Well, I’d say, it’s only not strictly necessary for small-scale good music. I do think for an orchestra score (or a novel or a Sistine Chapel), you do need to know what you’re doing, because there’s so many variable parts that have to work together…
You don’t need to know what you’re doing, but it’s certainly a heck of a lot easier to understand why your harmony doesn’t work if you know what a tonic and a dominant and subdominant are. It saves you time and allows you to write more purposefully.
Well, I’d say, it’s only not strictly necessary for small-scale good music. I do think for an orchestra score (or a novel or a Sistine Chapel), you do need to know what you’re doing, because there’s so many variable parts that have to work together…
You don’t need to know what you’re doing, but it’s certainly a heck of a lot easier to understand why your harmony doesn’t work if you know what a tonic and a dominant and subdominant are. It saves you time and allows you to write more purposefully.