Music
Notation, rhythm, mugham and world music
Starting from the properties of sound and musical instruments, you will learn to read notes, count rhythms and build scales, intervals and chords. You will follow the history of world music from Bach and Mozart to Tchaikovsky and jazz, and the path of Azerbaijani music from mugham to Uzeyir Hajibeyli, Gara Garayev and jazz-mugham. Finally, you will study harmony, musical form and the physics of sound at university level.
Course content
Sound and musical instruments
BeginnerPitch, duration, timbre and dynamics; the sections of the orchestra and Azerbaijani folk instruments.
- 1Sound and its propertiesMusic begins with sound. Learn how sound is made and its four properties: pitch, duration, loudness (dynamics) and timbre.Grades 5–613 min
- 2Musical instruments and the orchestraInstruments make sound in four ways. Get to know the sections of the symphony orchestra and Azerbaijani folk instruments such as the tar, kamancha, balaban, daf, nagara and garmon.Grades 5–714 min
Music literacy: notes, rhythm, scales and chords
IntermediateThe staff and clefs, note values, time signatures and rhythm, Italian tempo terms, major and minor scales, intervals and triads.
- 3Music notation: staff, clefs, note values and time signaturesLearn to read notes on the staff, the treble and bass clefs, the values of notes and rests and time signatures, and practise counting rhythms step by step.Grades 5–715 min
- 4Rhythm, metre and tempoLearn the difference between beat, metre and rhythm, strong and weak beats, the Italian tempo terms, the metronome and syncopation.Grades 6–714 min
- 5Scales, intervals and chordsLearn to build major and minor scales from tones and semitones, measure intervals in semitones, and form major, minor, diminished and augmented triads.Grades 7–917 min
The history of world and Azerbaijani music
AdvancedBaroque, Classical, Romantic and 20th-century music; mugham, ashiq art, Uzeyir Hajibeyli, Gara Garayev, Fikret Amirov and jazz-mugham.
- 6World music history: from Baroque to the 20th centuryLearn the main periods of European music from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, composers such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, and the birth of jazz.Grades 7–916 min
- 7Azerbaijani music: from mugham to jazz-mughamDiscover mugham and ashiq art, Uzeyir Hajibeyli's opera *Leyli and Majnun*, and the work of Gara Garayev, Fikret Amirov and Vagif Mustafazadeh.Grades 7–917 min
Music theory and acoustics
UniversityHarmonic functions and cadences, the modes, sonata and rondo form, the physics of sound and equal temperament.