Bright Sheng guides us through three works — by Brahms, Beethoven, and Sheng — for an intimate look inside the composer's mind. This course strives to give students a new appreciation of music, based on an understanding of the craft behind each work. This class is perfect for those wanting to gain a unique perspective on the creative process of music composition, while challenging traditional notions of how composers approach formal structure, melody, and harmony. Week 1 focuses on the question “what is melody?”, and on the meticulous design of Brahms's Intermezzo, op. 118, no. 2. Week 2 concentrates on the fundamentals of harmony, and how Beethoven thought of harmony to generate his Symphony No. 7 in A Major, op. 92. Week 3 applies the same paradigm to a living composer, Bright Sheng himself, and reveals how he found inspiration in the works of these titans of music in his Four Movements for Piano Trio. While helpful, it is not expected students have a background in music to take the course.
PJ
The course really shows how composers think when composing. The learning material is well structured and presented.
YM
This is a very good course. I recommend it to everyone taking music.
VE
I enjoyed the course and the performances. The analogies and explanations were helpful.
JL
Perfect, the way it leads me through the essential paths and elemental figures of music is a master piece.
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Me gustó mucho, muy interesantes los temas abordados y la forma en la que se explican. El profesor es muy bueno, se nota lo mucho que sabe del tema y lo mucho que le apasiona. Los quices podrían ser de menos memoria y más acerca del entendimiento profundo.
Excellent analysis/appreciation course. The instruction was informative and engaging, which brought the material to life. A very accessible course for the musically inclined and the layperson alike; anyone can take something positive from this course.
The course really shows how composers think when composing. The learning material is well structured and presented.
This is a very good course. I recommend it to everyone taking music.
It's a very comprehensible course and Bright Sheng is very clear and easy to understand about the topics he is trying to convey, but at the same time I could feel that those concepts and compositional ideas are very hard to develop and put into practice. If you want a clear understanding of how an idea is developed, the this course is absolutely recommended!
As an aspiring composer, this course definitely helped, explaining different kinds of decisions made by several composers which ultimately produced very interesting works. Ideas I had not considered but that made sense as Professor Sheng explained them.
An extremely entertaining course. I learn different approaches to tackle harmonic, melodic or rhythmic issues that may appear while writing my own music or when I have to analyze other composer musics. Maestro Sheng uses a nice method. Thanks a lot.
This was a fabulous course to take. I have studied harmony, now compose and study with a U of T professor, but it's great to refresh my memory and this was extremely engaging. It's a shame that Bright Sheng doesn't do more courses!!
-- Steven
The course content was very good and began at a moderate level. The Instructors greatly help with the students thought process ad clearly explain the content. Learnt a lot of new things. Thank you, it was amazing.
very good gave me a new perspective of seeing the art as whole and got to know how the era and the environment will influence the art and the artist mind .
Perfect, the way it leads me through the essential paths and elemental figures of music is a master piece.
I enjoyed the course and the performances. The analogies and explanations were helpful.
Excellent teacher and course. I have learned a lot.
I have learned a lot! Mindblowing!
Very good
Having a musical background definitely helps, especially for the tests. The analysis of Brahms (week 1) is the most interesting part. Well explained. Then it gradually becomes "more confusing?" or maybe "not as well explained?". I don't know how to articulate the feeling. I also didn't see much discussion in the forums. It was ok.
He incorporated a number of general music theory concepts and made them approachable to students of varied musical training and expertise (no easy task). I think is would be of value regardless of student’s musical knowledge, but skews a bit beyond the musical novice.
Good summary of music composition analysis (music theory) of a romantic and a classical piece and then analysis and performance of a trio written by the lecturer. Nice theory refresher and I got a few impulses and ideas out of this to try. Thank you!
Las nociones de creatividad explicadas con cada uno de las obras analizadas, son inspiradoras.