I teach a jazz theory class and (don’t tell anyone) recently finished my third draft of a jazz theory book aimed at choral musicians.
Full disclosure: I say “jazz theory” but I honestly don’t like either one of those words in this context. I always prefer “music literacy” to “theory” and “jazz” would much better be replaced by functional or popular or even non-classical.
Jazz theory, as I teach it, is about creating a framework for understanding all sorts of music outside the European art-music tradition. Jazz, but also blues, music theatre, R&B, hip hop, and all contemporary popular music forms. This framework is very malleable and can serve a musician incredibly well. It’s also very complementary to the skills musicians build in the traditional music school theory cycle.
It reminds me of the difference between cursive and printing. Ironically, jazz theory sounds more complex (“all those 13ths and 11ths!) but is actually the printing in this scenario. Master it and you’ll use it whether you’re making a shopping list, writing a note to your kids, or teaching on a whiteboard. Classical theory is cursive – a very specific, ornamented approach that is very useful if you need to write or read cursive. (Don’t get me wrong, I think cursive is beautiful and I love Bach chorales, too.)
Why should you learn the basics of Jazz Theory Functional Music Literacy? Because it will serve you every day in analyzing, understanding, and performing music across a wide arrange of styles.