Music history - Keeley Street

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. Exploring classical music: module 3
    Course start date:  Tue 23 Apr 2024 (and 4 other dates)

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Neil Luck
    Do you want to know more about classical music history? Explore selected topics and key works in Romantic and modern music on this highly informative 10 week course. Ideal for people with no specialist knowledge. Please note this course has a mid-term break: 28 May 2024.
    Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00
    Rating:
    100% of 100
  2. Music in France from Berlioz to Boulez
    Course start date:  Tue 17 Sep 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Edward Henderson
    Explore French art music from Berlioz to Boulez including familiar names like Debussy and Ravel and then explore modernist movements in France. NB: break week 29 October 2024.
    Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £174.00
  3. Mediaeval Christmas carols
    Course start date:  Tue 10 Dec 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Edward Breen
    Discover the rich heritage of medieval Christmas carols. Learn about traditional forms of the carol and the history behind selected examples.
    Full fee £39.00 Senior fee £39.00 Concession £39.00
  4. Debussy: an introduction to his music
    Course start date:  Tue 14 Jan 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Edward Henderson
    Debussy is one of the most recognisable early 20th century composers. His influence was far reaching. Come and explore several key works to find out what makes his style so distinctive, and his music so intoxicating.
    Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £103.00 Concession £90.00
  5. Electronic music: a brief history
    Course start date:  Tue 25 Feb 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Edward Henderson
    From the sound you phone makes to wake you up in the morning to pop, club music and concert music – electronic music is everywhere an available to everyone. This course tells the story of electronic music from computers as big as rooms in the WDR studios in Cologne to GarageBand on your iphone and the music that was made along the way.
    Full fee £129.00
  6. Music in the 21st century: the first 25 years
    Course start date:  Tue 29 Apr 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Edward Henderson
    We are now 25 years into the 21st century. This course is a guide to concert music and new composition of the century so far.
    Full fee £99.00 Senior fee £99.00 Concession £99.00
  7. Beethoven: an introduction to his music
    Course start date:  Tue 3 Jun 2025

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Edward Henderson
    Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the most important composers in the Western classical canon. Come and discover more about this most famous of Austro-German composers on a short introductory course.
    Full fee £149.00
  8. The symphony: a short history
    Last Few Places
    Course start date:  Tue 23 Apr 2024

    Location on this date:  Keeley Street

    Tutors:  Edward Henderson
    Explore the history and development of the symphony from JC Bach to Beethoven and into the twentieth century. Break week: 28 May 2024.
    Full fee £219.00 Senior fee £175.00 Concession £142.00
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