Music Theory
From DNBWiki
For most intents and purposes, Music Theory can be defined as
- The practice of recording musical information as written notation;
- The formal study of the compositional elements of music, notably pitch, melody, harmony and rhythm.
Other aspects of Music Theory include psychoacoustics, the study of how humans interpret sound, whereas the cognitive aspects of how perceived sounds are interpreted into musical structures is studied in music cognition.
See RavenSpiral Guide to Music Theory (pdf link)
[edit] Music Theory & DnB
In general, drum and bass is not renowned for its extensive use of Music Theory in its compositions, especially in its formative years of chopped breaks and vocal snippets - an era where the 'raw' approach to music making was prevalent. It could be argued that this attitude towards writing DnB has dissipated over the years, with artists increasingly taking a more 'sophisticated' approach, using more complex musical passages and arrangements in their tunes.(A lot of these are samples from old records though). Indeed, many popular artists have received formal musical training, notably Logistics.
Given the perceived 'underground', 'street' nature of the genre, some sections of the scene believe that applying the formal aspects of music to writing DnB is against the DIY, everyman spirit of the music. However, many would disagree; please see the first linked Grid thread below for the discussion in full.
