Theory

Theory is often considered to be boring. Yet, it is only a word denoting what one perceives within a certain horizon. Without theory, the world would remain a fuzzy canvas of impressions. The best theoretical paragon from the historical part of this book is WeberWeber, Max’s ideal type. We perceive the world through many ideal-typical concepts. And theory explains how we conceive such concepts. This chapter is an overview of socially oriented theorizing on music, beginning with ethno/musicological interpretation and etymological explanation and ending with what social theories of music have to add to the basic proposition of theory as observing music in a particular way.