Music Appreciation Class

Exploring Music in Four Day Classes 2026

Kate Eckersley BA DPhil

HOW DOES MUSIC SPEAK TO US?

Wednesday May 13 Time: 10.30am – 1pm

Music has been called 'the universal language of mankind', yet it employs no words. It communicates instead through melody, harmony, rhythm, texture,etc. How effective is such a language? Taking a variety of pieces, we shall discuss if and how their composers manage to speak to us.

THEIR MUSIC THROUGH THEIR LIVES

Wednesday July 22 Time: 10.30am – 1pm

This is about composers' musical development throughout their lives. Did their music change over the years? In what ways? Whether it did or not, can we say why? There are both artistic and biographical considerations here.

SACRED AND PROFANE

Wednesday September 9 Time: 10.30am – 1pm

The ancient Greeks believed that music was a gift from the gods, a belief that persisted down the centuries.Do we still hold to it, and does that make all music sacred? Perhaps it does. If so, then this subject has widened and deepened, and we are dealing with the source of musical inspiration. Then we may ask, is all music inspired? And with regard to music, what does profane mean?

SMALL FORCES, PROFOUND EFFECT

Wednesday October 21 Time: 10.30am – 1pm

Although requiring small instrumental or vocal forces and performed in small rooms, chamber music is said to express a composer's most profound and intimate thoughts. Is this always the case? We shall explore some pieces from this richly varied genre and hope to find answers.

CLASS NOTES

The classes this year are really all about the power of music to communicate. The first class (How Does Music Speak To Us?) goes deep and asks perhaps an impossible question. Most people would agree that music does speak to us. But how? And do we include musical settings of words? Perhaps, though not as our main focus. For we must consider the famous quote from the poet Heinrich Heine, who said, "where words leave off, music begins". This suggests the superiority of pure music as a communicator. Doubtless we shall each have an idea about which musical works speak most effectively. But are there pieces on which we can all agree?

Class Notes

In the second class (Their Music Through Their Lives) we explore the musical development taking place over the life times of a few composers, and ask how successful they were in communicating. Their stories will differ, for each addressed a different audience. Haydn, for example, wrote to delight a single employer at first. Then his audience widened considerably. Did his music change? If so, how? Much later on in history, what happened musically when Shostakovich was at last free from Stalin's oppressive hand?

Both Hadyn and Shostakovich produced some of the finest chamber music (Small Forces, Profound Impact). This infinitely varied genre could be described simply as music for very few players or singers, performed in small rooms. But this very intimacy often inspired composers to their most daring and profound creations - Monteverdi's ground-breaking late madrigals; Purcell's fantasias for viols which seem to embrace every emotion and transcend every historical period. Hadyn and Mozart wrote string quartets to delight and challenge each other, whiule Beethoven's late chamber works reached into the future. His true heir in this genre came more than a century on - Shostakovich.

What do we mean when we talk of musical inspiration? Where do composers' ideas come from? These questions hover around the subject of the third class (Sacred and Profane). For although we can make a clear distinction between sacred and profane (non-liturgical) music today, this was not always so. The ancient Greeks, among other civilisations, believed that all music was a gift from the gods. Much later, J S Bach expressed much the same belief. Now the subject has really opened up, and can lead us to a number of questions. Is all music sacred? Is any profane? And most importantly, how do composers describe the source of their inspiration?

• These classes will be held at The Swan Hotel, Acre End Street, Eynsham OX29 4PE (01865 881225). FREE day's parking in public car park, Back Lane OX29 4QP a short walk away
• Details will be sent before each class.
• Cost of four classes: £70, three: £56 , two: £40 or £22 each
• Free coffee and tea provided during the session.
• For further details please contact Joanne (tel) 07704523272 (email) jo_hanson@btinternet.com
• To book please email Bob at bobparkinson@ntlworld.com