A Classical Education

Back in December I stumbled upon an online course on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. It was presented by Hillsdale College and was a free course. It consisted of 4-6 lectures and I truly enjoyed it. Recently, I finished up yet another online course from Hillsdale on the History of Classical Music.

As someone who played in band throughout my school years, I was exposed to a lot of classical music. As a band member, it is an amazing experience to be playing a melody while a counter melody is playing with you. It is just as amazing when your section plays beautiful harmonies. Rehearsing a song and watching it all come together is so satisfying.

That being said, I couldn’t wait to get into this course. The overview states: Music’s ability to excite or soothe, to celebrate or console, to capture the inarticulate expressions of the human spirit make it the ideal companion for Western Civilization’s greatest achievements. Music is intertwined with the events of history. The developments of classical music correspond to key moments in science, politics, and religion. Classical music can be studied, it can be understood from the perspective of historical events and the lives of composers, but most of all, it should be enjoyed.

The instructor was Hyperion Knight and he was a wealth of knowledge. Throughout the course, he would occasionally play a piece or make an illustration on the piano for further explanation. We tend to believe that classical music is old or “ancient,” but Professor Knight was so good about relating what was going on in history at the time of some of these pieces.

The course lections were about the Development of Music, The Baroque Era (Bach, Vivaldi, and Handel), The Classical Period (Haydn and Mozart), and The Classical Period (Beethoven and Schubert). The final lecture is not a lecture at all. It is a mini concert performed by Professor Knight featuring some classical music standards.

Much like the Dickens course, I never really felt like it was a class or a lecture. It was really just an enjoyable journey through music history. Classical music is not for everyone, but if you are interested, you can enroll here: https://online.hillsdale.edu/courses/classical-music