Discover how Josquin des Prez developed compositional style during the High Renaissance period. Josquin des Prez followed composers like Du Fay and Ockeghem, and prepared the ground for Palestrina and his contemporaries. As a singer,...

The String Quartet is a Classical Period innovation, developed largely in the hands of Haydn. This music appreciation lesson presents an overview of how the String Quartet evolved and also explores the Baroque background that led to...

We examine the opening section of Schubert’s famous Impromptu in Gb in order to discover how Schubert creates emotion. Starting with the melodic line we discover how the contour works and how the phrase design enhances the rises and...

Chopin’s E minor Prelude is one of his most popular and most beautiful Preludes. What makes the impact of this piece so poetic? This composer insights lesson begins by examining the melodic line in the right hand. Through much of the...

Composer Joseph Haydn has two skulls. After his funeral, two men showed up and bribed the gravedigger to dig up the corpse, cut off his head, and hand it over so that after vomiting in their carriage from the smell, they could study the...

Is older music better? Is current music worse? Are we as composers and songwriters devolving? I discuss these topics on my first ever music theory vlog.

Written in 1886, the Carnival of the Animals is a humorous piece by french composer Camille Saint-saens. The piece is made up of 14 different movements which represent different animals, however this video focuses specifically on the...

Written in 1886, the Carnival of the Animals is a humorous piece by french composer Camille Saint-saens. The piece is made up of 14 different movements which represent different animals, however this video focuses specifically on the...

Learn all about the motif, what they are, famous examples and how to write your own. One way in which music is written is for it to be based on a motif or combination of motifs. So what is a motif and how would a composer work with a...

Learn all about false relation and the two ways in which it commonly occurs. A false relation comes about when there are two notes of the same letter but with differing accidentals that either occur simultaneously or between one chord...

Written in 1886, the Carnival of the Animals is a humorous piece by french composer Camille Saint-saens. The piece is made up of 14 different movements which represent different animals, however this video focuses specifically on the...

In this episode of composing for the piano we take the Music Matters theme and present it as a Waltz in Romantic style. The Music Matters theme was originally written in 4 time. By converting it into 3 time with some rhythmic...

Written in 1886, the Carnival of the Animals is a humorous piece by french composer Camille Saint-saens. The piece is made up of 14 different movements which represent different animals, however this video focuses specifically on the...

Written in 1886, the Carnival of the Animals is a humorous piece by french composer Camille Saint-saens. The piece is made up of 14 different movements which represent different animals, however this video focuses specifically on the...

Listening to classical music while you sleep may improve test scores. Baylor University researchers with funding from the National Science Foundation have discovered that college students who listened to classical music during...

The Mannheim school of composers, led by Stamitz, steered significant musical developments during the second half of the eighteenth century. This music history lesson explains some of their most significant innovations and explains the...

Today's question is about the difference between the Tritone Substitution and the Augmented 6 Chord. Is there a difference? Are they the same thing? Will a fight break out in the comments section? Does the Australian Augmented 6 actually...

Overview of the history of German music, from Classical composers Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Johannes Brahms to contemporary pop musicians.

Written in 1886, the Carnival of the Animals is a humorous piece by french composer Camille Saint-saens. The piece is made up of 14 different movements which represent different animals, however this video focuses specifically on the...

The plagal cadence, also sometimes called the "amen" cadence. In this video we look at examples of the plagal cadence, how it is used in music, and what it sounds like by listening to some examples. This continues our look into music...

Identifying music intervals can be one of the more confusing things about learning music theory for the first time. In this video we will look at an easier way to find the names of intervals using the major scale as a reference point....

Erik Satie was a French composer and pianist, born on May 17th, 1866 and by all accounts, he was thought of as a talentless musician in his formative years. At least that’s how Georges Mathias, his professor of piano at the Paris...

Written in 1886, the Carnival of the Animals is a humorous piece by french composer Camille Saint-saens. The piece is made up of 14 different movements which represent different animals, however this video focuses specifically on the...

Written in 1886, the Carnival of the Animals is a humorous piece by french composer Camille Saint-saens. The piece is made up of 14 different movements which represent different animals, however this video focuses specifically on the...