The official mad-at-theory thread

[pauln]

Question:
do you have experience with singers?
Some of them sing beautifully and do not know that there is a theory.
Maybe they don't even know the chords.
Just ears and musicality.
Are they mad at theory?

If they do not know that there is a theory, they aren't mad at it... (same for drummers)

[Litterick]

I am practising theory.

[pauln]

If I show a half dozen perspectives, which is most like your own when practicing, performing, and being mad?

Let's call them

List
Trails
Sheet
Equal
Circle
Flow

List


Trails


Sheet


Equal


Circle


Flow

[mr. beaumont]

If I show a half dozen perspectives, which is most like your own when practicing, performing, and being mad?

Let's call them

List
Trails
Sheet
Equal
Circle
Flow

List


Trails


Sheet


Equal


Circle


Flow

I got Gonzaga vs Louisville in the last one.

[Christian Miller]

The last diagram encapsulates what happens when I try to represent something that seems perfectly simple to me and I realise halfway through that it’s turning into a map of hell. Usually at this point I abandon ship, but I oddly respect that they followed through on it.

[Christian Miller]

Attachment 100064

it’s amazing. Just by staring at this I am able to play like Pat Martino.

[GuyBoden]

The diagram reminds me of fractals, which are quite amazing.

Sacred geometry is fractal based and there are entire religions and belief systems based on it.

You can, if you wish and so desire, use Mandelbrot sets to create fractal music.



Mandelbrot set

[grahambop]

If I stare at this one long enough, it makes me think I can play like Coltrane.

[GuyBoden]

Sacred Geometry must have been popular in the 1960's.

"Sacred geometry is about figuring out the hidden meanings behind these geometric shapes in order to understand the universe. It is believed that within these shapes lies the secret of every aspect and facet of this universe and uncovering these secrets can help us humans understand the Great Mysteries and the Great Design that form the basis of this universe."

[Christian Miller]

Sacred Geometry must have been popular in the 1960's.

"Sacred geometry is about figuring out the hidden meanings behind these geometric shapes in order to understand the universe. It is believed that within these shapes lies the secret of every aspect and facet of this universe and uncovering these secrets can help us humans understand the Great Mysteries and the Great Design that form the basis of this universe."

Anything with a whiff of the esoteric or mystical was big back then. Musicians love that shit!

I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy a New Age bookshop. Which is quite Gemini of me, really. Ah well. (I'm an Aries with Mars ascendent, you can probably tell.)

[grahambop]

[ragman1]

[ragman1]

You are not wrong :-)

[ragman1]

Or maybe the tempo should be -300bpm

[supersoul]

Anything with a whiff of the esoteric or mystical was big back then. Musicians love that shit!

I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy a New Age bookshop. Which is quite Gemini of me, really. Ah well. (I'm an Aries with Mars ascendent, you can probably tell.)

I gotta say that I'm allergic to New Age theories of music, the Secret History of Water, The Music of the Spheres, oh the planets revolve around the sun in a regular rhythm and they have a ratio between their orbits and omg that's exactly like the overtones of a bell struck billions of years ago, didja know the Earth's resonance is a F natural 57 octaves below middle C (can't you feel it? I can), oh, and my guitar amp is resting on four crystals to isolate it from the ley lines running under my feet.

There's a book called Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale which is not New Agey but it attempts to map the resonances of molecules into usable musical scales. I like it because it is an actual rigorous attempt at combining crystals with music (the author is a chemistry professor). In practice it barely makes a ripple in the inharmonic world of FM synthesis.

I guess you could say that I'm Mad-At-New-Age-Music-Theory

[ragman1]

Mad-At-New-Age-Music-Theory

Now that makes sense.

[ragman1]

But it has nothing to do with jazz theory.

No, but the joke is that some of it might have been written by supernatural beings :-)

Soon someone will write that jazz is played best by aliens.
Although, there may be some truth to that.

Exactly.

[Litterick]

In all this talk of theory, over several blighted threads, only a few jazz theorists and theory books have been mentioned. And the theorising seems to have finished some years ago. It all seems rather niche to me. Maybe we are post-theory.

[CliffR]

Soon someone will write that jazz is played best by aliens.
Although, there may be some truth to that.

The music played by the band in the Star Wars cantina scene was called 'jizz'.

[Christian Miller]

In all this talk of theory, over several blighted threads, only a few jazz theorists and theory books have been mentioned. And the theorising seems to have finished some years ago. It all seems rather niche to me. Maybe we are post-theory.

Yeah but that stuff is as dull as shit tho

[Christian Miller]

I gotta say that I'm allergic to New Age theories of music, the Secret History of Water, The Music of the Spheres, oh the planets revolve around the sun in a regular rhythm and they have a ratio between their orbits and omg that's exactly like the overtones of a bell struck billions of years ago, didja know the Earth's resonance is a F natural 57 octaves below middle C (can't you feel it? I can), oh, and my guitar amp is resting on four crystals to isolate it from the ley lines running under my feet.

There's a book called Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale which is not New Agey but it attempts to map the resonances of molecules into usable musical scales. I like it because it is an actual rigorous attempt at combining crystals with music (the author is a chemistry professor). In practice it barely makes a ripple in the inharmonic world of FM synthesis.

I guess you could say that I'm Mad-At-New-Age-Music-Theory

Just make sure you tune to A 432....

[ragman1]

Maybe we are post-theory.

I don't think we can get away from it entirely because it shapes the music but I think it's probably true that there's been nothing actually new for a very long time.

[Bobby Timmons]

In all this talk of theory, over several blighted threads, only a few jazz theorists and theory books have been mentioned. And the theorising seems to have finished some years ago. It all seems rather niche to me. Maybe we are post-theory.

Ur mad at theory.

[ragman1]

Ur mad at theory.

Jimmy, this phrase is becoming silly. If you mean angry at theory that's not true. I doubt if anyone's literally angry at theory.

[Bobby Timmons]

Jimmy, this phrase is becoming silly. If you mean angry at theory that's not true. I doubt if anyone's literally angry at theory.

Ok, he's purposely lying to further his narrative. Is that direct enough for you? The only other possibility is he's too dense to absorb these truths about theory, but I doubt that's the case. Theory is niche when almost all successful musicians use and depend on it? What kind of nonsense is that?

In all this talk of theory, over several blighted threads, only a few jazz theorists and theory books have been mentioned. And the theorising seems to have finished some years ago. It all seems rather niche to me. Maybe we are post-theory.