| Jeremy,
That's truly a fabulous question and if you have the stomach for a dissertation on the subject read on,
What you ask is something that has to do with necessity vs. broad knowledge. The minimum vs. something extra is a battle anyone who is a parent understands once their little ones become older.
How much knowledge does one need? The unfortunate answer to that is you don't know until you need it.
Vacchiano was a fabulous musical theorist and devotee of ear training. It was part of the training he receieved early on in his life. Combined with his talent for playing music it made him the artist he became. Playing trumpet would not have been enough. His teaching was based on having a clear understanding of chordal structure. That's why he may have chipped a note here and there but he never made mental errors regarding notes. He always knew what the context of what he was playing.
Ted Williams was the greatest hitter in the Major Leagues not only because he had the best eye in baseball but because he was the quintessential student of hitting. He literally studied photos, stances, muscles... everything that encompassed the physical as well as mental aspects of hitting throughout his career and well afterward.
There's playing and there's understanding.
I believe a great many players get very caught up in the theory of music and it doesn't help them be better musicians, just better educated ones. As I said, however, then there are your William Vacchianos that get the balance and proportion of knowledge to application just right. If there's one thing that drives me crazy are music jocks after about the age of 25 or so. I don't mind the jock thing in college. You're pumped. it's fun to sit around and listen to stuff because it's loud or high. Those guilty pleasures are appropriate when we're at that stage where we're excited and it's hard to hold in. Heck, I was like that, we all were and if you weren't you missed out on a lot of fun. Later on I found I had less use for that mentality. It's like tenors with great high chops and no brains. It makes me sick.
The bottom line is learn all you can because you don't know when you're going to need that knowledge. I've forgotten most of the stuff you're presently learning because I've had to make room for the performance aspect of what I do and I'm learning more every day. I'm just forgetful and can't keep it all stored unless I use it on a daily basis.
What we want is a basic simplicity when we start out that is engorged by knowledge for the sake of simplicity later on in life. That old "come full circle" thing.
ML |