INTERACTIVE ZOOM LECTURES

WITH RUSSELL STEINBERG, PH.D.

8 Wednesdays 4:00-6:00PM Pacific Time
September 14- November 9 2022
(no session October 5—Yom Kippur)  

Complete Series—$520
Individual Sessions—$65
EMAIL ME FOR SPECIAL 20% STUDENT DISCOUNT CODE
(High School and College Students)

This is the theory class I’ve always wanted to offer to both young musicians and general music listeners. How does music engage our emotions so powerfully? That is the guiding question as we investigate eight “secrets” of music theory—notation, rhythm, sound, pitch, chords, progressions, phrases, and form. This is not an AP Theory class, but an excellent foundation for one as well as for subsequent study in harmony, counterpoint, and orchestration.

Note: While open to everyone, this series is particularly geared to high school music students. It is not graded, but includes voluntary assignments to build basic skills to prepare for college music theory.

Has music theory always confused you? Why are there sharps and flats? Why 12 keys if scales only have 7 notes? Why are I, IV, and V the most important chords? Why not I, ii, iii? (and why Roman numerals?)

We go behind the jargon and mind-numbing formulas that characterize music theory courses and discover the ‘why’ behind the conventions and rules.

The 8 classes:

1) secrets of notation—how we translate the emotions of music to abstract symbols

2) secrets of rhythm—how music is bound to time

3) secrets of sound—how all music is a product of vibration

4) secrets of notes—how scales and intervals form musical grammar

5) secrets of chords—why just slight changes in chords affect our emotions

6) secrets of progressions—why the flow of chords controls the musical story

7) secrets of phrases—the processes that build small musical particles into larger sections

8) secrets of form—the processes that build sections into larger forms that articulate an entire piece