After a tremendous response from learners on Coursera, Berklee Online has created a Developing Your Musicianship specialization, and this course is the second course in the series. If you have a basic knowledge of music theory or if you have completed Developing Your Musicianship I, this course will continue to help you understand key musical concepts, enabling you to create and perform contemporary music. Taught by Berklee College of Music professor George W. Russell, Jr., the course includes four lessons that delve into the next level of harmony and ear training.
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The course will introduce you to new key signatures, including minor tonalities, and how they are constructed. You will train your ear to hear minor intervals and 7th chords. You will learn how to build 7th chords, and how to build common chord progressions. You will also learn the major pentatonic scale and how to construct melodies using this scale.
The course culminates with an assignment that asks you to compose and perform an 8-measure composition using popular chord progressions and the Major pentatonic scale. Just like Developing Your Musicianship I, the course is designed to impart the joy of creating music and sharing it with others.
What You Will Learn
- Aurally identify minor intervals and 7th chords
- Explain the relationship between a Major key and its related minor
- Practice playing and writing in the keys of F Major, D minor, G Major, D minor scales
- Write a chord chart
Course 2 of 3 in the Developing Your Musicianship Specialization.
Syllabus
WEEK 1
Welcome to Musicianship: Chord Charts, Diatonic Chords, and Minor Keys!
Welcome to Musicianship: Chord Charts, Diatonic Chords, and Minor Keys (also known as Developing Your Musicianship II)! Here we will cover all the details about the course and what you'll need to know to get the most out of your course experience.
In this lesson, we will spend a little time reviewing the material from Developing Your Musicianship I. We will learn about the Key of F Major and its related minor key, D minor. We will also practice training our ears to hear minor 2nd and 3rd intervals and major and minor 7th chords.
WEEK 2
In this lesson, we will explore diatonic 7th chords in the key of G major and F major. We will learn four new popular chord progression using diatonic triads. We will continue to train our ears, reviewing the intervals and chords from the previous lesson while adding minor 6th and 7th intervals and the dominant 7th chord.
WEEK 3
In this lesson, we will learn about the key of G major. We will play with the popular chord progressions from the last lesson by adding the 7th. We will continue to train our ears, reviewing the intervals and chords from the previous two lessons while adding the tritone and the half diminished (or the minor 7 flat 5) chord.
WEEK 4
In this final lesson, we will explore the major pentatonic scale. We will also learn how to write a chord chart using the popular chord progressions from this course. We will continue to train our ears, reviewing all of the intervals and chords from the course.
