Music. How to listen and enjoy - course 17,100 rubles. from Synchronization, training, Date: November 29, 2023.

Great Composers

We will watch video lessons, listen and analyze compositions. Let's study the biographies of outstanding composers, features of styles and main techniques.

Vivaldi
The Priest Who Wrote Perfect Baroque Pop Music

The life of Vivaldi: 500 concerts, the wrath of the archbishop and oblivion
Opera arias: ostinato rhythm and strong emotions
Cycle “Seasons”: tremolo and sounds of nature

Bach
A master of polyphony and a composer who was ahead of his time

Bach's Life: Organ, Blindness and Posthumous Fame
Preludes and Fugues: Mathematical Precision and Counterpoint
Chorale preludes and the St. Matthew Passion: the emotional tension of sacred music
Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, “Goldberg Variations” and “Coffee Cantata”: music for entertainment and concert as a competition

Mozart
The child prodigy who created perfect harmony

Mozart's life: children's tours, the path of a free artist and mysterious death
“Little Night Serenade” and Symphony No. 40: beauty and contrast of music
“Turkish Rondo” and Concerto No. 23 for piano and orchestra: the formula for a piano hit from Mozart
“The Marriage of Figaro” and “Don Giovanni”: musical dramaturgy of the opera

Beethoven
The rebel who paved the way for romantics

Beethoven's Life: Rebellion, Success and Hearing Loss
“Pathétique” and “Moonlight” sonatas: emotions and breaking the rules
Symphonies No. 3 and No. 5: Beethoven's signature recipe for monumental music
Symphony No. 9: avant-garde elements and action scene

Chopin
Polish exile who revolutionized music genres

Chopin's life: rebellion, unhappy love and conquered Paris
“Revolutionary Etude” and Prelude in C minor: new life of small genres
Mazurka in A minor and Polonaise “Heroic”: how Polish dances conquered the world
Ballad No. 1 and Concerto No. 1 for piano and orchestra: an epic without words and the concert formula from Chopin

Wagner
The eternal debtor who forever turned opera into cinema and killed classical harmony

Wagner's life: debts, anti-Semitism and revolution in opera
Opera "Das Rheingold": leitmotifs and epic music
Opera "Tristan and Isolde": destruction of classical harmony

Chaikovsky
The first Russian composer to conquer the West

Tchaikovsky's life: anxieties, love dramas and success in the West
The operas “Eugene Onegin” and “The Queen of Spades”: psychologism and the “mystery of the three cards”
"Winter Dreams", Piano Concerto No. 1 and Symphony No. 6: program orchestral music by Tchaikovsky
Ballets “Swan Lake” and “Nutcracker”: philosophical subtext of musical theater

Rachmaninov
The last romantic of the 20th century

Rachmaninoff's life: lost estate, life-saving hypnosis and emigration
Prelude No. 12 and Etude-Painting in E-flat major: bells and a new genre
“Lilac” and Vocalise: sensual vocal music
“All-Night Vigil”: a balance between innovation and tradition
Third piano concerto, “Symphonic Dances”: monothematicism and elusive melody

Prokofiev
The eternal rebel who shocked the whole world

Prokofiev's life: outrageousness, work with Eisenstein and repression
“Classical Symphony”, Concerto No. 3 for piano and orchestra and Symphony No. 7: football match, constructivism and neoclassicism
“Peter and the Wolf” and “Alexander Nevsky”: music for cinema and animation
Ballets "Leap of Steel" and "Romeo and Juliet": the rhythm of the factory and film editing in musical theater

Shostakovich
The composer who turned music into a weapon

The life of Shostakovich: musical experiments, persecution and defense of Leningrad
Preludes and Fugues: Baroque in the 20th century
String Quartet No. 8: monogram motif and Shostakovich’s experiences
Symphony No. 7: breaking the rules and the theme of invasion

