- Hi, I'm James, 
and I'm a musical director from South Africa.
I'm here to teach you 
everything you need to know about music theory.
Whether you play in your school band,
or you jam with your friends,
or you want to take this 
all the way to university level.
Whatever it is, I'm here for you.
Why?
Because I'm a dad.
I love doing this stuff.
Okay, do we actually need to write music down?
The short answer, 
no.
There's nothing that stops me from picking up
an instrument right now and playing it, right?
But,
what if I came to you wherever you are?
Kansas,
Russia,
Soweto,
and I asked you to sing a song with me.
Now there are three questions
that are immediately pertinent.
One:
How quickly do you think you could learn that piece?
Number two:  
If we, for instance, came back a week later,
would you be able to remember it perfectly?
And three, how creative can we get?
If I had to suddenly start throwing in words like
"substitute chords", 
"harmony", 
"transposition",
would you be able to jump right in with me,
or are we limited by the experience
or knowledge of one of us?
Of course, the ideal answers are that
One,
we'd be able to learn it instantly.
Two, when we come back in a week,
we'll be able to play perfectly again
and three,
there's no limit to how creative we can be with a song.
I think you're probably starting to understand
where I'm heading with this.
But let me elaborate, 
embellish, 
flesh out,
expound 
on this idea.
No matter who you are, where you are,
whether you're a singer, a musician, 
a drummer,
jokes, drummers are musicians as well.
Anyway, whatever you do, 
whatever song you're working on,
it is always going to have four stages in its life.
The first stage is that the song is going to be composed.
Somebody or a group of people 
is going to create something new.
They are going to breathe new musical life into the world.
The second stage is that the song is arranged.
Somebody or a group of people is going to decide
how the song is going to be performed.
Stage number three is the performance.
Somebody or a group of people
is going to actually play the music.
And finally, in the fourth stage,
the song is going to be heard.
There is somebody that is going to hear
the music being performed.
But, and this is a huge but,
being able to write down music
and to understand music in its written form
opens up a whole new creative dimension
in each of these phases.
The same as your favorite author writing down a story.
Somebody could tell you that story verbally.
But the best way to know 
exactly what the author had in mind
is to read the books.
So the need for music to be written down
becomes more and more obvious,
as the musical environment 
becomes more complex.
For example, if your band or your ensemble starts to grow.
Sure, if you're just playing in a group
with you and your friend,
and you're both at the same musical level,
then perhaps there's no need to write music down.
But what if you want a third person to join your group?
Or you want brass parts for your song?
Or you want your song to be sung by a choir?
Or played by an orchestra?
All of these become exponentially easier
when the music is written down.
Another way that written-down music 
can be so valuable
is the way that it saves time.
When you are working with other musicians,
you want to get to a point 
where the song is 'ready'.
Now being able to read and understand music
allows you to get to that point of 
being 'ready' quicker,
which means that you have more time to 
go further.
What do I mean by going further?
Well, going further might mean
learning more songs
in the same amount of time.
It could also mean giving yourself more time
to get into the emotional side of the performance.
Now that you've used your thorough understanding
of music theory to learn the music quickly,
you can focus on things like blending in your voice groups
if you sing in a choir,
getting deeper into the groove with a drummer
if you're in a band,
or listening intently to your fellow string section
to get the tuning just right 
if you're in an orchestra.
because we are all limited by time.
And in many cases, especially if your career in music
allows you to turn professional, 
Time is Money.
and not enough is spent musicing.
The faster we can get through the learning phase,
the quicker we can arrive 
at the joy of music phase.
"But isn't written-down music too mechanical?", 
you might ask.
Well, that is a challenge
that musicians all around the world face.
And while we're talking about musicians around the world,
don't forget that writing down music
means that a song can be played by different musicians
in so many more places.
Just remember that what is written down
is not the music,
the music is what comes from your voice, 
or your instrument.
As an aside, if you're a singer
and you're not treating your voice like an instrument,
we need to have a chat about that.
we need to have a chat about that.
Anyway, what's written down on the paper is just a guide.
How you as a musician or a group of musicians
interpret those notes is where the music theory stops
and the music starts.
Where to from here?
Well, if you want to learn more about music theory,
head over to my video section.
There are playlists that are constantly being updated
as we grow together.
I have one more suggestion for you, which is this.
As you listen to songs, whether it's on the radio,
on your i-, 
iPod, I was about to say iPod, wow.
Whether you're listening to the music on your Discman,
on your Walkman or your phonograph,
on your record player, your tape deck, your phone,
or in the background of your favorite Netflix series,
try and listen a little deeper to the music
and try and understand it a little bit more.
It could be as simple as
"Are those high notes or low notes?"
Or it could be something crazy,
like, "Wow, I've never heard a flat nine dominant seventh
in pop music before."
Whatever it is, try and listen with half an ear
for what is actually going on in the song.
This is the first step to understanding
how it all comes together.
I want you to understand music theory better.
Yes, you!
So if you have any questions,
hit me up in the comments below
And of course, a little like and subscribe
never hurt anybody.
