In my experience, whenever there is a mention of learning theory of music, it is often accompanied by a groan. I do get it – learning about music theory isn’t nearly as much fun as actually learning to play the piano. But there is a point to learning theory and even though it is not as fun, it is definitely worth it.
One of the main advantages to learning music theory is that it gives you a greater understanding of the music. I am not just talking about reading sheet music, although the theory definitely helps with understanding the musical notation, it acually helps with playing the piano. Let us take the example of chords. There are several different types of chords and each type of chord has a specific definition of what notes are used in that specific chord. No matter what genre of music you want to play, knowing what chords are, what makes a major chord a major chord and what makes a minor chord a minor chord, is really useful for anyone to know. By understanding the structure of these chords, you have the capability of working out chords in different keys, whether you are familiar with the key of the piece or not.
Learning and understand theory of music can help in understanding all aspects of music and by understanding, it can make the music much easier to learn. I remember when I was a piano student, I had to learn a piece of music by J.S. Bach every year. I always struggled to play these pieces of music. Eventually I built up enough knowledge, I understood what was happening in these pieces of music and suddenly I saw what Bach was doing and why he was writing in a certain way. It was at this point, I no longer struggled with learning to play pieces of music by J.S.Bach.
The final reason I would like to mention is that if you learn enough theory of music, you can then learn to simplify pieces of music that might be a bit too challenging. By having the knowledge, it means that you can work out how to simplify pieces of music without compromising the essence of the piece. In some ways it feels like cheating because you can still play a piece of music that sounds as it should without making the piece of music sound too basic or not like the original at all.
Of course it is up to you to decide how much theory of music you should learn, but I really do encourage you to learn as much as you can – you will never regret it.