I've taken most of the graduate music theory classes. If there were any professor jobs out there, I'd probably be teaching theory. It was the minor area of my doctorate after all. Knowing theory doesn't do anything but destroy your creativity and make you into an elitist jerk. While being able to read music is helpful, a real musician can play everything by ear. I can't play an exact melody by ear in the moment, so I usually have to come up with a countermelody or a harmony line. I can sing melody just fine if I know the song, but I usually like to sing harmony by ear. My voice is too low to comfortably sing women's songs anyway, and besides, I get bored.

If I can watch a violinist play, I can figure the notes out by watching AND listening. By just listening it's so much harder. Or trying to translate a tune I know onto an instrument without any reference. Apparently, everyone else does it SO easily. So I guess I'm just stupid.