Music theory question

soozievt
Thu, 04 Jun 2015 04:44:11 +0000

Nobody has to be proficient at any of these skills prior to college. They certainly will learn it in college. I was simply saying that it is beneficial to train in this area, just like one would train in voice, dance, or acting, prior to college, simply because they are going into this field. I understand about how difficult it is to fit in more things. My D was in shows too both in and out of school during high school, plus about six different dance classes and a dance troupe, all outside of school, plus taking lessons on piano and on guitar, voice lessons, jazz band, choral groups, and so on and so forth. Not to mention, we lived in rural Vermont and the distances to all these classes, rehearsals, lessons, etc. were very FAR. Also, a requirement with our piano teacher was to do what is called National Piano Auditions every May which required playing 10 songs by MEMORY (and these were more and more difficult as the levels of mastery on piano became higher), various scales and sight reading before a judge to pass that level of piano playing (on top of schoolwork and everything else). I would think, however, if your kid is in chorus at school (mine was), that some sight reading and theory is part of that class too. I know that for auditions for All State Chorus, there was a component where you had to do sight reading. In any case, while all this is learned in college anyway, and many enter with no piano or music theory skills, it only helps to learn these things…not necessarily to be admitted, but simply because such skills become a necessity as a MT performer.