Music Courses

How to Write Your First Song

153 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

California Institute of the Arts

Sound Production in Ableton Live for Musicians and Artists

32 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

Yale University

Introduction to Classical Music

26 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
• 65 hours worth of material, 9 weeks long
• 4th Oct, 2021
• Free Online Course (Audit)

• Best of All Time

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)

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
• 7 hours worth of material, 6 weeks long
• 1st Nov, 2021
• Free Online Course (Audit)

Songwriting: Writing the Lyrics

24 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
• 16 hours worth of material, 5 weeks long
• 13th Sep, 2021
• 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 - 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 - 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)

First Nights - Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring: Modernism, Ballet, and Riots

2 reviews

Learn the fascinating history of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, one of the most challenging and rewarding ballets ever written.

• edX
• 3-5 hours a week, 3 weeks long
• Self paced
• 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
• 23 hours worth of material, 6 weeks long
• 4th Oct, 2021
• Free Online Course (Audit)

19th-Century Opera: Meyerbeer, Wagner, & Verdi

1 review

Learn the music and cultural impact of three canonical operas from the 1800s: Les Huguenots , Das Rheingold , and Otello.

• edX
• 3-5 hours a week, 6 weeks long
• Self paced
• Free Online Course (Audit)

The Piano Sonata: Origins to Mozart

In this course, you’ll be introduced to sonata form; how it works, where it came from, and how sonatas are put together as multi-movement compositions. We will analyze the early history of the piano sonata and discover the important early masters of this…

• Coursera
• 9 hours worth of material, 4 weeks long
• 20th Sep, 2021
• Free Online Course (Audit)

The Piano Sonata: Beethoven and the Romantics

In this course, learners will review sonata form and learn how the piano sonata was taken to new heights by Ludwig van Beethoven. We’ll discover together how the generation that followed interpreted Beethoven’s achievements and put them into practice in…

• Coursera
• 12 hours worth of material, 4 weeks long
• 20th Sep, 2021
• Free Online Course (Audit)