Music Courses

How to Write Your First Song

163 reviews

Get a practical introduction to the mechanics of songwriting and meet established songwriters with this free online course

• FutureLearn
• 3 hours a week, 6 weeks long
• Self paced
• Free Online Course (Audit)

• Best of All Time

Introduction to Classical Music

25 reviews

Using a simple and enjoyable teaching style, this course introduces the novice listener to the wonders of classical music, from Bach fugues to Mozart symphonies to Puccini operas.

• Coursera
• 66 hours worth of material, 9 weeks long
• Tomorrow
• Free Online Course (Audit)

• Best of All Time

Songwriting: Writing the Lyrics

25 reviews

There’s a songwriter lurking somewhere inside you, peeking around corners, wondering if it’s safe to come out. Now it is. This course is an invitation to let your inner songwriter step into the sunlight. All it takes is a simple “yes” and you’ll be climb…

• Coursera
• 17 hours worth of material, 5 weeks long
• 1 week from now (15th Aug)
• Free Online Course (Audit)

• Best of All Time

Fundamentals of Music Theory

23 reviews

This course will introduce students to the theory of music, providing them with the skills needed to read and write Western music notation, as well as to understand, analyse, and listen informedly. It will cover material such as pitches and scales, inter…

• Coursera
• 12 hours worth of material, 6 weeks long
• Tomorrow
• Free Online Course (Audit)

Guitar for Beginners

21 reviews

Grasp the essentials needed to begin playing acoustic or electric guitar. You'll learn an easy approach to get you playing quickly, through a combination of exploring the instrument, performance technique, and basic music theory. For students who have l…

• Coursera
• 24 hours worth of material, 6 weeks long
• Tomorrow
• Free Online Course (Audit)

Ableton Live Course: Sound Production for Musicians and Artists

33 reviews

This course provides hands-on experience in producing, mixing, and sound design with a digital audio workstation. Students will learn the fundamentals (physics) of sound and digital audio, proper gain staging, where and how distortion enters recordings a…

• Kadenze
• 9 weeks long
• Self paced
• Free Online Course

• Best of All Time

U of Rochester

History of Rock, Part One

18 reviews

This course covers the music of Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Phil Spector, Bob Dylan, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, and many more artists, with an emphasis both on cultural context and on the music itself. We will also explore how…

• Coursera
• 13 hours worth of material, 8 weeks long
• Tomorrow
• Free Online Course (Audit)

• Best of All Time

U of Rochester

The Music of the Beatles

18 reviews

The Music of the Beatles will track the musical development of the band, starting from the earliest days in Liverpool and Hamburg, moving through the excitement of Beatlemania, the rush of psychedelia, and the maturity of Abbey Road. While the focus will…

• Coursera
• 14 hours worth of material, 7 weeks long
• Tomorrow
• Free Online Course (Audit)

Developing Your Musicianship

16 reviews

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 cour…

• Coursera
• 17 hours worth of material, 6 weeks long
• 1 week from now (15th Aug)
• Free Online Course (Audit)

Curtis

Exploring Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas

15 reviews

Our relationship to Beethoven is a deep and paradoxical one. For many musicians, he represents a kind of holy grail: His music has an intensity, rigor, and profundity which keep us in its thrall, and it is perhaps unequalled in the interpretive, technica…

• Coursera
• 18 hours worth of material, 12 weeks long
• Tomorrow
• Free Online Course (Audit)

18th-Century Opera: Handel & Mozart

5 reviews

Study Baroque and Classical opera through Handel’s Giulio Cesare and Mozart’s Don Giovanni

• edX
• 3-4 hours a week, 5 weeks long
• Self paced
• Free Online Course (Audit)

First Nights - Beethoven's 9th Symphony and the 19th Century Orchestra

4 reviews

Learn about Beethoven’s monumental 9th Symphony and forms of orchestral music.

• edX
• 3-5 hours a week, 3 weeks long
• Self paced
• Free Online Course (Audit)

First Nights - Handel's Messiah and Baroque Oratorio

4 reviews

Discover Handel's Messiah in this installment of First Nights, which will explore five masterpieces of western music.

• edX
• 3-5 hours a week, 3 weeks long
• Self paced
• Free Online Course (Audit)

First Nights - Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and the Birth of Opera

3 reviews

Learn about Claudio Monteverdi's L'Orfeo , one of the first operas ever written.

• edX
• 3-5 hours a week, 3 weeks long
• Self paced
• Free Online Course (Audit)

First Nights - Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique and Program Music in the 19th Century

2 reviews

Learn about Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique , an iconic Romantic symphony that ushered in an era of narrative "program music."

• edX
• 3-5 hours a week, 3 weeks long
• Self paced
• Free Online Course (Audit)