Nurture your love for, and understanding of, music with this specialization. Learn the fundamentals of music theory, including major and minor tonalities, chord scales, song forms, and chord qualities. You’ll also practice training your ear to hear and recognize various intervals, chord progressions, and chord qualities. For the Capstone project, you will directly apply the knowledge you’ve gained to write and perform a short musical composition. This specialization begins with the basics of music and builds to more advanced concepts, providing you the knowledge you need to improve your skills as a musician.
Developing Your Musicianship Specialization
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Developing Your Musicianship Specialization
Develop your skills as a musician. Deepen your understanding of music theory to develop your skills as a musician.
Instructor: George W. Russell, Jr.
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4.9
(1,265 reviews)
Beginner level
Recommended experience
1 month at 10 hours a week
Flexible schedule
Earn a career credential
Share your expertise with employers
Get in-depth knowledge of a subject
4.9
(1,265 reviews)
Beginner level
Recommended experience
1 month at 10 hours a week
Flexible schedule
Earn a career credential
Share your expertise with employers
What you'll learn
Aurally identify musical intervals, chords, and chord progressions
Write and practice major and minor scales in a variety of keys
Compose a 12-bar blues with a melody
Define and discuss harmonic function and modal interchange
Overview
What’s included
Shareable certificate
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Taught in English
31 practice exercises
Advance your subject-matter expertise
- Learn in-demand skills from university and industry experts
- Master a subject or tool with hands-on projects
- Develop a deep understanding of key concepts
- Earn a career certificate from Berklee
Specialization - 4 course series
What you'll learn
Construct, sing and play scales such as the major scale and the minor pentatonic scale.
Aurally identify major 2nd, major 3rd, perfect 4th, perfect 5th, major 6th, and major 7th intervals
Construct and play triads and 7th chords
Compose a I-IV-V chord progression in the key of C Major and create a chord chart
Skills you'll gain
Category: Music Theory
Category: Music Performance
Category: Musical Composition
Category: Instrumental Music
Category: Music
What you'll learn
Aurally identify minor intervals and 7th chords
Explain the relationship between a Major key and its related minor
Practice playing and writing in the keys of F Major, D minor, G Major, D minor scales
Write a chord chart
Skills you'll gain
Category: Music Theory
Category: Music
Category: Musical Composition
Category: Music Performance
Category: Creativity
What you'll learn
Describe Chord tensions and their role
Describe The concept of Harmonic Function
Aurally identify chord progressions and chord qualities
Identify Modal Interchange chords in a composition
Skills you'll gain
Category: Music Theory
Category: Music Performance
Category: Musical Composition
Category: Music
What you'll learn
Compose an AABA style song
Practice and perform your composition on your instrument
Create a simple recording of you performing your composition
Develop your ear by identify intervals, chords, and chord progressions
Skills you'll gain
Category: Music Theory
Category: Music
Category: Music Performance
Category: Peer Review
Category: Musical Composition
Earn a career certificate
Add this credential to your LinkedIn profile, resume, or CV. Share it on social media and in your performance review.
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Frequently asked questions
The whole specialization will take 18 weeks to complete. The breakdown is as follows:
Developing Your Musicianship - 6 weeks
Musicianship: Chord Charts, Diatonic Chords, and Minor Keys - 4 weeks
Musicianship: Tensions, Harmonic Function, and Modal Interchange - 4 weeks
Developing Your Musicianship Final Project - 4 weeks
The specialization may be completed sooner or later than the recommended 18 weeks depending on your pace of learning.
While it would be helpful to have some familiarity with musical notation (such as the staff, note values and names, etc.) it is not required. Developing Your Musicianship I provides resources for students who are not familiar with musical notation at the start of the course.
Yes, we recommend taking them in order. Each course builds on the knowledge you learned in the last.
More questions
Financial aid available,