Developing Your Musicianship
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.
Construct, sing and play scales such as the major scale and the minor pentatonic scale.
Aurally identify major 2nd, major 3rd, perfect 4th, perfect 5th, major 6th, and major 7th intervals
Construct and play triads and 7th chords
Compose a I-IV-V chord progression in the key of C Major and create a chord chart
Syllabus
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Week 1
Welcome to Developing Your Musicianship
The Major Scale
Week 2
Major and Minor Triads
Week 3
Minor Pentatonic Scale
Week 4
Major and Dominant Seventh Chords
Week 5
Song Form
Week 6
Practicing What You Know and Moving Forward
FAQ
When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?
Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option:
The course may not offer an audit option. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid.
The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
What will I get if I subscribe to this Specialization?
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
Is financial aid available?
Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.
Reviews
Hands down the best music theory course I've ever taken. I had trouble with understanding theory in the past, but this course has made it so incredibly easy. I'm so happy with the results!
Absolutely great! The professor is just incredible. The way he teaches is very clear, easy to understand and not boring at all. I absolutely recommend this course to everyone.
This is a really great course. It's broadened my scope of music a lot. I never use to think much of Jazz and Blues, but I've really got an appreciation for it now. :)
This course has been extremely helpful for me to get started on learning music theory. The course material is top quality (video, study guides, assignments etc.) Highly recommended!
