You have no idea how much I envy you. My high school didn`t even have a jazz band, a fortiori offer a THEORY class. There was so little intellectual challenge that I skipped nearly every other day of my senior year. What WOULD I have given to be allowed to study music theory in high school.

Yeah, I guess I am lucky that I have this oppurtunity although I don`t really like theory that much. I realize that most highschool students don`t have the chance to learn music theory this early and I try to be grateful.

You`ve taken theory, right? If so, did you like it?

Re: "You`ve taken theory, right?"

In college, never in high school (or grade school). My master`s is in music theory, actually.

Re: "If so, did you like it?"

I love theory, but I haven`t loved all of my teachers. My favorite undergraduate course was called Tonal Counterpoint, and it was taught by my favorite undergraduate teacher, one Jan Bach. My favorite graduate school teacher, Larry Earp, was actually a music HISTORY guy, but I did take a course from him called History of Music Theory I. (I took History of Music Theory II from a teacher of whom I`m fairly contemptuous.)

Try composing a few songs. Theory helps a lot for that.