references and does not understand simple concepts of metaphor or poetic description, then the student will do very poorly in the English class. The years of reading instruction given to students grades 1-8 are essential for the student to understand High School English works of literature - and High School English is required for college English classes. In order for a music student with a weak theory background to learn a new piece, the teacher must explain many things every step of the way. The process is long and difficult - and ultimately not transferrable as the teacher will only be able to address those theoretical issues that appear in this particular piece. If the student requires months to learn a piece, then either the student's theoretical knowledge or technique are insufficient for the difficulty of the piece.

Independence v. Imitation: If a student can read music and understand how it should be performed almost completely based on the printed page, the student has the ability to continue learning music independently. If a student must listen to the music played by someone else, and/or must be instructed how to execute trills, turns, and phrases, then the student is learning only by imitation and has little to no independence. The latter student lacks the theoretical knowledge to continue learning new music outside of private lessons.

Catch Up: Theory is strongly emphasized at KMI, and almost all transfer students will have significant catch up to do in the area of theory. Please be patient with our faculty, even if 80% of each weekly lesson is devoted to theory. If you worked on a piece, please do not hesitate to show off your efforts by playing it for your teacher (especially if it is memorized). The teacher may not have time to work with you a lot on it, but will be happy to hear what you have done during the week. Most transfer students manage to bring their theory level up to their playing level within 6 months to a year, and can then proceed to learn music at the rate they were used to prior to transfer. The students at KMI progress and advance as strongly as they do precisely because they are required to learn their theory to the same level of mastery as their technique and pieces.