Music history

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Music History Courses in London and Online

City Lit offers an extensive programme of online music history and music appreciation courses with a focus on Western classical music, Folk, Jazz, Rock and Pop. There are new topics each year across a growing range of music styles and traditions.

To find out more about music history classes and to read our year-long selection of courses, please see the blog post Music history: your guide to our programme which lists our full programme of classes ordered by term, and by day of the week. You may then click on each title to read the full course outline.

Our staff are all professional musicians who teach, write, broadcast, lecture and perform widely. In recent years they have worked with BBC Radio 3, Gramophone magazine, Birkbeck (University of London), The Open University, Oxford and Cambridge University Press, Early Music, The Orchestra of the age of Enlightenment, The Wigmore Hall and the Aldeburgh Festival.

Many of our students learn for pleasure but some also come to enhance their careers: recent examples include board members of music charities, marketing and administration professionals from orchestras and gap-year students considering university entrance.

Feel free to browse our programme and do email us at music@citylit.ac.uk with any questions.

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  1. Jazz piano: a history from blues to bebop and beyond
    Weekend
    Course start date:  Sun 4 Jun 2023

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Sara Dhillon
    Trace the development of jazz piano from its origins in New Orleans to later styles, including boogie woogie, stride,



    bebop, post bop and abstraction, and look at key influential pianists of the period.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £95.00 Concession £77.00
    Rating:
    90% of 100
  2. MGM musicals
    Course start date:  Fri 9 Jun 2023

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Pauline Greene
    Bright, bold, happy and hummable – many of our favourite musicals on film were created by the Freed Unit at MGM in the 1940s and 50s. From The Wizard of Oz to Gigi, we take a whistle-stop tour of some fabulous films and artists.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £95.00 Concession £77.00
  3. Score reading: interpreting styles and composers
    Course start date:  Wed 12 Jul 2023

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Edward Breen, Trish Shaw
    Learn to navigate music scores and analyse basic structures. Learn to identify stylistic characteristics of music from different periods of music history, suitable for developing your understanding of music in its historical context, and to support the style identification elements of grade 5+ ABRSM exams.
    Full fee £89.00 Senior fee £89.00 Concession £0.00
  4. Great composers: Stephen Sondheim
    Course start date:  Fri 14 Jul 2023

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Pauline Greene
    What is it about Sondheim musicals that makes them so distinctive? Why do some lovers of other musicals dislike them? Let’s find out what he did, in music, lyrics and structure, that made his shows unique.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £49.00 Senior fee £49.00 Concession £49.00
  5. Music history book club
    Course start date:  Mon 17 Jul 2023

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Edward Breen
    The music history book club meets towards the end of each term to discuss novels and biography with musical themes and references relevant to the music history programme. This term’s book is Lucky Jim.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £19.00
  6. Great works: Stravinsky's Les Noces
    Course start date:  Wed 19 Jul 2023

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Trish Shaw
    Why is Stravinsky's Les Noces still considered such an important work a century after its first performance by the Ballets Russes in Paris in June 1923? Come and discover how this work was conceived and created, and its impact on music and dance in the 20th century.
    Full fee £29.00 Senior fee £29.00 Concession £29.00
  7. Great artists: castrati
    Course start date:  Thu 20 Jul 2023

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Edward Breen
    Explore the history of these famous singers and the music that was written for some of the most famous castrati of the 18th century.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £29.00 Senior fee £29.00 Concession £29.00
  8. Opera appreciation: an introduction
    Course start date:  Mon 24 Jul 2023

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Pauline Greene
    What is opera? And how do you approach it? Explore the ostentatious, sometimes overwhelming, world of opera through study of two major works and styles.
    Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £59.00 Concession £0.00
  9. Great artists: Enrico Caruso
    Course start date:  Mon 24 Jul 2023

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Pauline Greene
    Caruso, born 200 years ago, was not only a stupendous singer but also a best-selling recording artiste. We find out how he became the first modern superstar tenor.
    Full fee £29.00 Senior fee £29.00 Concession £29.00
  10. Great works: Grieg's Piano Concerto
    Course start date:  Tue 8 Aug 2023

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Katy Hamilton
    Grieg was just 24 years old when he wrote this, one of his best-loved works. We explore its genesis, early performances, and why it has remained such a popular work within the vast repertoire of nineteenth-century piano concertos.
    Full fee £29.00 Senior fee £29.00 Concession £29.00
    Rating:
    93% of 100
  11. Classical music: an introduction
    Course start date:  Tue 8 Aug 2023

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Katy Hamilton
    Are you interested in finding out more about classical music but not sure where to start? This taster course will



    introduce you to the history of music through a careful choice of works.
    Full fee £29.00 Senior fee £29.00 Concession £19.00
    Rating:
    80% of 100
  12. The piano and modernism 1880-1930
    Course start date:  Mon 15 May 2023

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Karl Lutchmayer
    Explore the birth of Modernism through the prism of piano music from 1880-1930. Learn about different approaches taken by key composers and how they influenced, and were influenced by, other art forms: e.g. The Impressionists, The Vienna Secession, and The Futurist Movement. Scheduled break week: 29 May 2023.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00
  13. Operas in production
    Course start date:  Thu 8 Jun 2023

    Location on this date:  Online

    Tutors:  Pauline Greene
    Looking at five of the operas coming up in the 2023-24 season, we will discuss their composition, context, controversies and style, and then hear the story of the opera through musical examples.



    This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
    Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £95.00 Concession £77.00
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