There’s a peculiar irony in music: the longer someone plays, the more likely they are to distance themselves from the very foundation that shaped their first lessons. Scales become muscle memory, chords roll off the fingers, and improvisation flows without much conscious calculation. For many, theory starts to feel like the scaffolding that can be dismantled once the building is complete. But ask any seasoned professional who continues to grow, and you’ll hear a different truth - theory isn’t scaffolding. It’s the framework, the wiring, the plumbing. Without it, the house eventually shows cracks.
Eric Ryan Denfeld, who balances his career in software development with a lifelong passion for music, describes theory as the overlooked compass in a musician’s journey. It is not a matter of constraining creativity through regulations, but rather expanding the avenues for expression. Reexamining theory, he contends, can enhance technical proficiency, hone improvisational skills, and rekindle the sense of exploration that frequently diminishes after years of practice.
A prevalent problem for musicians is complacency. Upon mastering their chosen instrument or establishing a personal style, it becomes effortless to perform within the same rhythms. Guitarists repurpose well-known riffs. Pianists rely on progressions they have honed over decades. Drummers adhere to rhythms that have consistently provided a sense of security.
Eric Denfeld points out that revisiting theory is the antidote to this trap. By revisiting foundations, not as beginners but as seasoned practitioners, musicians might perceive familiar topics from fresh perspectives. A basic major scale, reinterpreted through modal theory, unveils seven distinct tonal realms. A reexamination of a chord progression using jazz harmony uncovers substitutions that can convert predictability into unexpectedness.
It’s tempting to associate theory with textbooks, exams, and the dry recitation of intervals. That’s the version most students first encounter, and for some, it’s enough to build a wall of resistance. But as Eric Ryan Denfeld emphasizes, theory isn’t meant to stay on paper. It’s a living language.
In practice, theory facilitates a band’s nonverbal communication during a performance. It is the instrument that enables composers to liberate themselves from monotonous frameworks. It is the structure that transforms improvisation from unstructured rambling into cohesive narrative. Moreover, it facilitates smooth collaboration among musicians from many genres and backgrounds.
When theory is revisited later in a musician’s career, it stops being abstract and starts being deeply practical. Suddenly, those rules that once felt restrictive reveal themselves as shortcuts to freedom.
An antiquated belief persists that theory stifles creativity, suggesting that understanding the "rules" renders music lifeless. However, the contrary is accurate. The greater a musician's understanding, the more intentional their decisions become.
Consider Miles Davis. His brilliance lay not in disregarding theory, but in his ability to manipulate it at will. He comprehended precisely how to subvert tradition due to his understanding of the framework he was against. Alternatively, contemplate contemporary electronic producers. Even when employing software rather than conventional instruments, those who comprehend harmonic tension and resolve produce recordings that resonate more profoundly than those who merely overlay sounds.
For Eric Denfeld, this mirrors his professional life in software development. The most proficient coders are not those who merely learn syntax. They possess an understanding of structure and can perceive the architecture underneath the code. Music is analogous.
The advantage of coming back to theory as an experienced player is perspective. Beginners study theory as outsiders looking in. Advanced musicians revisit it from the inside out. The concepts are the same, but the understanding is radically different.
Reexamining modes after years of practice can unexpectedly reveal connections between musical compositions that previously seemed disparate. Reassessing rhythm theory can elucidate why specific grooves consistently synchronize while others appear unstable. Voice leading, a subject sometimes dreaded by musicians, gains significance after one has composed or performed sufficient progressions to recognize its nuanced influence.
Eric Ryan Denfeld believes this stage of learning is where growth accelerates. According to him, it’s not about memorizing charts again. It’s about recognizing how those charts explain the music you already love, and how they can guide you into music you didn’t think you could play.
Theory is not a chapter to be concluded; it is a dialogue that progresses throughout each phase of a musician's existence. The intervals remain constant, however a player's interpretation of them varies. A C major chord consists of the notes C, E, and G; however, to a novice, it represents mere harmony, to a composer, it serves as the basis for melody, and to an experienced improviser, it acts as a springboard for modulation.
Eric Ryan Denfeld frames it as a cycle rather than a ladder. He says that in music there is no start or finish line. You always circle back to theory, and along the lines, gain a lot of experience.
For musicians who feel plateaued, uninspired, or locked into old habits, revisiting theory can be the reset button. It reopens doors that experience may have quietly closed. It sharpens creativity, strengthens communication, and deepens appreciation for the craft.
As Eric Denfeld rightly states that every musician, no matter how advanced, benefits from revisiting the foundation.
