This is something of a curriculum question perhaps. Peter Elbow wrote "Must I master scales before I get to play pieces? Mastering scales can take forever especially since the task is so unrewarding. Playing pieces when I am not ready will of course lead to mistakes but it will also bring out some good results and some musical skills that I cannot find if I just try to master scales. And it will give me motivation and energy to do some work on scales."
When I obsess with theory something of the performance confidence seems to get lost. My momentum pulls towards the theory and I want to continue learning more theory. What motivates me to perform is something entirely different from what motivates me to learn theory. When I've perfected a new song I then want to go out and perform it in public. Where is the balancing point? The theory is like delving inward and I forget about the outside world. Performing is opening up to the outside world. How do others view this dilemma?
Portamento - The ability to move from a wrong note to the right one without anyone noticing the original mistake.
Harmonics - The buzzing sound that string instruments make.
Impromptu - A carefully worked out composition.
I believe the balancing point lies within wach player. Depends on how much you want to learn. Then again, I don't think learning will do much good without practice. So, balancing theory with practice should make you a better player.
Heck, I don't know. :?
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How do others view this dilemma?
I think it's a very individual thing. It's about your own goals and your own level of tolerance for this stuff.
My own goals involve being the best jazz soloist I can be. I have to understand how to do things like taking the notes of a funky chord (something like a Bmb5#11) and turning those into the starting point for some little improvisation.
To do that with any level of confidence I NEED to know my theory. Mastering scales is a big part of how I'm getting to the point where I can do that well enough to feel comfortable and confident.
Because jazz songs so often arrive on the bandstand as a lead sheet and nothing more, thoery plays a much bigger role than in say, a rock band. Here much of the techniques being used today are geared towards minimizing theory --- power chords, solo'ing over pentatonic scales, etc. keeps the theory requirements low. That's not to say it's still not important, but it's far more about learning fingering patterns for the rock guitarist than about learning theory. For this person, once a pattern is known, it's just a matter of playing it enough to keep it in muscle memory.
I think this is something each person has to work out on their own based on their own goals and ambitions.
I do think the person who knows more theory is better equiped to be a musician. But that doesn't mean they will be a better musician, just that they have a deeper well to dip their inspiration bucket into.
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST
