Music. Learn, enjoy, appreciate.

Why are some piano keys white and some black? What does ‘A major’ actually mean? What is harmony, and how does it work? How do you read music? The answers to these questions hold the key to a deeper and more rewarding understanding of music.

Designed for absolute beginners and taught in a practical and down-to-earth way, this eight-week music course explores and demystifies the inner workings of music.

Outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

• list some of the elements of music
• describe some of the features of the elements of music
• describe some specific examples of the elements of music.

Content

Introduction: Listening to music

• The elements of music
• Terms we use to talk about music

How pitch works

• A little about the physics of sound
• Black notes and white notes
• Sharps and flats

How melody works

• Perfect pitch and relative pitch
• What makes a good melody?
• Scales and Keys: what ‘major’ really means

How rhythm works

• Tempo and pulse
• What is a time signature?
• Bars and barlines
• Swing and straight, simple and compound
• What does syncopation mean?

How harmony works

• Consonance and dissonance