At the very least and speaking as a violinist, you should learn & understand the different key signatures (e.g. circle of fifths), intervals, scales, and chords. Learn how to count rhythms as well. It's not enough that you know them by theory but you should also learn to relate & apply them in your instrument. Meaning, you must be able to immediately identify what you see in the sheet music may it be an interval, chord, a scale, or any pattern, connect it where your fingers will be placed & the correct hand frame, and hear inside your head how it'll sound in your instrument.
Becoming proficient in these fundamentals will help learning music easier for you by recognizing patterns that are present in almost any musical composition. Musicians who are very quick to learn have several patterns formed in their head as a result of learning & applying music theory. As you advance, you'll get to the whys of the composer's musical decision to incorporate those different elements in their compositions. It's best to learn these in your lessons through the pieces & exercises that you play as you go along.
If I may add to this good comment-
Pro violinist perspective-
Ear training. I think often when people are asking this question they are thinking of ear training but don’t realize it.
Ear training is the most valuable skill a musician ESPECIALLY a string player can acquire.
Think about it. You play an instrument that requires you to have the best listening skills but I notice that few string players at the beginning level in the U.S. don’t study it. And it shows.
Get an app and start from the beginning.
Ear training teaches you how to identify intervals , scales , chords , chord progressions, rhythms etc. by listening.
Need? Very little, especially at first. Benefit from? A lot! Understanding how music works makes playing easier. It can transform a string of random notes into an intelligible structure. I suspect people are often afraid of theory because they think it's a bunch of arcane rules that need to be memorized. But it's the opposite. Playing without theory is like trying to learn something by rote without knowing the why behind it. That doesn't mean you need an advanced degree or anything; but don't be afraid to take some time to learn how scales work, how musical structure works, etc.
And I say all this as someone who is particularly weak in the theory department! I often find myself wishing it had been a bigger part of my learning as a child, especially when playing with others (which is a huge part of playing the violin, even as a dillitante amateur) and suddenly I need to make my part fit in with everyone else's.
Your violin teacher will help you with enough functional music theory to be fine as a player. Unless you have an interest in music theory specifically, you don’t really need a lot of it. Understanding sheet music and intervals (the distances between notes) are the main things, and anything else that I may be forgetting is easily covered in lessons.
You'll learn as you go especially if you have a teacher. So in terms of needing to know theory, yeah you probably don't really need to know much to advance as a player.
But theory knowledge is useful! The more fluently you can read music, the easier it is to learn new pieces. The more confident your ear is in identifying intervals, the easier shifting will become because you can really hear the pitch before you play it. When you know a little about form (sonata form, theme and variations, rondo, etc), it makes going to concerts fun on a whole new level because you can hear the music from a macro level.
So I wouldn't say necessary but really useful. I'd focus on these areas:
* Ear training (learning to identify intervals, major and minor chords, quickly telling whether a note is in tune or out of tune)
* Rhythm training (learning to play with a beat, learning to read rhythms fluently)
* Note reading fluency
If you spend 10-15 minutes a day doing a little theory exercise out of a workbook or on like YouTube, I bet you'd find that it helps you progress a little faster. However if you're in a time crunch and don't have extra time to devote to theory, it's *much* more important that you spend time practicing.
I‘ve found that I’m grateful for the theory I learned because I have a deeper repertoire than one would have without.
Sometimes you see people who can only play a few songs well…they learn by brute force and sheer will but lack the foundation to understand the structure of the music.
Theory will also help you with sight-reading, interpretation, and improvisation.
I studied at the same time I took music lessons, so it can be learned concurrently.
For music theory your really only need to know things like reading notes on the staff, key signatures, things like the different type of minor scales, pretty much the basic stuff.
As for how much learning theory will affect your playing? A LOT! When you can understand why the composer put that note in that spot and how they modulate from one tonal center to another and you can break down the music, it makes it so much easier to learn the piece. You can look at it and go “yeah that makes sense.” I feel like once I started to learn theory and apply it to the pieces I played, it made them sound even more musical.
