Musical rules – are they friend or foe, fact or fiction, fantastic or faulty? I realize that’s a bit hyperbolic for me to start this way, but I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about the rules that govern (or seem to govern) music composition. I am going to make it clear from the start that I believe there are rules that govern the music we write, and that I believe knowing those rules actually leads to greater freedom when writing music. That said, I believe it is crucial that we also avoid the “paralysis from analysis” that is so often associated with an over-preoccupation with rules.

This train of thought all started back when I was a senior in high school. I had written what I dubbed a symphony for my wind band, and I felt pretty darn good about it. When I presented it to my band director, he understandably had a number of revisions for me, all of which I defiantly refused to make. Many people likely would have brushed me off for being so obdurate, but my band director compassionately took me aside and explained to me why his revisions were not just “suggestions.” He told me about how he had gone through a similar process when he presented a composition to one of his teachers during his undergrad, and that his compositions had vastly improved as a result of listening to his teacher’s advice. I look back on this experience as the first time I realized that rules in music are less about being “followed” and more about being utilized. To illustrate (pardon the pun), if we think of music like painting, one will only become a better painter if they learn the rules of geometry, color spectrum, etc., not a worse one.

With that said, rules are meant to promote freedom, not the other way around. Knowing how to correctly voice a dominant seventh chord in all twelve keys is useless to me unless I have a context in which to use it. There is also something to be said for the myriad of ways in which one can apply rules to create something unique, which is what allows us to create art instead of replicas. One example of this from jazz is the infinite variety of ways to play over a 2-5-1; the same rules apply no matter what you do, but there is a positive infinity of ways to twist and bend harmony to paint beautiful sound pictures over that progression. As the old adage goes, “creativity loves constraint”, and though it seems counter-intuitive, working with constraints always promotes more freedom in our creative processes.

As usual, I would love to hear what you all have to say. Do you believe music must follow a specific set of rules in order to be considered music? Why or why not? Please leave your comments below.