Rick McKeon - Posted - 10/22/2018:  21:03:54

When I was just a little kid (maybe 3 or 4 years old) my folks gave me a little plastic violin for Christmas. We were poor so us kids didn't get really expensive gifts, but this was the most wonderful thing I had ever seen! It was a cheap thing and didn't stay in tune very well, but it was a magic carpet ride for me! This little piece of plastic transported me up into musical realms! It was the first thing that allowed me to start hearing intervals and allowed me to start making up songs. I tuned it up and plucked the strings, and loved the sounds it could produce!

As a young person I started asking people about what a 7th chord was or what I was hearing when a chord progression walked it back down to the 1 chord, but I never got a satisfactory answer. Eventually I found the right teachers and mentors, but it took a LONG time.

I'm telling you, music theory has been an influencing factor in my enjoyment of life from a little kid on up!

So here's my question. When did you first notice music? What effect did it have on you early on? When did you realize there was a structure and form to music? And, this one is probably one for us old guys, how has the understanding of music theory enhanced your life over the years? OK, this might be a bit personal, but what the heck!

Rick

Mooooo - Posted - 10/22/2018:  21:33:21

My oldest memory of music comes from 1st grade when I was 6. It was in The Springtime and me and my friend Frank were singing I Wanna Hold Your Hand for some reason or another, it was 1970 and for some reason two 6 year olds knew all the words....actually, my aunt used to baby sit me and my siblings, so I was brainwashed since I was an infant with Beatles music. I always found it strange that every time I heard a Beatles song, I was always familiar with it.

I started playing recorder in school when I was 9 and that was when I realized about musical organization...I had been singing to radio songs and 45s of my older siblings for a long time by then, and the teacher used to teach us one part and then the next part, etc...so that taught me about the linear organization, Part A, part B...then she assign some of us to use the Alto recorder which introduced me to harmony, which I previously hadn't caught onto. The next year I started learning cornet and learned even more, then the next year I started Guitar and learned tons more because it consumed me.

Theory has had a big influence on my musical life, since it has made it easier to understand why things are organized the way that they are in different musical pieces. I am not sure if has had any influence on my personal life since I haven't considered it yet.

dr4dpet - Posted - 10/22/2018:  23:34:02

The first exposure I can recall was John Thompson's Red Book (Grade One) when I was a second grade student, 7 years old.

mikebanjo - Posted - 10/23/2018:  02:08:06

Music theory helps the left brain understand music so the right brain can play the music better with less dependence on memorization,

Texasbanjo - Posted - 10/23/2018:  05:06:44

Music has been part of my life in some form or another since I was just a little kid.

When we'd have family gatherings, my grandmother would get on the piano and play and we'd sing songs. Guess I must have been about 4 or 5 (at least that's when I remember). Then piano lessons for me when I was 7. There was always a piano at the house. Music theory was part of learning the piano, but it didn't teach chords, intervals, chord structure and/or chord progression. It taught notes and scales and keys with sharps and/or flats.

In junior high I played clarinet. High school, clarinet and tenor sax.

All 3 of my kids took piano lessons when they were pre-teens. Oldest daughter was talented and could hear something and pick it out on the piano. The twins wanted to play but didn't want to practice. They didn't learn much.

Took up banjo in my early '70s. Was getting to be a fair player when my teacher left for a better job and there wasn't anyone else to teach me. Had just begin to learn about chords, intervals, playing by ear, etc. Back then no beginner instruction books, no internet, no tabs. So, the banjo was put up. Went back to it in the early '90s and have been playing since. Took lessons from a wonderful teacher at South Plains College and he taught me to make my own breaks, work out my own backup, how to listen and play by ear.

Learned to sing lead and harmony, was in several little bands and had a band of my own for several years.

Music is great to soothe the soul.

Ric in Richmond - Posted - 10/23/2018:  05:30:51

At age 47, as I learned to play the Banjo, the fact that the musical world I live in is based on 1,4,5 with some variations was life altering.

Now about that walk down to 1. What is going on there???

doryman - Posted - 10/23/2018:  11:57:58

There's nothing like a piano keyboard to lay it all out there in, literally, black and white. I can't imagine trying to figure out theory (although I know folks do) without a couple of years of piano lessons under my belt as a kid.

easy - Posted - 10/23/2018:  12:16:38

I don't know when I first noticed music, but my first musical memories are of hearing Cat Stevens' "Tea for the Tillerman" and Bob Dylan's "Greatest Hits" on the record player in the living room, which my parents were playing. Even now, the songs off those albums (especially "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Wild World") will transport me back to that age for a moment.

250gibson - Posted - 10/23/2018:  12:29:57

quote:

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Originally posted by doryman

There's nothing like a piano keyboard to lay it all out there in, literally, black and white. I can't imagine trying to figure out theory (although I know folks do) without a couple of years of piano lessons under my belt as a kid.

