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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Developing Your Musicianship by Berklee

4.8
stars
1,238 ratings

About the Course

Learn the basic concepts and approaches needed to understand, create, and perform contemporary music. If you have a passion for music and are curious about how it works, or if you are a musician who learned to play by ear without formal study, this course will provide you with an engaging introduction to key concepts and approaches needed to understand, create, and perform contemporary music. Taught by Berklee College of Music professor George W. Russell, Jr., the course includes six lessons that delve into harmony and ear training—two areas of intensive focus for every entering Berklee student. The course will teach you the major scale and minor pentatonic scale, and how they are constructed. You will learn what intervals are, how to sing them, and how to find them in music. The course explores tonal centers and how to find the key a song is in, in addition to common time signatures such as 4/4 and 3/4. You will learn how to build chords—major and minor triads, and major and dominant seventh chords—and how to build a common chord progression—the I IV V. You will also learn how to recognize the blues and AABA song forms, and write a basic chord sheet to express your song ideas. In addition to the video lectures, each lesson features Berklee student performances and interviews. The students share their musical journey and offer advice for those wanting to study music. The course culminates with an assignment that asks you to compose and perform a riff blues tune using the minor pentatonic scale. Above all, the course is designed to share the joy of creating music and sharing it with others. Samy Elgazzar, a graduate of Berklee College of Music and a successful composer, will be your Teaching Assistant (TA) for the course....

Top reviews

AG

May 20, 2021

This course is a incredible one to kick start as a musician , it allows one to grow and learn basic musical chords and notes, it gave me deep knowledge about the harmony, ear training and song form.

KH

May 30, 2021

Wonderful course! The instructor is great and the lessons are very well planned and with attainable learning goals. So much fun! I loved it so much I enrolled in the 4-course Specialization.

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376 - 400 of 404 Reviews for Developing Your Musicianship

By Paul A

•

Oct 5, 2020

Es muy divertido. Los ejercicios son relativamente difíciles si nunca antes has tenido un acercamiento a la música de manera académica como yo. Sin embargo, les puedo asegurar que son muy útiles y les ayudarán a dar primeros vistazos del divertido mundo que es la música.

By Marc S

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Aug 10, 2017

Good introductory course for someone with little to no musical knowledge or background but it still seems a little light on material for a 6-week course. On the plus side, George is an amazing instructor with a wonderfully memorable and infectious attitude.

By Meghan G

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Apr 21, 2022

this was a very good course on music theory. However, it is NOT a class for beginners. It is an intermediate level class. Coursera should change the level. Also, an insturment, preferably a piano or keyboard, is required for the class.

By Joshua W

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Sep 19, 2019

Great course! Explained a lot of the foundations of music (including scales, chords, and song forms). I only wish it was a little bit more in-depth. But hey, it's only the first part of a specialization, so I'm still excited!

By Maximo M A Z

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Nov 11, 2021

Es un curso muy entretenido y con lecciones divertidas e interactivas, cumple con los objetivos de aprender conceptos de armonía básica y poder utilizarlos, y te ayuda en tu entrenamiento auditivo.

By Erik P

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Mar 3, 2018

i do not own a printer, which made this class a bit of a challenge at first to get the sheet paper submitted.. but I liked the course content and the teacher has a great energy to him and his work.

By Francis L G P

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Sep 19, 2016

This course whet my appetite for some more Berklee courses. Definitely recommended to musicians who would love to improve their craft. Thanks, Coursera and Berklee!

By Kaveesha S

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Jul 2, 2020

Great course and I learned Lots of things in music theory and got a chance to train my ear as well. Most of all had lots of fun. Thank you Berklee.

By Rufina P

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Aug 14, 2020

The professor is super fun and engaging! A good beginner friendly class. The video feels like it's getting outdated, but the material is timeless.

By TYX

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Nov 22, 2018

Was a good introduction to ear training and basic chord progressions. Good recap for intermediate-level musicians and great pace for beginners.

By Kam K Y

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Nov 7, 2017

This course works for me.

I had classical background but wanted to learn more about how to make use of chords and combination of chords.

By Beatrice W

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Aug 3, 2020

Excellent course! The exercises were challenging, this course definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone...

By Somnath P

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Jul 8, 2017

clefs werent clearly explained.

and easy reading and writing techniques could have been taught

By Arpit A

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Sep 13, 2018

It was a good course, and I think it was a good introduction to music theory.

By Joshua C

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Mar 25, 2017

Nice course, good intro. Pretty thin but helpful and good value for money.

By Bhanu P P

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Jun 2, 2020

this is the best course for beginners to learn basics

By Sebastián L

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Mar 16, 2018

I like the teacher's nice attitude and good energy.

By Stepan S

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Oct 9, 2017

Homework and quizzes are too easy.

By Zeji L

•

Nov 9, 2016

Cannot do the test without pay...

By 柯安丽

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Feb 20, 2019

Good beginning, challenging end

By navneet y

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Nov 29, 2017

This course is fun!!

By Wa N

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Aug 31, 2017

Got what i need :D

By Hussain T A

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Feb 19, 2017

Good for beginners

By Abellot a

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Sep 20, 2018

good course

By michael a m

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Oct 1, 2017

I don't understand in the final assignment it says the written part is optional yet you ask us to grade our peers based upon the written part of the assignment. Very unclear. All the Berklee advertisements are heavy handed and annoying making it seem like you're just trying to get more people to spend too much money on a degree. The fundamental instruction is great though and easy to follow along.