Music Theory YouTube

Abstract This chapter discusses the landscape of music theory content on YouTube, or “MTYT.” The authors summarize the development of the MTYT community in relation to similar genres of educational videos as part of YouTube’s history as an online video platform. Focusing on music theory content creators, this chapter provides an overview of how creators have used the platform to produce and distribute increasingly varied genres of content, classified here as Utilitarian, Expositional, Analytical, Explorational, Narrative, and Participatory content. These categories all serve a goal of music theory democratization—that is, making music theory content accessible to anyone with an internet connection. The authors use their own perspectives—Grasso is a university instructor of music theory and Arnold is a prominent MTYT creator—to consider some of the implications of YouTube’s promise of free and accessible knowledge, particularly in contrast to traditional academic music theory.