– Hey, we’re all in this together! You can safely bet that there will be others in the same boat as you. There are zero expectations or prerequisites coming into this workshop – you don’t even need to have taken any of the previous modules as the course-material is non-cumulative. We are here to meet you where you are and help you grow and feel more comfortable. That said, if your listening skills are more advanced than your peers, there will be tiered homework assignments designed to challenge you to the degree at which you’re equipped!

– No! The best part about this course is that we get to do so much listening – and through listening is how we all got into music in the first place, right?! Being able to read sheet music is a great skill and comes in handy when needing to digest a large quantity of very particular musical information for the sake of precise recreation. But what we are working on in this course is strengthening our ears so that we can better grasp what’s happening in a given piece of music without the score in front of us (plus, lots of things that we can hear that aren’t present in a score)! And how often are you going to have access to the score for that song that just popped up on your Discover Weekly playlist anyway? You should know that there are many unbelievably talented musicians that famously don’t read music… but you know what they all have in common? They have GREAT EARS.

– Great question! Upon signing up, you’ll receive a welcome email that contains a recommendation for circumaural (around-the-ear) headphones. We’ll be doing a lot of analytical listening in this class and it’s important for you to hear as much as you can – earbuds and laptop speakers won’t give you the most accurate or enjoyable listening experience!

– As far as instruments go, feel free to bring anything you’d like to class if that makes you more comfortable – you never know when it might help! That said, all you really need is your voice and a voice recorder (like your smartphone) to record ideas and eventually your homework assignments.

– YES. And you should! But here’s what’s so great about this class and this series as a whole. We’ve worked hard to gather all the best material in one place so you don’t have to waste time searching. We’ve also refined a lot of tricks, tips, exercises, and assignments that are designed to push you in ways that you might not push yourself (but that we promise will be good for you!). And perhaps the most irreplaceable offering is a LIVE learning experience. Being able to talk things over with an instructor and classmates beats any head-scratching + late night googling combo.