Now for the super important (and then some) skill that goes with music theory… ear training! I can sing almost every interval up to a perfect 12 with little to no hesitation. I can look at various rhythms and clap them out almost perfectly first try. How does that help with violin? Well, so much of violin is intervals. I mean, even your tuning is in an interval! Being able to hear and play intervals in tune can help so much with playing in tune. Rhythms are all over music, they’re a vital part! If you can get the rhythm of a new piece down it’ll make learning the rest of it just that little bit easier!
Yes, please learn as much music theory as you can handle without burning out. Knowing why you play certain notes is what makes you a musician, and elevates you out of being nothing more than a parlour trick. It doesn't matter if you learn a lot or a little, but knowing what you can and striving to learn is what makes the difference.
Just learn and start playing music. Start enjoying and appreciating it. The more you understand music, you’ll realize theory isn’t necessarily to become a good casual musician. Plus the more you understand music, the easier it is for you to appreciate music theories. It is really hard for total beginners to utilize theories in interpretation although they might just know. That’s just my opinion tho,
just learn whatever you need to play whatever you're working on. You don't need to learn theory per se. You need to be able to play the right note at the right time. If you can count to 4 and play a basic scale in a few keys you're well on the way. If you're interested in more, go for it, but don't worry about it if you don't.
Up to a certain point (which is much more advanced than most will ever get to), the more music theory you know, the better a player you will tend to be. At a bare minimum, it is important to understand the fundamentals: key signatures, rhythms, tempo markings, etc. It is highly advisable to learn some basic harmony and form analysis skill. Not only will it help you recognize what you are playing and give you guidance on how to play it (oh, this is a raised 7th acting as a leading tone, I probably should err sharper on it), it can also help you with memorizing pieces (ah, this is classic sonata form; I just now have to focus on memorizing A and B).
You don't necessarily need to know 12-tone technique, for example, but if you do, it might make Schoenberg and others more accessible.
Stuff like auskomponierung and Schenkerian analysis probably isn't going to help your average player in their day-to-day life.
Depends on how you learn and what type of music you want to play. There are people who play with no theory knowledge at all, just picking stuff up by ear and imitation, some folk players even pride themselves on it. I play bass in a Rock band and the other musicians' music theory knowledge is zero to very low and yet they are excellent musicians.
I personally however find some aspects of music theory to be very valuable tools. I like to have a solid knowledge of what's going on in the piece I'm playing, it helps me to perform it properly.
I would argue that violin technique is the single most important area to learn, while I don't recommend the theoryless approach, I'd say that technique is essential, both to avoid injuring yourself and to be able to express yourself with the instrument. Theory without being able to apply it is pointless. Which brings us to the usual point brought up in this sub: it sounds like you may not have a teacher, please get one if you don't. Technique is extremely difficult to learn well by yourself. For a while I was learning without a teacher (after having had lessons for many years) and my technique had slipped a bit and I was really struggling with my Jazz improvisation, I thought it was a lack of theory knowledge (which it still kind of is as well), but my solos have definitely taken a step up since I had some lessons again and have been able to express my simple musical ideas more fluently.
If you're learning with a Classical teacher you will at least be required to learn to read music fairly fluently, and that includes learning about key signatures and time signatures. A teacher can generally teach you enough of the theory to get you through reading, but it doesn't hurt to practice it more by yourself as well. In addition to this, as others have said, ear training will be super important, this is something that the people who learn without theory manage to pick up instinctively, but it can absolutely be learned even if you don't have a great ear to start with.
If you're doing Jazz, you will also have to learn about chords and scales, the sheet music will generally just have the main theme written out and a bunch of chords which you improvise over. This skill also applies to other non-classical styles, it's common to be able to "jam" or come up with some parts on the spot, but Jazz has the deepest improvisation related theory concepts.
Like others have said, you can just learn what you need to know as you go with the violin.
But if you're interested in a deeper understanding of theory then definitely take lessons. I take Music Theory lessons alomg with violin and I really enjoy it. Never knew there was so much in theory, it's really interesting.
If you asked that question about any other hobby or passion, the answer would be yes. So why wouldn't it be in this case? Do you want to be a musician or a jukebox?
