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(13 votes) 
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Maybe something in this that one could find inspiring or useful. It was in my youtube list and thought interesting.
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HOLY SMOKE!
Is THAT really true about Irving Berlin?
I'm upset I never even heard the word 'Dorian' until I started learning some Irish tunes (4½ years ago now?)!
...well except for the story of Dorian Grey. 🤭
Enjoyed this video - THANKS!!!
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So, here's the thing. Music theory is completely unnecessary to play or compose music. In fact, so does sheet music. Their only purpose is to communicate about music, and honestly, it was for a limited subset of music. ie: it was developed for Western European music.
Yes, it can apply to other genres as well, and it works, but it also has limitations that doesn't serve other genres and so forth.
I know I brought this up in other conversations, but the only thing that *really* matters in making music: If it sounds good, it is good. And also, that can be subjective. 
But, I really appreciate this, you have given me something so I can prove my brother wrong tonight, and I intend to savor this evening.
I maintain that anyone can improvise, and the white keys prove it. Although, most people improvise every day. If you have a conversation with someone, you are improvising. The only limitation musically is the vocabulary, but that whole white note thing will be sweet to show him.
I have actually used that technique a few times recording MIDI tracks. Not often though, but I'll go there when goofing around to try to build ideas I wouldn't normally thing of. Kind of like going in to Drop D on a guitar to just find riffs.
Let the music come out without having to worry about technique.
And this reminds me, I have an EDM track I did a few years back that is just begging to have one of my synth lines changed to being violin.
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One of my kids at some point was toying with a electronic piano and this was before my fiddle escapades started.. but in short i did with them exactly what was going on here. I had guitar and probably strummed some C, F and G chords or Am. and had them just play whatever on the white keys only.
no materpiece but it was a good time and we sorta jammed without either of us knowing much at all about music.
weve all heard so much music over time and know what sounds good. Dont have to be a scholar to know it when we hear it and sometimes how to just begin is all thats needed.
simple ideas but maybe all thats needed.
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I think the best way to approach music theory is to remember that it's descriptive, not prescriptive. It's a framework for understanding what has been found to work, and understanding what people expect to hear. That's all.
"To study music, we must learn the rules. To create music, we must break them."
-- Nadia Boulanger
The reason composers study music theory is that knowing the rules allows you to be more deliberate about breaking them. Of course the "rules" just describe what we expect to hear and why we expect to hear it, so we all have some ingrained idea of what they are, whether or not we're able to describe them.
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good points as always Andrew. I wasnt suggesting no theory btw. just saw it and it reminded me of the time I spoke of and thought if someone didnt know about using just white keys it may spark something.
also for ones farther along. coming up with original stuff may be easier to find that way. once a melody or chord progression found..transpose into something else they like.
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I think this fits in this topic.
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good video i thought. sort of ..dont confuse the fundamentals with trying to learn everything in music theory. Theres some basic things we need and beyond that the rest can help us but dont let learning more advanced atuff stop us from trying our hand at improv or writing composing..etc..
musical form.. yeah i think kinda knowing it exists can help. we use it without thinking alot of the times once we start playing. double reel vs single reels... 3 part jigs... etc..
with that though... i think what makes songwriters like Gregory Alan Iskaov great and unique are songs like this.
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@elcbk said "In all fairness, he does cover the fundamentals, then suggests starting with a little improv, notating & editing. ...but I think his suggestions shouldn't be used as a means to an end, but as a place to really start more exploration. "
For sure. I dont think the video was meant to be an excuse to not learn more once some basic improv or songwriting is going on. I think ...dont let high level youtube videos about music therory confuse you to the point you arent songwriting or playing due to worry its being done wrong. Build on what sounds good and figure out why it sounded good. then apply to the next thing and buildup some knowledge that way.
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@elcbk exactly! Really good example from a violin standpoint. Perfect example of how to get started making up melodies on the fly. Thank you for finding this.. it seems like these type videos are hard to find and always start getting to deep to fast.
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There's a thread somewhere on this forum I think about putting an original tune together.
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@stringy said
There's a thread somewhere on this forum I think about putting an original tune together.
stringy are you referring to the forum jig? if yes a good place to maybe test some of this info.
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