Theory and Musicianship Lessons

I was a bit worried about putting this category together, because they are very much not the same things. I define music theory as descriptions of the music we enjoy; I define musicianship as the ability to spell chords, scales, sightread, sightsing, and other actions of musical literacy.

That said, I do believe that the two concepts work together: Theory is descriptive whereas musicianship is prescriptive. This means that understanding the concepts to describe a song or piece is theory, but the execution of recreating it is musicianship.

Hence really you need both skills to be musically fluent!

My curriculum follows that of most universities, but also adds some analytical work to provide more theory, since most “Music Theory” classes at universities are actually musicianship classes, and more often than not specifically classical musicianship. I want my students to be able to hear music, break it down, and then recreate it.