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IMO, i always think people without musical training need to understand that unless you have been trained at a young age (9 years old or younger), it is very hard to learn music theory, from a practicing and listening stand point. Sure, you can learn circle of fifths, cadences, suspended notes, counterpoint, and all the chords in the world, but that leads most people to compose music that sounds all too similar. Most people who try too hard to compose melodic type of music end up with harmonically uninteresting music.
IE. The majority of trance/house are still stuck on I, IV, V, VI chords and their variations. I rarely see harmonic shifts or key changes or even use of chords other than those ones.
Now the great thing about EDM is that it's so diverse, and there are so many things for non-trained producers to shine at, such as use of sounds, rhythms, dynamics, tension, danceability of the tracks, arrangement, mixing that cover a wide spectrum of genres and abilities. These are for the most part not things a typical musically trained person will have an advantage over. Wolfgang Gartner doesn't make great melodies, but he sure for some reason can get the masses moving to the music. Carl Cox is no music theory genius, but he sure puts on a good banging set.
Like L4C is saying, you can actually restrict yourself musically when you learn theory like this, because music that follows music theory is formulaic. Make some banging techno, groovy house, or create a progressive track with beautiful sound pallettes. Focus on these things, because frankly there are so many more other things to focus on other than music theory that will get you much further.
Why trance is stagnant is exactly why baroque music sounds the same. Most of it follow music theory.
IMO, the only thing the circle of fifths might be useful for Dj's in identifying good combinations when mixing 2 tracks of different keys together.
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