Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know About Music But Were Afraid to Ask: Class 1, with David Serkin Ludwig We’ll start off with demystifying the jargon of music and find simple explanations of scales, keys, forms, and everything else you always wanted to know about but were afraid to ask! Using music ranging from Gregorian chant to the Beatles we’ll examine the question “what is a scale?” and learn about how most melodies are based on some kind of scale. About melodies: How are they [...]

Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know About Music But Were Afraid to Ask: Class 2, with David Serkin Ludwig. Following up on melody comes a discussion of harmony, from the first music to have more than one part to the rich chords found in late 19th century Romantic music. How does harmony work? What does it mean to harmonize something? How are chords made? The class will learn about different kinds of chords, as well as keys and the “circle of fifths.” This is the [...]

Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know About Music But Were Afraid to Ask: Class 3, with David Serkin Ludwig. What is rhythm, anyway? Meter? We will explore how time and space are divided up in the narrative canvas of music, looking at meter, pulse, beat, and tempo. Participants will learn how to write basic rhythms to communicate to musicians, as well as how to understand traditional dance patterns. This is the third class in a 4-part series with David Serkin Ludwig, composer and educator. For [...]

Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know About Music But Were Afraid to Ask: Class 4, with David Serkin Ludwig. The series concludes with an examination of musical form – from analysis of small phrase structures, to the form of individual movements, to the largest structures of entire works. We conclude by analyzing a work together using all of the tools learned in course of the class. This is the last class in a 4-part series with David Serkin Ludwig, composer and educator. For information about [...]