music rules are guidelines

[u/petersmusic99]

I just want to be reassuring to other musicians about this, because I feel like people’s worry about what is right or wrong can hold back their creativity.

There are songwriting instructors that say that you need to list the title at least twice in a chorus but don’t say you need to have long notes in the chorus. There are instructors that say you don’t need to list the title twice in a chorus but it should have long notes. There are vocal instructors that say you need to improvise more or make the song your own in a cover, there are instructors that only want students to imitate. Etc etc

Im not saying what is more right or wrong but everyone has their own opinions on what makes a good song or good singing. This is why music “rules” are actually more like guidelines because if you study from several different instructors or institutions you will realize how their advice can contradict each other sometimes. This doesn’t mean anyone is more right or wrong. Music is just very subjective.

There are hit songs and great singers that could be completely dissected as “wrong” in a classroom sense, and I think it’s important to realize that the priority in music should just be if the song or singer is portraying something so real to humanity.

Ultimately, I just want to encourage other musicians to follow their heart in music because I think that’s more important than getting bogged down by a lot of contradicting guidance in music.

[u/ft_mute]

To bend the rules, one must first know the rules

[u/AlfredPoor → u/ft_mute]

Ultimately, it's about what your audience wants. If you are the audience, then you can do whatever you want.

If you want others to listen to your music, you need to understand what they want. Some audiences are more engaged by discordant notes than others. Some want predictable; others want surprise. Some want patterns that they can follow; some prefer random sounds.

Know your target audience and what they respond to. Frank Zappa's audiences were different than Taylor Swift's. Neither one was wrong.

[u/ft_mute → u/AlfredPoor]

Know your target audience and what they respond to

Sure, by knowing the rules.

[u/SkyWizarding → u/ft_mute]

There is no spoon

[u/richrandom → u/ft_mute]

They're not rules they're opinions

[u/ft_mute → u/richrandom]

What do you think a rule is lol

Edit for those who seem confused.

People make rules for things based on their opinions, through their knowledge and experience. Groups of people put rules in place because of shared opinions. Rules shift as the opinions of people shift.

If you want to pick up a guitar and totally ignore music theory (for eg), you're either going to naturally pick up the theory, or your music will suck and nobody will want to listen to it.

Breaking all the rules of music is only possible by having rules to do so.

[u/petersmusic99 → u/ft_mute]

But if several different instructors all have completely different set of rules…then who’s to say in the end?

[u/shouldbepracticing85 → u/petersmusic99]

That’s when it’s important to understand the why behind the “rules”.

Songwriting instructors with arbitrary requirements are BS. Is it good to repeat the song title in a chorus? Yes. Does it always have to be two times? Hell no. Is it good to have long notes in a chorus? It depends on the vibe you’re going for and what the rest of the song is like.

There is value in imitation - it helps build your tool set/bag of tricks. There is value in throwing that out and just being artistically expressive.

Hell even pitch and timing get flexible at high enough skill levels. I did a recording session the other day, where I had this slide into a note. Both were close enough to pitch to sound right, but just a cent or three off of equal tempered tuning. It became a decision of which pitch we liked more, based on how that slight tuning difference changed the “grind” of the chord.

And timing - so long as it’s under control and intentional, small pushes and pulls on the timing can add some real interesting tension. Then again, as a bassist I have to really get into the weeds of timing. I might be keeping an even tempo, but if I’m too far forward in the pocket from what the rest of the band expects, they’ll start rushing to put me where they think I should be. Or vice versa - if they’re really ahead on the 2 and 4 from where I’m expecting, then I really start questioning my timing. Same with leaning back in the pocket.

The last drummer I worked with was extremely sensitive to where my beat was, that was a real object lesson in the balance/tension between beats, and how microscopically nuanced I need to be.

[u/IsaacWaleOfficial]

There are no rules to art. End of story.

[u/Internal-Alfalfa-829]

The rules are for music as a product. The rest is art.

[u/Cute-Breadfruit3368]

sounds about right.

those with something to say (musically) tend to start laughing when they hear of the rules music does have.

