Students at the Nelly Berman School who want to know how musicians and composers write and make music now can study music theory in a group class, music history in an online class, and music theory & composition individually with Dr. Ariane Alexander.
Contact the NBS office at 610-896-5105 or at office@nbsmusic for more information. Students with an interest in music theory, history, and compostition who study privately elsewhere are welcome as well!
Online Music Theory Courses:
Theory on Your Instrument – Level One: students will participate in weekly 60 minute online interactive classes via zoom.us. Students will use their instruments in theory exercises during each zoom class and will have written assignments between sessions. All interactive classes can be recorded and retained. Any student who is unable to join live will be able to watch the recorded class.
In the words of Dr. Alexander, “One of the most valuable theory classes I ever took was taught in a piano lab with all exams taken at the keyboard. As a pianist, this course made music theory “real” for me and gave me a solid reference for all of the subsequent theory courses I ever took.” Theory on Your Instrument is designed to offer students this experience and will involve playing what is being taught in each class. Once the basics of music theory are understood in one’s own clef and on one’s own instrument, learning the other clefs is easy.
In addition to the theory basics offered in this course, a compositional element will be included as part of the homework assignments. Students will incorporate what they have learned in class into two short compositions of their own and perform them for the class!
The course will cover:
• Intervals
• Major & minor scale structures
• Key signatures
• Simple, Compound and Asymmetrical meters
• Basic modulation
• Easy rhythmic and melodic dictation
Classes will be offered starting the week of October 5th through December 14th, 2019 for the following age groups: Junior: Ages 9 to 12 and Senior: Ages 13 to 18
Interactive zoom class times are as follows:
Saturdays: Junior class 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. ET
Senior class 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. ET
Introduction to Music History: a comprehensive historical overview specifically geared toward the serious preparatory level musician. On zoom.us, student interact with each other and with Dr. Alexander in an ‘online classroom’ while viewing images and performance videos.
Students will learn about the historical background, architecture, art and literature of each era and how they influenced or were influenced by the composers of that time. Students will also learn about the composers and styles of the pieces they are playing. They will see images of the great palaces of the Baroque era and hear performances on period instruments, Mozart Sonatas played on Mozart’s forte-piano and so much more!
A week before each of the interactive classes students will receive a short video lecture and a written outline of all that will be discussed in the zoom classroom. Note taking will not be required. Special projects will include mapping out a musical family tree to discover their pedagogical lineage, and giving a short presentation of a piece they are playing. By the end of the course the students will have seen the world through musical eyes, from ancient Greece to Italy, France, Germany, England, Russia, and the Americas! This course will not only give them insight into their own pieces but will make them aware of their direct connection to the great composers and performing musicians of the past.
Students will participate in weekly 60 minute online interactive classes via zoom.us, receive weekly video lectures, outlines and playlists of all materials covered in each class via email. All zoom.us interactive classes can be recorded and retained. Any student who is unable to join live will be able to watch the recorded class.
Classes will be offered starting the week of October 2nd through December 14th for the
following age groups: Junior: Ages 9 to 12 and Senior: Ages 13 to 18
Interactive zoom class times are as follows:
Saturdays: Junior class 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. ET
Senior class 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. ET
Wednesdays: Junior class 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. ET
Senior class 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. ET
Enrollment for access to interactive classes will be limited to 15 students per class. Students may enroll in the course without participating in the zoom classroom and will receive each class video within 24 hours of the scheduled class. Tuition is the same.