Is Music Theory A Science?

A quick google search defines science as “the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.” [Google, 2017] which to my interpretation answers the question as both yes and no, making things difficult and rather confusing. Yes, to learn music theory, frequent practice is essential - this is the practical activity, doing this becomes intellectual within a class or study group that share the same interest. To understand music theory takes deep understanding and to “systematic study”, methodically improves the logical thought processes needed to master the ideology, concept and correct use. Analyzing both the rhythmic and harmonic structure furthers the knowledge and understanding - this can be done simply by reading a musical score - this is observation.

The behavior of music theory is one that is more difficult to portray to someone with little knowledge of the subject, maybe the simplest way to explain this is with basic moods. The most commonly used keys are Major and Minor - Major, sounding simple and happy usually and minor, sounding more harmonically complex and generally, dark and sad. Going back to analyzing scores, you can observe the behavior or mood of the piece by focusing on the harmony used within the chords. A blurred line starts to emerge once you focus on listening to the piece of music rather than the score because each listener will interpret the full sound of the music differently, even though this is still important practice and should still be considered a part in the observation process - just using our ears.

I think the real answer to this question is that it is a matter of opinion over fact, but I certainly do believe it to be true. I understand that it is difficult for non musicians, disheartened scientists or even music theorists themselves to accept music theory being realized as a science in it’s own right, but I think it depends on a mix of the level of knowledge a person has on the subject, understanding and finally the ability to apply the knowledge. My most basic way to summarize this would be that non musicians may just accept music theory as a completely different subject that only directly relates to music (which is true), but could not possibly fathom any form of link to the science surrounding the subject because this is neither what they know or have been taught.

Originally answered on Quora.