How to understand music

In 7 lectures we will get acquainted with the main principles by which music works: from classical and avant-garde to modern rock and pop songs

lecture 1
How does music affect a person?
The human body obeys biorhythms and the laws of physics. For this reason, some sounds seem pleasant to us, while others seem harsh and disturbing. At the webinar we will figure out how composers use this feature of physiology. We’ll also find out:
Why do some chords seem pleasant to us and others don't?
How our sense of beauty in music is related to the laws of physics
How to convey anxiety, sorrow, calm, joy and surprise in a melody so that listeners from anywhere in the world can feel it
Why do we dance energetically to some songs and more relaxed to others?
What are major, minor, syncopation and overtonic scales and how do these terms help you understand music?

lecture 2
How to understand musical forms
Until the 20th century, the form of a work was also its content. This is the reason why symphonies and operas were so long. During the webinar, we will look at the main musical genres of the past and figure out how to listen to them to enjoy them. For example, let's find out how the form of a symphony works and learn to “read” it like a book. We’ll also find out:
How to understand the emotional plot of a symphony
How do the symphonies of the Classical and Modern eras differ in meaning and content?
How forms such as sonata, concerto, variations and fugue work
What is polyphony and how to listen to polyphonic works of the Baroque era
What happened to classical forms of music in the 20th century and why now we practically do not use them

lecture 3
How to listen to an orchestra
When listening to a piece performed by an orchestra, we do not always think about why the composer gave the part to a particular instrument. At the webinar we will talk about how the orchestra was formed and what character the sound of each instrument conveys. We’ll also find out:
How a composer chooses a solo instrument
How the instruments in the orchestra have evolved and which of them are left in the past
Why is the clarinet part written not from the notes that actually sound in the piece?
What gestures do orchestra members use to communicate during a concert and why do horn players shake their horns during breaks?
Why do you need a conductor and how to measure his skill?

lecture 4
How to listen to the avant-garde
20th century composers did something strange. Their music, which we call avant-garde, is difficult and unpleasant to listen to. At the webinar we will learn why this happens and how to correctly perceive avant-garde music. Let's find out what meanings can be identified in such heavy melodies, and learn to distinguish by ear the music of modern, postmodern and metamodern. We’ll also find out:
Why avant-garde music is often hard to hear
How do consonances and dissonances affect the human body?
How music changed from modern to postmodern and from postmodern to metamodern
How Wagner broke classical harmony
Why is it considered that the 20th century in music began in 1913?

lecture 5
How to listen to jazz and blues
Jazz and blues are not classics, but they are not pop either. Listening to such music is both pleasant and difficult at the same time. At the webinar we will figure out what jazz and blues consist of and how they differ from each other. Let's see how jazz influenced classical music of the 20th century. We’ll also find out:
What is a jazz standard and a blues scale?
How basic jazz chords are built and according to what laws they are connected
How does collaborative jazz improvisation work?
How does jazz differ not only from the blues, but also from classical and pop music?
How hard and incomprehensible chords affect a person

lecture 6
How to listen to rock
Despite the apparent simplicity of the form, rock music is a real field for experimentation with harmony, modes, rhythms and tones. However, often these discoveries and experiments are hidden behind the timbre of the performer’s voice and the lyrics of the song. At the webinar we will study rock music as seriously as classical music, and we will consider in detail the rhythms, harmonic moves and modes that are used in it. We’ll also find out:
How to distinguish one type of rock from another by ear
How do chords in rock differ from chords in classical and pop music?
How chords and rhythms from the most famous rock compositions affect us
How Thom Yorke (Radiohead) experimented with chords, Zemfira with rhythm, and Freddie Mercury (Queen) with keys

lecture 7
How to listen to pop music
Pop music seems simpler and more down to earth than classical or jazz. But in fact, in order to create a popular hit and evoke the right emotions in the listener, the author of a pop song needs to have a very good understanding of the laws of harmony and melody. At the webinar, we will remember everything we learned in previous webinars and see how harmony, mode and rhythm work in pop music. We’ll also find out:
Why choosing chords for a pop song is difficult psychological work
What interesting things did pop genres bring to the evolution of music?
How does pop music differ from rock music in terms of chords and modes?
How popular melodies are structured and what elements they consist of
What sections are pop songs divided into and what purposes do these sections serve?

