There’s elitism on both sides.

It’s two different ways of doing things that get the same result, and often just a brain chemistry thing.

I am praised by my peers for my “theory” and creative writing, classical and jazz skills - then often sneered at when they find out I can barely read sheet music, nor can I name the chords I compose with when they are more complex that minor or major. Truth is, I was born with a very good ear - got very basic lessons when I was little - but I always struggled with basics of written music, the maths behind it, and have always been jealous of the people who understand all of that and can grasp it.

Then on the other side, you have people with great ears who didn’t need or go through all the training who think they are superior. Thom yorke often makes fun of Johnny greenwood because “it’s easier for him to write a score because he can read and write music, knows theory, and reads sheet music on the train as his iPod” What an asshole thing for him to say. Johnny isn’t “less” of a musician because he has so much more training.

Anyway, this long tangent - i just wish people on both sides would stop saying their way is the better way and accept that it’s possible to be an amazing composer through either pathway - and both have their merits. Just because I have been doing counterpoint for years knowing that conversations between instruments sound really good, but not knowing it was called counterpoint doesn’t make me less of a musician. It also doesn’t make a better musician because I stumbled onto it by accident. It just means I did it all a different way, and have spent just as much time and work on my craft as someone who studied it in school