About this course: Learn the basic concepts and approaches needed to understand, create, and perform contemporary music. If you have a passion for music and are curious about how it works, or if you are a musician who learned to play by ear without formal study, this course will provide you with an engaging introduction to key concepts and approaches needed to understand, create, and perform contemporary music. Taught by Berklee College of Music professor George W. Russell, Jr., the course includes six lessons that delve into harmony and ear training—two areas of intensive focus for every entering Berklee student. The course will teach you the major scale and minor pentatonic scale, and how they are constructed. You will learn what intervals are, how to sing them, and how to find them in music. The course explores tonal centers and how to find the key a song is in, in addition to common time signatures such as 4/4 and 3/4. You will learn how to build chords—major and minor triads, and major and dominant seventh chords—and how to build a common chord progression—the I IV V. You will also learn how to recognize the blues and AABA song forms, and write a basic chord sheet to express your song ideas. In addition to the video lectures, each lesson features Berklee student performances and interviews. The students share their musical journey and offer advice for those wanting to study music. The course culminates with an assignment that asks you to compose and perform a riff blues tune using the minor pentatonic scale. Above all, the course is designed to share the joy of creating music and sharing it with others. Samy Elgazzar, a graduate of Berklee College of Music and a successful composer, will be your Teaching Assistant (TA) for the course.
Taught by: George W. Russell, Jr., Professor
Harmony/Piano
| Basic Info |
Course 1 of 4 in the
Developing Your Musicianship Specialization.
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| Commitment | 7 weeks of study, 3-5 hours/week |
| Language | English, Subtitles: Ukrainian, Portuguese (European), Chinese (Simplified), Portuguese (Brazilian), Spanish, Lithuanian |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
Each course is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes and projects.
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| Audit | Purchase Course | |
|---|---|---|
| Access to course materials | Available | Available |
| Access to graded materials | Not available | Available |
| Receive a final grade | Not available | Available |
| Earn a shareable Course Certificate | Not available | Available |
I loved it, and the professor was absolutely delightful.
clefs werent clearly explained.
and easy reading and writing techniques could have been taught
Very educational for both the unexperienced people who has never played an instrument and the musicians that learned how to play by ear and want to expand their musical vocabulary.
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Moves along quick, but covers topics very well. Instructor is fantastic. Highly recommend!!