Catalog Search Results
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2015.
Language
English
Description
Not all aspects of musicality mature in the brain at the same rate. Trace the developing music faculty in infants, who have already learned to recognize their mother’s speech patterns and singing while in the womb. Examine research showing that singing is more effective than speech in calming infants..
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2018.
Language
English
Description
In this lesson, you'll discover the final five-finger pattern - G flat - rounding out your knowledge of key signatures. You'll continue working to harmonize melodies with the accompaniment patterns you learned in Lesson 11, and you will begin a new technique - using the damper pedal.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2017.
Language
English
Description
Trace the career of violinist Malcolm Watson, as it illustrates principles of success for musicians, and consider seven habits of highly effective guitar players. Then learn the technique of artificial harmonics. Add half diminished and full diminished chords to your repertoire, play the Mixolydian scale, and finish the course with a jazz and flamenco inspired song.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2018.
Language
English
Description
Investigate the qualities of Debussy's music that connect it to French art and poetry as well as to the sensuality of the French language. Learn how his landmark work, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, began musical modernism. Study the wealth of compositional innovations in his piano Prelude #10, and note how his impact on 20th-century music mirrors Beethoven's in the 19th century.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2017.
Language
English
Description
Delve into the original style of jazz guitarist Johnny Smith, and the story behind one of his greatest hits. Then go deeper into barre chords, one of the most challenging guitar techniques. Learn "movable" chord shapes, using the same fingering for multiple chords, and practice two-octave arpeggios (broken chords). End with a reggae-style song, structured in "A-A-B-A" form.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2015.
Language
English
Description
Follow two lines of research that have put ideas about music’s origins to the test. Start with studies of music perception in monkeys. Then turn to an ingenious experiment with young children, designed to evaluate the theory that musical behavior enhances social bonds between group members..
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2018.
Language
English
Description
Here, take the measure of the Viennese triumvirate of Schoenberg and his students Alban Berg and Anton Webern, who advanced a historically new, non-tonal music. Delve into the most representative work of this era, Schoenberg's song cycle Pierrot Lunaire, and experience Schoenberg's stunning compositional language. Investigate the extraordinary works and contributions of Berg and Webern.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2015.
Language
English
Description
Use neuroimaging to investigate the ways that brains of musicians differ from those of non-musicians, asking whether the differences are due to nature or nurture—whether they are inborn or the result of experience. Pinpoint brain structures involved in such musical skills as absolute pitch..
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
In vocal technique, consider how the quality of the exhalation determines the quality of the inhalation. Study the appoggio technique, which focuses on encouraging sternum elevation and rib position during the exhalation. Practice exercises to maintain an open upper body and suspend the inclination to collapse on the exhale, releasing the inhalation and engaging appoggio on the exhale.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2018.
Language
English
Description
Learning to play the piano is a complex, challenging process, so don't worry if you feel like you're hitting a plateau. In addition to expanding your knowledge of theory - including secondary chords - use this lesson as a time to review what you know and assess what needs work.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
Begin to explore your voice category, and learn a general way to classify your voice, with the goal of making the most of your own vocal mechanism and choosing repertoire that allows you to shine. Study vocal "registration," encompassing what are called chest voice, head voice, and falsetto. Find the point where your own voice shifts registers, as a guideline for understanding your voice type.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2017.
Language
English
Description
Enter the world of the blues, and learn about some pioneering pre-war blues players. For left hand technique, practice a "lateral stretching" exercise for flexibility. Add the A7 chord, along with syncopated blues strumming patterns and the A blues scale. Last, play "Blues for Art", incorporating your new strumming patterns and the blues scale.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2017.
Language
English
Description
Hear classic road stories of some great guitar players, as they point to the collaborative roles of the guitar. Learn the B7, C7, and G7 chords ("dominant seventh" chords), and grasp their role in musical harmony. Play the scale of E major across all six strings; then use your legato technique, dominant sevenths, and E major scale in accompanying a singer.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
A flexible alignment is the foundation for solid vocal technique. Study the structure of the spine and practice exercises to find a free and dynamic posture for your best sound production. Examine lower body and pelvic alignment and note how these affect your singing. Also learn how slightly elevating the sternum and strengthening the back and shoulder muscles help free the breath.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2018.
Language
English
Description
In the first of two lectures on this giant of 20th-century music, trace the early life of Stravinsky, the environment in which he grew to maturity, and his musical education and influences. Follow Stravinsky's relationship with the impresario Sergei Diaghilev, their legendary partnership in the ballets The Firebird and Petrushka, and grasp the striking musical originality of those works.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
This episode breaks down breathing into four phases associated with singing: inhalation, suspension, exhalation, and recovery. Work with exercises to coordinate these phases to create habitual patterns for breath. Experiment with how to make decisions about where you will breathe and divide the phrases, then troubleshoot aspects of breathing and posture that may be challenging.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
Grasp how the vocal tract acts as a resonator and study the physiology of the three main areas of vocal resonance. Learn to shape and control your resonance through exercises that explore vibration in the internal spaces of the vocal tract, creating different sounds and colors. Work to achieve a well-balanced resonance throughout your range, maintaining awareness of the internal spaces.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2018.
Language
English
Description
The 1920s saw both an explosion of new compositional languages and a conservative backlash against modernism. Follow the fortunes of Stravinsky, as he created a new ballet score for Diaghilev, incorporating themes from the Baroque composer Pergolesi. In Pulcinella, see how Stravinsky's ingenious treatment of the score created a neo-Classic musical hybrid of astonishing modernist sensibility.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2018.
Language
English
Description
Begin to familiarize yourself with the landmark pitches on the staff. By practicing various five-finger patterns (including C major, D major, E major, and A major), you will soon be able to match a tune to a specific tempo. This lesson also introduces the concept of "chords," a triad of notes that allow for richer accompaniment.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2017.
Language
English
Description
Learn about three legends of "fingerstyle" guitar - the technique of playing with the right-hand thumb and fingers. Practice the basics of right-hand fingerstyle technique, with alternating fingers. Study the notation of open strings; then extend your fingerstyle to "fingering" chords. Play a G major scale across three strings, and use your fingerstyle in a song.
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