Beatles, music theory, and the occasional usefulness of being under-educated
Image by Anat Zhukoff from Pixabay
I like to watch music theory videos from time to time. Hell, sometimes I just like to watch people who know what they're doing as they do those things even if I have no idea what they're doing. I do use the theory videos, though.
I took piano lessons when I was younger. It involved a fair amount of music theory. I might have carried it on further but I was more interested in composing than I was in playing the kinds of things music lessons tend to focus on.
The kinds of things my teacher taught me in piano lessons didn't really stick because I didn't see how they applied. It's kind of like learning programming from a book without actually sitting down with a compiler (or interpreter) and trying things.
I recently watched a video from Aimee Nolte on why the verse to Yesterday had to be 7 bars long. It's a great video. Aimee noodles around, approaching the topic from different angles and comes to a conclusion of sorts but the journey is more than where you end up. Much like with the song itself.
One thing Aimee mentions in her video is that verses are usually eight bars. Seven is extremely unusual. Perhaps a weakness of my own musical education but it never occurred to me that most verses were eight bars. I compose quite and I have no idea how many bars my verses usually are.
The members of The Beatles weren't classically trained. A lot of times when you listen to their songs kind of knowing what you're doing but not knowing that, you can wonder, well, “why's there an extra beat in this bar?” Or “why did they do this that way?” Sometimes they did it intentionally even though they “knew better.” Maybe even every time. I'd like to imagine they would have made the same choices even if they had more theory under their belts. Even though it was “wrong.” Doing it right wouldn't have made the songs better.
I'm not here to add to the hagiography of The Beatles. I won't pretend that ignorance is a virtue either. But sometimes you're better off playing with the tools of music, language, or whatever you work with rather than trying to fit all the rules in your head and create something perfect. I tend to use my studies to explore new areas and possibilities. Like my most recent noodle in G dorian.
An attentive listener will notice 'verse' is 6 bars long. I suppose it's possible that songs in ¾ tend to have 6. Another thing I don't know, though. 🙀
