The Scope of Music Theory

I am not a composer, I rarely ever make up my own music but it occured to me that I could be ignorant of alot of technical things I did not know about. So my question is, how far does music theory go into the various aspects of music (Pre-wagner)?

What is there to counterpoint after the types of motions of melodic lines and what intervals are dissonant/ concordant?

What is there to form of, not necessarily entire pieces themselves, but individual phrases of harmony that a high school music theory text may not tell you about?

what, you want an in-depth theory class condensed into one post on a forum?

What you are asking for is a little difficult... if not impossible.

People spend years learning what there is to learn about theory, whether it's harmony, counterpoint, or formal analysis.

And theory goes well beyond Wagner's time period. Tonal theory gets considerably more complex when you enter into post-romanticism and early 20th century modernism. And this includes harmony, counterpoint, and formal analysis.

When you go up,

go down,

when you go down,

go up,

then you V I.

End.

Is that enough?

When you go up,

go down,

when you go down,

go up,

then you V I.

End.

Is that enough?

*cackle*

When you go up,

go down,

when you go down,

go up,

then you V I.

End.

Is that enough?

That's basically what I grasped from all of my resources about "normal" harmony, and I guess asking for anything more is naive?

Not naive. Maybe an excess of information?

When you go up,

go down,

when you go down,

go up,

then you V I.

End.

Is that enough?

Do this only if you want another boring neo-classical piece.

Music theory is infinitely useful (though it can be incessantly repetitive) and usually is what developes great ideas. However, learning it takes almost a lifetime and you will always be learning new things (like the sound of notes played together but separated by several octaves, for example). If you really want to know music (and completely understand it formulaically), you need to learn all facets of theory and practice them constantly.

Even if you don't want to take theory, if you're gonna be a classical musician you have to take it: so stop complaining and get learning!

I think everything there before V I was sound advice.

When you go up,

go down,

when you go down,

go up,

then you V I.

End.

Is that enough?

How many times has this been quoted?

What's it supposed to mean anyways?

Have you ever taken a counterpoint class? That's one of the most first things they teach you. "When this voice goes up, this other one should go down." It's a pretty good concept to follow with just about anything though. Try these:

If you get really loud, eventually you'll want to get really quiet.

If you get really thick, you'll probably want to thin it out eventually.

If you get really high, you should go low to give your players a break.

Ditto for low.

If you're to much in the middle, go the outside.

If you're too drunk, then just go home.

I guess it's just a motto for variety.

Oh right. I've never done much vocal stuff.

When you go up,

go down,

when you go down,

go up,

then you V I.

End.

Is that enough?

While extremely simplified, this is about as close to a "universal truth" about composition as you will get. The more you know about composition and theory, the more you will understand just how true Tumababa's little quote is. It distills perfectly much of musical knowledge. Obviously, that brief outline alone is not enough to make a great composer out of you. But once you gain the much wider range of knowledge, that simplicity will become apparent.

So then am I like a sage or something? :P

Parsley on the left, Rosemary on the right, Thyme behind you?

"if you've got the money, honey, I've got the thyme"

(my favourite P.D.Q. Bach quote from "The Seasonings")