Importance of Music Theory in Modern Music

    To what degree is music theory necessary for modern music? Nowadays, there is a multitude of artists who have a very basic and crude understanding of music theory, and yet are able to succeed with the lack of it. This hasn’t been a modern phenomena either. There are some musical icons who are considered legends (like John Lennon) who were unable to read notation (something very basic) until very far into their careers as musicians. Currently there are artists out there who bleed music theory like Jacob Collier, who likes to play around with the boundaries of current theory to create new sounds and new music. A lot of Jacob’s music for example, plays around with polyrhythmic patterns like septuplets layered on quintuplets, with a melody following cut time (4/4). Yet when we look at modern day pop songs in comparison, for the most part they follow a simple 4 chord progression layers with electronic drum kits layered to form a beat. Some of it is a bit more complex with bass lines, vocal layering, and harmonics, but some of the best songs are really simple. The song “suede” by Anderson Paak for example, is a two chord progression throughout the song, yet was one of his most popular songs amongst the entire album.