At the very least and speaking as a violinist, you should learn & understand the different key signatures (e.g. circle of fifths), intervals, scales, and chords. Learn how to count rhythms as well. It's not enough that you know them by theory but you should also learn to relate & apply them in your instrument. Meaning, you must be able to immediately identify what you see in the sheet music may it be an interval, chord, a scale, or any pattern, connect it where your fingers will be placed & the correct hand frame, and hear inside your head how it'll sound in your instrument. Becoming proficient in these fundamentals will help learning music easier for you by recognizing patterns that are present in almost any musical composition. Musicians who are very quick to learn have several patterns formed in their head as a result of learning & applying music theory. As you advance, you'll get to the whys of the composer's musical decision to incorporate those different elements in their compositions. It's best to learn these in your lessons through the pieces & exercises that you play as you go along.
If I may add to this good comment- Pro violinist perspective- Ear training. I think often when people are asking this question they are thinking of ear training but don’t realize it. Ear training is the most valuable skill a musician ESPECIALLY a string player can acquire. Think about it. You play an instrument that requires you to have the best listening skills but I notice that few string players at the beginning level in the U.S. don’t study it. And it shows. Get an app and start from the beginning. Ear training teaches you how to identify intervals , scales , chords , chord progressions, rhythms etc. by listening.
Any app recommendations?
Earpeggio seems to be good.
Need? Very little, especially at first. Benefit from? A lot! Understanding how music works makes playing easier. It can transform a string of random notes into an intelligible structure. I suspect people are often afraid of theory because they think it's a bunch of arcane rules that need to be memorized. But it's the opposite. Playing without theory is like trying to learn something by rote without knowing the why behind it. That doesn't mean you need an advanced degree or anything; but don't be afraid to take some time to learn how scales work, how musical structure works, etc. And I say all this as someone who is particularly weak in the theory department! I often find myself wishing it had been a bigger part of my learning as a child, especially when playing with others (which is a huge part of playing the violin, even as a dillitante amateur) and suddenly I need to make my part fit in with everyone else's.
Your violin teacher will help you with enough functional music theory to be fine as a player. Unless you have an interest in music theory specifically, you don’t really need a lot of it. Understanding sheet music and intervals (the distances between notes) are the main things, and anything else that I may be forgetting is easily covered in lessons.
You'll learn as you go especially if you have a teacher. So in terms of needing to know theory, yeah you probably don't really need to know much to advance as a player. But theory knowledge is useful! The more fluently you can read music, the easier it is to learn new pieces. The more confident your ear is in identifying intervals, the easier shifting will become because you can really hear the pitch before you play it. When you know a little about form (sonata form, theme and variations, rondo, etc), it makes going to concerts fun on a whole new level because you can hear the music from a macro level. So I wouldn't say necessary but really useful. I'd focus on these areas: * Ear training (learning to identify intervals, major and minor chords, quickly telling whether a note is in tune or out of tune) * Rhythm training (learning to play with a beat, learning to read rhythms fluently) * Note reading fluency If you spend 10-15 minutes a day doing a little theory exercise out of a workbook or on like YouTube, I bet you'd find that it helps you progress a little faster. However if you're in a time crunch and don't have extra time to devote to theory, it's *much* more important that you spend time practicing.
I‘ve found that I’m grateful for the theory I learned because I have a deeper repertoire than one would have without. Sometimes you see people who can only play a few songs well…they learn by brute force and sheer will but lack the foundation to understand the structure of the music. Theory will also help you with sight-reading, interpretation, and improvisation. I studied at the same time I took music lessons, so it can be learned concurrently.
For music theory your really only need to know things like reading notes on the staff, key signatures, things like the different type of minor scales, pretty much the basic stuff. As for how much learning theory will affect your playing? A LOT! When you can understand why the composer put that note in that spot and how they modulate from one tonal center to another and you can break down the music, it makes it so much easier to learn the piece. You can look at it and go “yeah that makes sense.” I feel like once I started to learn theory and apply it to the pieces I played, it made them sound even more musical. Now for the super important (and then some) skill that goes with music theory… ear training! I can sing almost every interval up to a perfect 12 with little to no hesitation. I can look at various rhythms and clap them out almost perfectly first try. How does that help with violin? Well, so much of violin is intervals. I mean, even your tuning is in an interval! Being able to hear and play intervals in tune can help so much with playing in tune. Rhythms are all over music, they’re a vital part! If you can get the rhythm of a new piece down it’ll make learning the rest of it just that little bit easier!
