How critical is music theory?

Abstract

In this article I address the problem of locating ‘music theory’ within contemporary critical theories in the social sciences and humanities. I show how two kinds of music theory can be distinguished: music theory as an interpretative and ‘critical’ set of theories used mainly in music analysis, and theory of music as an ‘uncritical’ set of practical tools for both composition and analysis. I trace the origins of such theories and the separation between the two, and argue that theory of music as a prerequisite for practice comes from a notion of theory inculcated by music pedagogy in the nineteenth century, entrenched through the external examinations of London-based conservatoires. I show how the ethos of such examinations became lodged in the musical consciousness of South Africans as one of many colonial traces, but I argue that, unlike other aspects of colonialism, theory of music did not become adapted in the process of colonization, but has remained something of an anomaly in music teaching and practice. Especially, it has remained a different kind of ‘theory’ in critical discourse in the social sciences and humanities. Music theory in South Africa, too, has not undergone the kind of transforming process as other ‘critical’ theories have although it has far more possibilities for critique, but has remained a somewhat limited tool for music analysis in South African scholarship.