---

The way I figure out intervals, keys, relationships, chords, etc, is to imagine a bass guitar neck, as that was the first instrument I learned. I think music theory is a lot like language, you may know many languages, however the first one you learn is usually the language you “think” in.  Therefor in determining anything related to theory, I “think” in bass guitar.  Even in keyboard playing, when substituting a dominant seventh chord, I find the tritone by imagining the guitar neck in my head.  

Rawhide Creek - Posted - 10/24/2018:  01:23:37

I was 7 when I began learning an instrument (viola).

When I was 12 (7th grade, Rio Tierra Junior High School, Sacramento, California), my music teacher, Monroe DeJarnette, introduced me to music theory.  After school, he taught me voice leading, assigned exercises—I learned how to use staff paper!—and introduced me to the piano.  In fact, he gave me one of the seminal texts I still have on my shelf, written by Walter Piston.  I also still have a book on composition and forms, given to me by Fred Cooper, who was the band teacher at the same junior high school; his office was directly across from Mr. DeJarnette’s.

Edited by - Rawhide Creek on 10/24/2018 01:24:48

banjoak - Posted - 10/24/2018:  10:03:42

quote:

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Originally posted by 250gibson

quote:

---

Originally posted by doryman

There's nothing like a piano keyboard to lay it all out there in, literally, black and white. I can't imagine trying to figure out theory (although I know folks do) without a couple of years of piano lessons under my belt as a kid.

---

The way I figure out intervals, keys, relationships, chords, etc, is to imagine a bass guitar neck, as that was the first instrument I learned. I think music theory is a lot like language, you may know many languages, however the first one you learn is usually the language you “think” in.  Therefor in determining anything related to theory, I “think” in bass guitar.  Even in keyboard playing, when substituting a dominant seventh chord, I find the tritone by imagining the guitar neck in my head.  

---

Bass neck is how I started navigating intervals, music theory... no formal lessons, but as tuned in fourths, gives pretty good easy visualization to intervals. Still use that, but also play fiddle/mando... so learned to think or visualize from tuned in fifths perspective. 

Edited by - banjoak on 10/24/2018 10:06:17

bobskart - Posted - 10/24/2018:  22:13:20

Rick what a cool question and love reading the responses so far. Also really enjoy your materials you have out as they have helped me a ton along with some others.

My first memory was sitting on the front porch of my grandparents house where I lived and playing (poorly lol) my grandfathers Harmony Stratotone (which he left me when he passed and is still hanging on the wall beside me as I type this) and my cousin trying to play my Montgomery Wards four string bass.

Then years later married with little money as my father in law loaned me his Rickenbacker 4001 (also still beside me as I type) to learn on and play in church on the worship team for many years.

Then missing home in Va so I purchased a Gold Tone BG250F from Ross Nickerson (awesome guy at Banjo Teacher.com) who got me in touch with a local bluegrass banjo player here in Vegas who led to another instructor and led me meet Dr Banjo Pete Wernick at Huck Finn in the old Victorville CA location. All of which have greatly influenced my learning and playing and tons of time in Wernick Jam Groups here locally which led me to convince m father in law, my banjo instructor (who plays tons of instruments) and her husband to join me and try the band competition at Pickin in the Pines in Flagstaff just to push myself.

Then the messages here along with the ones listed and not listed above have led me to great memories and a better understanding of music and life than I ever thought possible.

Thanks for asking that question Rick...a little off from the question but had to reply after reading the responses

Rick McKeon - Posted - 10/25/2018:  10:05:17

Hey Bobby,

Thanks so much for sharing your insights.

Rick

WayneConrad - Posted - 10/26/2018:  14:22:55

Rick, It's good to see you in the forums, and great question.



Like @Ric in Richmond, I didn't learn theory in the crib, but very late in life. Just six years ago, when I first picked up the banjo, I was exposed to I/IV/V, and then vi, but didn't really understand the "why" behind them. About two years ago I started lessons, and my instructor started shoving theory into my head with gusto. Much of that theory successfully escaped capture by my brain, but what stuck has changed my relationship with music forever.  The theory, and the exercises based on it, and ear training, are starting to give me abilities in playing that I didn't have before. Now I can:

• Understand (sort of) how chords are constructed.


• Figure out my own fingerings for chords (slowly).


• Improvise a melodic line (poorly).


• Guess (usually incorrectly) the chord progression in a simple song I am hearing.


• Use phrases like "circle of 4ths" and "harmonizing the scale" to try to sound smart.

Playing music has had a huge effect upon my life, but I can't say that music theory has, at least not directly.

Edited by - WayneConrad on 10/26/2018 14:36:34