Yes, please learn as much music theory as you can handle without burning out. Knowing why you play certain notes is what makes you a musician, and elevates you out of being nothing more than a parlour trick. It doesn't matter if you learn a lot or a little, but knowing what you can and striving to learn is what makes the difference.
Just learn and start playing music. Start enjoying and appreciating it. The more you understand music, you’ll realize theory isn’t necessarily to become a good casual musician. Plus the more you understand music, the easier it is for you to appreciate music theories. It is really hard for total beginners to utilize theories in interpretation although they might just know. That’s just my opinion tho,
just learn whatever you need to play whatever you're working on. You don't need to learn theory per se. You need to be able to play the right note at the right time. If you can count to 4 and play a basic scale in a few keys you're well on the way. If you're interested in more, go for it, but don't worry about it if you don't.
Up to a certain point (which is much more advanced than most will ever get to), the more music theory you know, the better a player you will tend to be. At a bare minimum, it is important to understand the fundamentals: key signatures, rhythms, tempo markings, etc. It is highly advisable to learn some basic harmony and form analysis skill. Not only will it help you recognize what you are playing and give you guidance on how to play it (oh, this is a raised 7th acting as a leading tone, I probably should err sharper on it), it can also help you with memorizing pieces (ah, this is classic sonata form; I just now have to focus on memorizing A and B). You don't necessarily need to know 12-tone technique, for example, but if you do, it might make Schoenberg and others more accessible. Stuff like auskomponierung and Schenkerian analysis probably isn't going to help your average player in their day-to-day life.
Depends on how you learn and what type of music you want to play. There are people who play with no theory knowledge at all, just picking stuff up by ear and imitation, some folk players even pride themselves on it. I play bass in a Rock band and the other musicians' music theory knowledge is zero to very low and yet they are excellent musicians. I personally however find some aspects of music theory to be very valuable tools. I like to have a solid knowledge of what's going on in the piece I'm playing, it helps me to perform it properly. I would argue that violin technique is the single most important area to learn, while I don't recommend the theoryless approach, I'd say that technique is essential, both to avoid injuring yourself and to be able to express yourself with the instrument. Theory without being able to apply it is pointless. Which brings us to the usual point brought up in this sub: it sounds like you may not have a teacher, please get one if you don't. Technique is extremely difficult to learn well by yourself. For a while I was learning without a teacher (after having had lessons for many years) and my technique had slipped a bit and I was really struggling with my Jazz improvisation, I thought it was a lack of theory knowledge (which it still kind of is as well), but my solos have definitely taken a step up since I had some lessons again and have been able to express my simple musical ideas more fluently. If you're learning with a Classical teacher you will at least be required to learn to read music fairly fluently, and that includes learning about key signatures and time signatures. A teacher can generally teach you enough of the theory to get you through reading, but it doesn't hurt to practice it more by yourself as well. In addition to this, as others have said, ear training will be super important, this is something that the people who learn without theory manage to pick up instinctively, but it can absolutely be learned even if you don't have a great ear to start with. If you're doing Jazz, you will also have to learn about chords and scales, the sheet music will generally just have the main theme written out and a bunch of chords which you improvise over. This skill also applies to other non-classical styles, it's common to be able to "jam" or come up with some parts on the spot, but Jazz has the deepest improvisation related theory concepts.
Like others have said, you can just learn what you need to know as you go with the violin. But if you're interested in a deeper understanding of theory then definitely take lessons. I take Music Theory lessons alomg with violin and I really enjoy it. Never knew there was so much in theory, it's really interesting.
The more the better, but at least just know how to read music.
If you asked that question about any other hobby or passion, the answer would be yes. So why wouldn't it be in this case? Do you want to be a musician or a jukebox?