Musicum versus Cantor

a Historical Perspective about the Dichotomy between Theorists and Performer Musician

Abstract

This article proposes a reflection on two antagonistic figures: the music performer and the music theorist. Through historical contextualization, it is argued that the concept of music theory is comprehensive and can be interpreted in different ways. Thus, a dialogue is made with the past with the goal of understanding how this dichotomy is perceived nowadays. Considering this dialogue, we discuss the figure of the teacher performer and how the formation of teacher performers is guided by this question.