Find out more about The Open University’s music courses
Co-produced by BBC Cymru Wales and The Open University, Wales: Music Nation with Huw Stephens follows presenter, DJ and music fanatic Huw Stephens as he delves deep into the surprising and varied story of music in Wales.
To celebrate the series, we've compiled this collection of free learning resources.
Transcript 55.9 KB
About the series
Jumping from choirs to pop groups, Tom Jones to the triple harp, haunting medieval music to urban rap, Huw explores what makes Welsh music unique, and the qualities it shares right across the centuries.
➡️ Watch Huw Stephens’ exclusive interview with The Open University on OU Connect
➡️ Watch the series on BBC iPlayer
Free learning resources
Articles / Video
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Wales and music: a conversation with Huw Stephens
Music has come to play a significant role in Welsh identity. It has been and remains central to the way many Welsh people think about themselves collectively as a nation, and the way in which the Welsh are perceived outside Wales.
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A brief history of the eisteddfod
An eisteddfod (literally a session) is a cultural competition unique to the Welsh people. So, how did it come to be?
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The story of the Welsh national anthem
How did ‘Hen Wlad fy Nhadau’ become the national anthem for Wales?
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‘Bread of Heaven’ – Singing from the same hymn sheet?
A look at why this famous Welsh hymn has a complex history.
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OpenTalks - Wales: Music Nation
From folk to rock, music has always been at the root of Welsh culture and community. In this OpenTalk, DJ and presenter Huw Stephens discusses Wales’ musical history and culture with OU academics.
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How jazz came to Wales
Jen Wilson explores the historical links between the emerging African American music of the 1850s and the rise of jazz in Welsh popular culture.
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The origins of Welsh male voice choirs
An overview of the conditions in Wales that led to a unique and world-famous musical tradition.
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Lady Llanover, Welsh airs and national harmony
What led a member of the 19th century ruling class to preserve Welsh language folk music?
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St David’s Day and the role of the crowd in perceptions of Welsh musical identity
St David’s Day is always an occasion when ideas about Welsh musicality get repeated. Dr Martin V Clarke talks about the sporting crowd and the supporting role it plays in positioning Wales as the ‘land of song’.
Free online courses
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Discovering music through listening
This free course, Discovering music through listening, will introduce you to the musical elements used by musicians to create a piece of music: pulse, tempo, metre, harmony, structure, texture, timbre and dynamics. You'll learn how to identify the different musical elements by taking a particular approach to listening to the music, known as ...
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Listening for form in popular music
This free course, Listening for form in popular music, explores form, or how music is organised in time. It looks at three strategies for communicating form – through the use of specialist terms (such as ‘chorus’ and ‘bridge’), alphabetic designations (for example AABA), and visual diagrams. It also considers how the form of a song works with ...
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An introduction to music research
In this free course, An introduction to music research, we have gathered together materials to allow you to explore the ways in which music may be researched. After thinking about different kinds of musical knowledge and their relationship with various musical practices (including performance, composition, and listening), you'll be introduced to...
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An introduction to music theory
Gain an understanding of the basic building blocks of musical theory and notation. This free course, An introduction to music theory, will introduce you to music staves, clefs, rhythmic and pitch values, rhythmic metre and time signatures. This OpenLearn course provides an introduction to music theory pitched at a level equivalent to Grades 1–3 ...
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Recording music and sound
This free course, Recording music and sound, provides an historical introduction to music and sound recording in the creative industries and offers some guidance about making your own recordings. Many of the processes that have been developed and the issues that have been raised in the first 150 years of recording are still relevant today, and a...
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Reception of music in cross-cultural perspective
Music is created to be performed, in most cases for an audience, whether in a concert hall, at a street fair or through a radio. But how those listeners receive a piece or style of music influences future music production. This free course, Reception of music in cross-cultural perspective, explores how audience reception, changing social ...
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