I'm saying that to be fully accomplished, you should be well rounded. Ear training is a large part of it as well. But being able to sight read can be as valuable a skill as mimicking something by ear. Audio representation of a piece of music isn't always available. And to communicate with other musicians effectively, the language that is music theory is an efficient way to communicate scales, chords, phrases, and ideas.
It's more precise to say, "From the downbeat of the B section, where the dominant figure goes to the tonic" rather than "Okay when I do this ::plays::".
I understand a lot of the greats didn't read. But they also didn't have the internet, access to books, etc. In such a social and literate society that we have today, there's little excuse for some aspiring musician to just ignore music theory. I'm sure there were great people in history that never learned to read nor write their native language. Is that a good argument to say that we shouldn't read/write either if we can communicate verbally?
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