Coming up soon, in downtown Chicago at the Gleacher Center just north of the Chicago River, off the Magnificent Mile…

Introduction to Music Literacy: One-day Seminar

3/13/2010
Saturday 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

This seminar is designed to equip the student with fundamental knowledge of musical notation and language. Clefs, time and key signatures, the staff, symbols for pitch and duration, and musical grammar and vocabulary will all be covered. Also, there will be consideration of the relevancy and value of various analytical models and techniques. Emphasis will be placed on making the participant’s listening experience more rewarding.

See the syllabus and recommended readings for Introduction to Music Literacy

8-Week Classes

These classes meet for 8 weekly sessions.

Piano Music from Mozart to Rachmaninov: (Winter 2010)

1/12/2010 - 3/2/2010
Tuesday 10:00 AM - 12:30 PM

This course presents a survey of some of the most popular and significant piano music of the Classical and Romantic eras. Classes feature discussion and performance of pieces including Chopin’s mazurkas, preludes, and ballades, as well as Schumann’s “Carnival,” famous works by Mozart and Beethoven, and the virtuoso styles of Liszt and Rachmaninov. This course is an ideal opportunity to gain an enriched understanding of piano music.

19th Century Germany (Winter 2010)

1/14/2010 - 3/4/2010
Thursday 10:00 AM - 12:30 PM

This interdisciplinary course will place Bruckner, Wagner, and other 19th-century Austrian and German composers within the context of their own turbulent time. Bruckner’s monumental symphonies and Wagner’s visionary conception of opera and revolutionary harmonies were formed at the same time as the German state; this course will explore the relationships between music and politics. Topics will include the Franco-Prussian War, Metternich and conservative reaction, the German bourgeoisie, and Bismarck and the Second Reich.