Brain Capos

I was glancing through my journal from camp a year ago when I found something I came up with then that amused me. I had been explaining to my theory class some stuff about what theory actually is and I told them that if you learn a pattern like C - F - G - C, then you learn only one thing. But if you learn a pattern like I - IV - V - I, then you really learn 12 things, because now you can use that pattern in any key, not just C. So it's sort of like a capo for the brain. Hee hee. I just like the image of someone going "Uh oh! I need to play in C# -- better get out the capo!" and clamping some weird contraption onto their head instead of onto their guitar. I should have remembered that for this year's class.