1.4 Week 1 summary

This week you have looked at different types of musical score, how notation works and some historical background to modern Western music notation. You have started listening more critically to melodies, identified their contours and repeating patterns as they are represented in simple scores. You have also started building the skill of close listening and of following a score while listening to the music.

So far, we have taken a wide ranging view of musical scores, and music in different styles and from different cultures. As this is a short course, we cannot possibly discuss so many different types of music in any detail, so from now on, the focus will be on Western art music and big band jazz.

Next week, you will build on these skills and be introduced to piano scores, which have two lines of music to follow. You will also meet pianist Alexander Panfilov as he performs Mozart, and talks about how he uses a score in preparing for performance.