What is Music Appreciation?  It involves listening to and exploring a variety of Western musical traditions. The time, place and circumstances of how the music came into being will be discussed. We will “talk about” the music and be able to relate the characteristics we observe as we listen.

How can I study about music online?

The internet makes it easy to learn about all kinds of music and there are endless resources available to you.  This course Music Appreciation Online will be like any other class in that you must

“attend class” for one hour per day.  Then you must complete your assignments.  Assignments will include:

Listening to musical pieces and examples and writing about what you heard.  This also will include a class “chat” discussion from time to time to get feedback from your classmates.

Research about a composer or style/genre of music.

Learning about how a particular instrument is played.

Learning basic music symbols and elements needed to listen to the examples more effectively.

You must use your writing skills when completing your assignments. Clear descriptions with lots of detail are required.

Often, you will visit various web pages that contain musical examples and exercises and you will practice your musical skills in listening and describing musical elements of melody, rhythm form, style, expression, tonecolor and harmony.

What will my tests be like?

Our tests will consist of listening and describing the examples using the basic musical elements.  Identifying

basic musical signs/symbols and reading basic musical notation.

Some questions will be essay, multiple choice and some true/false.

Sample Question:

In Beethoven’s 5^th Symphony which musical element is repeated throughout the first movement?   (The famous motive triplet followed by a quarter note or half note.  Click here to listen to the example from