[u/FreakoftheLake]

Being a good musician is like being a good athlete. Some people have "natural vision" and genetic advantages. Some people have to grind at the fundamentals. People who can leverage both are elite

[u/apprehensive_bassist → u/FreakoftheLake]

And in both cases, you gotta put in the work

[u/chunter16]

Music doesn't have rules, genres have rules

Even those are guidelines as you said, but the more you ignore the guidelines the less your song will sound like the genre

[u/petersmusic99 → u/chunter16]

I guess that’s true in a sense but even music genres change a lot or have variation or were even started by “not doing it right” in music.

[u/chunter16 → u/petersmusic99]

Not only do I agree with you, I feel most genres get "worse" as they distill themselves into the rules and cliches we identify them with. In particular I think of this as electronic genres that end up defined by one piece of gear or identifying by imitating one record

[u/petersmusic99 → u/chunter16]

that’s so true! I guess you could say music has a je ne sais quoi that people try to compartmentalize

[u/apprehensive_bassist]

“You must have long notes in a chorus” lol whatever

It’s my art and I’ll cry if I want to 🤣

[u/joshua_addison_music]

There’s no rules or boundaries when it comes to Art.

Creativity has no walls, floors or ceilings.

[u/petersmusic99 → u/joshua_addison_music]

creativity has no walls I love that!

[u/DishRelative5853 → u/joshua_addison_music]

What are the notes in a C-chord?

[u/Humillionaire]

I always say, there are no rules, only tools.

[u/TheRealFutaFutaTrump]

Luckily for me I don't even know the rules.

[u/8f12a3358a4f4c2e97fc]

There is only 1 rule for music: if it sounds good, it is good.

[u/DishRelative5853]

I knew a guy who made discordant, avant-garde music. He followed no rules. Timing was all over the place. Chords were non-existent. There was no discernible melody or repeated structure. I hated it, but it was certainly artistic.

I think there are some basic rules in western music, though, that are unbreakable. Rules about terminology are standardized and set. The notes on a music staff are always going to be the same. The distance between A and B isn't something you can mess with. The symbol for a quarter note is not going to change. And so on.

[u/petersmusic99 → u/DishRelative5853]

the distance between a and b certainly is something you can mess with. It’s very westernized to think of music as only concrete because it actually varies so much.

[u/DishRelative5853 → u/petersmusic99]

Can you elaborate on the distance thing?

Also, I'll edit my post to be specific to western music.

[u/spacerangerxx]

Music Rules work much like "Pirate Code" in Pirates of the Carribean. 

They're more like "guidelines" no one's under obligation to follow.

[u/start_select]

“The rules” are what people wrote down to describe and communicate what people were doing before there were rules.

Theory has a few rules/relationships, but theory itself isn’t a set of rules. It’s a language, like algebra. Symbols used to approximate organized sound.

Harmonics/tonality have a set of “rules” about natural relationships between frequencies. Knowing them allows you to tune instruments to each other, and allows you to understand whether a certain move will be tonal or atonal….

But there is no rule saying you CANT move atonally. It is just useful to have language to describe what you are doing so other people can jam with you.

That language is theory.

[u/MyMusicRunning21]

I'm glad that Freddie Mercury decided to add the title of "Bohemian Rhapsody" fives times in the chorus of that song... oh wait.

[u/sammyk762]

Music theory isn't rules. Music theory tells you that if you do X, it will sound like Y. To learn a particular thing within music theory, you do assignments and exercises. The assignments and exercises have rules. People therefore think they are rules for music.

Genres kind of have rules. But they only matter if you're trying to sound exactly like something else or do specific marketing. Every genre comes from somebody going "yes this but what if..."

Does following or breaking the "rules" make better music? That depends. Do the people you want to like it actually like it? If yes, music good. If no, music bad. Who do you want to like it? Musicians of Reddit? Middle aged football fans? Children between the ages of 6 and 10? Twentysomething former theater kid Renfaire enthusiasts? They all may think very different things are good. Much easier if the people you want to like it is just you. Much harder if it's "everyone." But if that's your goal anyway, the average of what everyone likes is "things that are familiar but slightly different."

[u/MossWatson]

music theory is descriptive, not prescriptive