(Coursera – Berklee College of Music) George W. Russell, Jr. – Developing Your Musicianship

Hello! My name is George W. Russell, Jr., and I am going to be your teacher over the next six weeks in Developing Your Musicianship. I am so happy that you have signed up for this course—we are going to have a lot of fun.You have likely signed up for this course because you love music, and I’m hoping that the journey we are about to embark on will give you more of an understanding of how music works and inspire you to keep studying music well beyond our time together.In this first lesson, we are going to explore some basic musical terms. What is harmony? What is ear training? What is an interval? From there, we are going to look at the major scale and how it is constructed. We are then going to explore two intervals: the major 2nd and the major 3rd. It is very important that you develop your ear and your ability to recognize intervals. And, last but not least, we are going to explore the tonal center, or the key a song is in. Make sure you have access to a keyboard so that you can practice what you are learning. If you do not have a physical keyboard or piano, you can use one of the virtual keyboards listed in the Resources section of this course. The keyboard is a wonderful tool for learning music. I encourage you to refer to it, and practice on it, regularly throughout the course.Each lesson throughout this course is going to feature interviews with Berklee students and faculty, and a student ensemble performance—which I hope will inspire you. In this first lesson, you will hear from Berklee students and a faculty member, in their own words, why what we are learning is so important for your development as a musician.This week’s student performance features Ben Johnston and Jordan Lucero’s song “I Don’t Have a Song for That.”  This song was inspired by the events of the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15, 2013. I hope you enjoy it—I think it really captures how special Berklee and all its students are! You can watch more of the Berklee Student Performances on its YouTube channel.That’s all for now. I’ll send out another announcement like this for each new lesson. I hope you have a wonderful course experience!All the best,Georgep.s. Please be sure to fill out the “Getting to Know You” survey—a link to it appears on the left side of the course site.