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I fell in love with music theory and i wonder if there will be an end to it one day. To knowing all the scales moded progressions etc.. i am not talking about how to play instruments right just the theory of music.

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Personally, I see music theory as being separated into a number of areas, e.g:

  • Scientific truths about sound, and human perception of sound
  • Genre-specific information about how to play or write in a certain style (and how to play certain instruments - I know you say you are not talking about how to play instruments, but it's not possible to cleanly separate out the theory from the practice).
  • Notation and terminology (some of which may also be somewhat genre-specific)

As long as scientific knowledge continues to develop, there'll be no end to learning about that aspect... and as long as there are new genres of music, there will be new theory to learn relating to those genres. (Personally I feel that genre development may have slowed in recent years, but for most people there are probably already more than enough genres to learn about in one lifetime!)

So no, there's no end - the field of music theory continues to increase in breadth and depth, and there's probably already too much for any individual to learn comprehensively.

This is why when studying music theory (or anything really), it's good to bear in mind what it is you hope to use it for, so you can focus on the areas that are most useful for you.

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A generally accepted deadline to the study of music theory, like the study of many other topics, is death. In spite of that there is a certain tradition of playing organ pieces to people even afterwards, but generally your likelihood of progress is significantly increased when starting on your own initiative before that time.

Which you appear to be doing. Good for you.

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I was just entertaining the same question yesterday. My conclusion was that you can always be adding to your music theory knowledge. It is a real trap to think that one has gotten to the point of finished learning with concern to the study of music. Think about it this way: Do you know even one musician who is highly accomplished in every single aspect of music? That, I believe would be impossible and possibly create a form of narcissism in the musician.

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Very interesting question.

I don't think there's an end. Can you ever stop learning anything? You can always improve: get faster at recognising chords, working out modes etc.

At the point you think you have 'mastered' a skill (such as music theory), this is the point at which you start pushing the boundaries of music theory and creating your own 'music theory'. This is how society moves forward. For example, once Einstein had learnt 'all science' (obviously this is exaggerated) existing at the time, he then went on to discover new theories. Why can this not be done for music theory?

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