Understanding The Fundamentals of Music [repost]

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Understanding The Fundamentals of Music [repost]

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Learn the Basics of Music Theory without Knowing How to Read Music! In this course, Professor Greenberg offers a spirited introduction to this magnificent language-nimbly avoiding what for many of us has long been the principal roadblock, the need to read music. For anyone wanting to master music's language, being able to read musical notation is a necessity. But this course, as Professor Greenberg notes, is a basic course, designed to introduce you to music's language in a way that is similar to the way you learned your own native language, by "discovering and exploring musical syntax through our ears-by learning what the parts of musical speech sound like-rather than what they look like on paper." By sidestepping the necessity to read music, these lectures represent an extremely rare opportunity in musical education-an opportunity to experience a solid introduction to music theory's basics in a way that is not technically intimidating, yet provides a substantial grounding in the fundamentals. As such, Professor Greenberg has devised a highly individualized approach to music theory. There is simply little or no literature in this field that can teach as much without recourse to music notation. Thus, it can appeal to those who are not learning, or even planning to learn, to play a musical instrument or to compose. Professor Greenberg has made use of a variety of tools, including thoughtfully chosen recorded examples, his own demonstrations at the piano, and helpful diagrams. One of those diagrams-a reproduction of a piano keyboard, with its keys identified-frees the student from needing access to a piano or any other keyboard instrument, a traditional demand of most music theory courses. It's of tremendous help in visualizing many of the course's most important concepts, such as how "pitch collections" are built, and it opens up the benefits of this course to anyone without access to a piano or keyboard instrument.