Key Information
About the content
Using a simple and enjoyable teaching style, this course introduces the novice listener to the wonders of classical music, from Bach fugues to Mozart symphonies to Puccini operas.
Syllabus
- Week 1 - What Is Music?
Every day around the world, billions of people listen to music of one sort or another, and millions listen to Western classical music. Why do we do it? Because it’s fun? Because it energizes or relaxes us? Because it keeps us current, allows us to unders... - Week 2 - How Music Works, it's Magic.
What is Music? Is music simply the organization of sounds and silences passing through time? Or is it more? Poet Victor Hugo believes music is "what feelings sound like." In this first module, we’ll take apart Hugo’s seemingly simple statement by spending some... - Week 3 - The Sound of Music
Have you ever wondered what it is that makes music sound sometimes rich and luxurious and sometimes strange and mysterious? Well, you’re in luck because this module, we’ll explore what the nature of simultaneous sounds and textures. We’ll start off with a look... - Week 4 - Music Back in the Day
We will cover a thousand years in musical evolution during this modules lectures! We'll start with the Middle Ages taking a look at its functional chants and dance music, then we’ll move to the period of the Renaissance, and finish off by listening to the orna... - Week 5 - The Baroque Era
Novelists, poets, painters, mathematicians, and even geologists talk about "fugue-like" structure in their media and disciplines. But what is a fugue and how did we get it? To find out, we enter the world of Baroque music and famed master of the fugue, Johan... - Week 6 - The Classical Era
Would you believe that once upon a time, musical compositions were viewed as disposable, one-time-use entertainment? Could you imagine an orchestra attempting to perform a beautiful piece over the sounds of noisy patrons in a casino? How about a violin being ... - Week 7 - The Bridge From Classical to Romantic
If you could put a soundtrack to the French Revolution, it would surely contain music from Beethoven's "Heroic" period, during which, he “brought sound to symphonies.” We’ll see how Beethoven’s incorporation of new instruments, as well as, his creation of a la... - Week 8 - The Romantic Era
Module 8 will begin with a tour of Yale’s extraordinary keyboard collection; perhaps the finest of its kind in the world. We’ll see fully functioning instruments of all shapes and sizes, some dating back to the time of Mozart and before! We’ll learn the prefe... - Week 9 - Music to the Present
When you think of Impressionism, you probably think of paintings, likely the beautiful canvases of Claude Monet. But the emotionally evocative, non-realistic style of Impressionism pervaded all aspects of art. For music, another Claude, this time Debussy, typi...
Instructors
Craig Wright
Henry L & Lucy G Moses Professor of Music
Department of Music
Content Designer
Platform
Coursera is a digital company offering massive open online course founded by computer teachers Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller Stanford University, located in Mountain View, California.
Coursera works with top universities and organizations to make some of their courses available online, and offers courses in many subjects, including: physics, engineering, humanities, medicine, biology, social sciences, mathematics, business, computer science, digital marketing, data science, and other subjects.
I just finished this Classical Music Mooc offered by Professor Craig Wright of Yale University! An exciting journey through nearly a thousand years of music history. It is a bit long (about 25 hours) but absolutely brilliant! Really a great success and an adventure that I recommend to those who want to discover the history of music. The educational approach mixes videos, quizzes, complementary YouTube listening playlists, expert testimony. The educational animation is particularly well done and original with : - listening to musical extracts, - the deciphering of scores with music in the background, - quizzes in text and audio format based on listening to musical excerpts.
I just finished this Classical Music Mooc offered by Professor Craig Wright of Yale University! An exciting journey through nearly a thousand years of music history. It is a bit long (about 25 hours) but absolutely brilliant! Really a great success and an adventure that I recommend to those who want to discover the history of music. The educational approach mixes videos, quizzes, complementary YouTube listening playlists, expert testimony. The educational animation is particularly well done and original with : - listening to musical extracts, - the deciphering of scores with music in the background, - quizzes in text and audio format based on listening to musical excerpts.
Really enjoyed this introduction to classical music! Professor Wright was a very engaging and entertaining teacher. Particularly enjoyed how the lives and works of the different featured composers were explained in context of their influences, the art movement of their time and where in the world they were composing. Feel very inspired and would like to try to compose music myself.
Nice workThis is the best introductory course on classical music and should be required in every department because of the necessary culture it contains.
I strongly recommend this course to anyone interested in Music ; it’s a fabulous journey through centuries, from the early Middle Ages to the Postmodernist era. Professor Wright is always caring and exciting. I have been looking for such a course for years.Thousands of thanks to Professor Wright and to the team to imagine and produce it !!
A very well crafted course! The videos are just great, and the quality of the classes were beyond my first expectations. Professor Wright is also a wonderful educator and a very charismatic man. My many thanks to all the Coursera and Yale team for providing this amazing course!