Music Club

We will listen to musical compositions and audio lectures with analysis of these works. Let's get acquainted with musical techniques using the example of classical and modern hits

lesson 1
Musical laws
Billie Eilish "No Time to Die"
Bach "Prelude in C major"

What we learn:
In the first block we will deal with the hardware: we will find out what chords are, what role they play in music and how to distinguish them from the melody. This knowledge will help you understand how musical laws work. This means listening to music consciously and getting more pleasure from it.

lesson 2
Musical manipulation
Vivaldi "The Seasons. Winter"
Handel "Passacaglia"
Queen "Show Must Go On", "We Are the Champions"
Mozart "Sonata No. 11, part 2"
Adele "Someone like you", "Rolling in the deep"
Tchaikovsky "Symphony No. 5"

What we learn:
All music - from baroque to modern pop - is built on simple (and not so simple) techniques that have a strong impact on us. In this block we will get acquainted with such manipulations and learn to recognize them. Pay special attention to your emotions to notice such “tricky” moments.

lesson 3
Musical experiments
Zemfira “Resurrection”, “Let’s leave it like that”, “London sky”
Beethoven "Symphony No. 9"
Radiohead "Karma police", "Just"

What we learn:
A real hit can be created not only by using the universal laws of music and techniques for manipulating the listener, but also by breaking them. In this block we analyze the coolest and most memorable musical experiments. Get ready to look for what “went wrong” in these tracks.

lesson 4
Music of the future

We figured out what laws and manipulation techniques were developed in the music of the past, what experiments appear in the music of the present. What will the music of the future be like? Anna discusses this in the lesson of this block.

Jazz

In 5 webinars, we will understand jazz together with the lecturer and get answers to all your questions about this style of music

webinar 1
How jazz works: harmony and improvisation
Why is improvisation so important in jazz? How does harmony work in jazz? And what instruments do jazz musicians play? We will answer these questions in the lecture. Let's find out what rules jazz music is built by and break down a jazz composition into individual elements. Let's also figure it out:

What is swing
How does interaction work in a jazz band?
Why are performers more important than composers in jazz?
How does jazz differ from other musical styles?

webinar 2
How jazz is played: main theme, code and form
If improvisation is so important in jazz, can musicians play whatever they want? In this lecture we will learn why jazz is not at all chaotic, but strictly structured music. Let's understand what musical form underlies jazz and learn to identify it by ear. Let's also figure it out:

What is code
How to distinguish the introduction from the main theme, and the theme from the solo
What role does a vocalist play in improvisation?
How jazz players prepare for a performance

lesson 3
How jazz gained popularity: humor, stride and swing
How did jazz manage to become the most popular music of its time? To answer this question, let’s immerse ourselves in the atmosphere of jazz of the 20s, 30s and 40s. Let's get acquainted with different styles of jazz and understand the features of their performance. Let's also figure it out:

What place did improvisation occupy in swing?
Why jazz of the twenties is impossible to imagine without humor
What is swing and how to determine it by ear
What historical events influenced the spread of jazz?

lesson 4
How jazz became more complex and deeper: Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and John Coltrane
Why did jazz cease to be the most popular music in the world? And how did he acquire the aura of elitism? In this lecture we will explore jazz from the 50s, 60s and 70s. We will find out how the main discoveries in jazz took place, hear new styles and understand why the music of legendary jazz musicians is brilliant. Let's also figure it out:

What is bebop and why did it become popular?
How jazz improvisation has changed
How did free jazz appear?
What difficulties did jazz players face and how did this affect their music?

lesson 5
What modern jazz sounds like: Kendrick Lamar, exoticism and a mixture of styles
By the end of the 70s, jazz players tried all possible innovations and calmed down, and jazz mixed with other musical styles. In this lecture we will learn what modern jazz sounds like and understand how jazz has changed modern musical culture. Let's also figure it out:

Why do jazz musicians win Grammys in non-jazz categories?
What exotic instruments influenced modern jazz?
How jazz music influenced hip-hop, and hip-hop influenced jazz
What do rapper Kendrick Lamar, musician Flying Lotus and pianist Herbie Hancock have in common?