The New York Times’ Daniel J. Wakin Brings Back Popular Online Course "How to Listen to Classical Music"

By -

For those who want to discover classical music or who enjoy it but aren’t sure why, The New York Times presents “How to Listen to Classical Music,” a delightful three-week course designed to help students recognize elements unique to classical music and identify favorite musicians and composers. Not a music theory course, not a music history course, this is a joyful listening tour led by The New York Times’ classical music reporter Daniel J. Wakin.

Back by popular demand, the course will include a “symphony” of topics, including:

  • An overview of the orchestra repertory and other types of music
  • The individual instruments and sections of an orchestra
  • The role of the conductor (with a guest conductor in live class session)
  • Concert traditions and how to get the most pleasure from a concert
  • Wakin’s “moments of bliss” in classical music

    • “How to Listen to Classical Music” will run from October 26 to November 15, 2011. To register for this new online course or for more information, please visit: http://www.nytimesknownow.com/index.php/how-to-listen-to-classical-music/.

    This Program of Study course is part of the New York Times Knowledge Network, which is open to consumers nationwide. Programs of Study courses, developed and taught by New York Times journalists or professional staff, cover a variety of topics and are delivered online. Students can select any number of these courses: to stand alone, or be taken as a sequence.

    Comments

    Post a Comment

    Popular posts from this blog

    The Role of Music in Opera

    By -
    There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In ...
    Read more

    Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

    By -
    Image
    Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
    Read more

    Teaching Composition – What are we trying to achieve

    By -
    In the process of learning composition I have spent time with a number of instructors who have encouraged me to write twelve-tone, pitch-class, electro-acoustic and other forms of experimental techniques. No matter how much I might understand and appreciate the work of other composers in the genres, these are not forms of music I resonate with. They are simply not forms of music I listen to and I struggle with the idea of writing them. However, in a Master Class by Libby Larsen she made the comment, “Learn them all, because all forms of music have something to offer.” This I very much agree. There are elements of each of the above mentioned forms (and others) that I do resonate with. Berg’s Violin Concerto is a beautiful twelve-tone work, although it is possible to look at numerous sections of the music with a “tonal” analysis. Another composer friend, Gary Bachlund commented that using these techniques can narrow the choices for how to compose a piece of work. If you look at ...
    Read more