| Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. |
音乐理论是对音乐实践方式及其可能性的研究 |
| Music theory is frequently concerned with describing how musicians and composers make music, including tuning systems and composition methods among other topics. |
音乐理论通常关注描述音乐家和作曲家如何创作音乐，其中包括调律体系、作曲方法等多个主题。 |
| Because of the ever-expanding conception of what constitutes music (see Definition of music), a more inclusive definition could be that music theory is the consideration of any sonic phenomena, including silence, as they relate to music. |
随着“什么构成音乐”这一概念不断扩展（参见“音乐的定义”），一种更具包容性的定义认为，音乐理论可以是对任何与音乐相关的声音现象的研究，甚至包括“静默”。 |
| This is not an absolute guideline; for example, the study of "music" in the Quadrivium liberal arts university curriculum that was common in medieval Europe was an abstract system of proportions that was carefully studied at a distance from actual musical practice. |
这并不是一个绝对的界定。例如，在中世纪欧洲常见的“四艺”（Quadrivium）文科大学课程中，对“音乐”的研究是一套抽象的比例体系，其研究方式与实际音乐实践保持着一定距离。 |
| However, this medieval discipline became the basis for tuning systems in later centuries, and it is generally included in modern scholarship on the history of music theory. |
然而，这种中世纪的学科体系后来成为后世调律系统的基础，因此在现代音乐理论史研究中通常也被纳入讨论范围。 |
| Music theory as a practical discipline encompasses the methods and concepts composers and other musicians use in creating music. |
作为一门实践性学科，音乐理论涵盖了作曲家和其他音乐人用于创作音乐的方法与概念。 |
| The development, preservation, and transmission of music theory in this sense may be found in oral and written music-making traditions, musical instruments, and other artifacts. |
从这一意义上讲，音乐理论的发展、保存与传承，可以在口头与书面的音乐创作传统、乐器以及其他相关实物中找到。 |
| For example, ancient instruments from Mesopotamia, China, and prehistoric sites around the world reveal details about the music they produced and potentially something of the musical theory that might have been used by their makers (see History of music and Musical instrument). |
例如，来自美索不达米亚、中国以及史前文化的古代乐器，其周围环境揭示了音乐制作的细节，以及制作者可能使用过的音乐理论（参见“音乐史”和“乐器”）。 |
| In ancient and living cultures around the world, the deep and long roots of music theory are clearly visible in instruments, oral traditions, and current music making. |
在世界各地的古代与现存文化中，音乐理论的深层根源清晰地体现在乐器、口述传统以及当代音乐创作之中。 |
| Many cultures, at least as far back as ancient Mesopotamia and ancient China, have also considered music theory in more formal ways such as written treatises and music notation. |
许多文化，至少可以追溯到古代美索不达米亚和古代中国，已经开始以更正式的方式研究音乐理论，例如通过书面论著和乐谱记谱。 |
| Practical and scholarly traditions overlap, as many practical treatises about music place themselves within a tradition of other treatises, which are cited regularly just as scholarly writing cites earlier research. |
音乐理论的实践传统与学术传统彼此交织，许多关于乐器或其他主题的实践性论著，常常被作为学术写作引用，用以支撑早期研究。 |
