Hello. It seems like every musician studies musical theory, but how was music made before it became a subject that had to be studied?
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The earliest (Western) notated records of music we know of are around the first century, and it was mainly an oral tradition then. From there notation started to be developed by monks for sacred chants and the like, and this continued evolving through the centuries. There’s lots of old treatises on how people used to think of music: the Renaissance emphasized the way that notes connected with each other, the Baroque musicians thought music carried different emotions that had to be balanced together, etc. And most composers of these times weren’t studying music in school, but were learning from those that came before them: being mentored and studying old scores. So, while not every musician would have studied theory, they are usually still drawing on knowledge from older composers, or from information passed down orally.
Oral transmission.
Basically you had to find a mentor to teach you music, this is true especially before people invented ways to write down music.
You can be a great musician and never once learn music theory. Music theory just describes how music works and the tools we use in music, but you can pick them up naturally without knowing they formally exist.
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