Why music theory matters

A few months ago, I was waiting for coffee at a local shop when I struck up a conversation with a man in his mid-20s. I mentioned I was a piano teacher, and he shared that he had played guitar for years but recently picked it back up, only to find he “literally couldn’t play anything.”

I asked a simple question that I already knew the answer to: had he studied music theory? No, he hadn’t.

Many people dismiss theory, saying they “just want to play.” But skipping theory undermines long-term skill building.

One practical reason to invest in it is that theory accelerates, and deeply assimilates learning through chunking.

Chunking only takes place in the brain through applying meaning to otherwise random notes and chords.

Barbara Oakley, author of Learning How to Learn, compares scattered, context-free knowledge to unorganized files cluttering your desktop. Chunking, she explains, is like zipping those files into a single, accessible folder.

For example, when you first learn an A♭ major scale (A♭–B♭–C–D♭–E♭–F–G–A♭), it’s just a string of notes. With time and practice, it becomes one “chunk” in your mind.

Then you can add melodic minor, harmonic minor, the blues scale, etc. They all become one concept that you can call upon as needed.

Oakley describes three layers of chunking:

Bottom-up: practice and repetition that strengthen each chunk for easy recall.

Top-down: seeing the big picture—how chunks fit into the larger structure of music.

Context: where bottom-up and top-down meet, giving meaning and flexibility to what you’ve learned.

So, if you’ve been avoiding theory, consider this your nudge: open those books and start the chunking process today.

Happy practicing!

Michelle