History of music: free course in 35 lessons

A thousand years of music fit into this course: from monks' chant to the radio, from royal courts to jazz clubs, from hand-copied scores to streaming. You will meet art music, written down and passed on through scores, and popular music, often learned by ear. The two have always lived side by side and fed each other.

Each lesson tells the story of one period or style: the context, the people, the inventions, and above all what to listen for to recognise that music by ear. Short examples play right in the page, a list of works invites you to listen, and a short quiz checks the essentials. Read them with the site's timeline open alongside: each style has its own page there, with dates, composers and pieces to play.

The final chapter follows the piano through the ages: the successive keyboard instruments and how to play the repertoire of each period.