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--Publisher.

An introduction to the instruments of the orchestra, timbre, dynamics, meter, pitch, mode, the major/minor key system, melody, harmony, modulation. Includes excerpts from classical, jazz, and popular music recordings; and live piano demonstrations.