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Course trailers
Watch introductory videos for each learning resource. Select a course to explore the full curriculum, materials, and enrollment options.
Applying Modal Color to Your Music
This course is a practical guide designed for media composers looking to infuse their music with rich, cinematic textures. By diving deep into six essential musical modes, you will discover how to instantly evoke specific emotions and vivid musical atmospheres. Through detailed score analysis and orchestral examples, you will master the distinct colors and mood of each mode. Elevate your storytelling and unlock a whole new palette of melodic and harmonic possibilities for your next score.
Shaping Music for Dramatic Scenes
In professional media scoring, writing great music is only part of the job. More often than not, the real challenge lies in adapting that music to fit constantly changing requirements. Explore different methods to adapt your own music for film and games. We will study timing, arrangement, and mood to help you become a more flexible composer.
Scales in Action
Explore a collection of scales beyond the conventional major and minor system and examine how they are used in film, game, and media music. Through detailed musical examples and composition studies, you'll learn how scales such as the Diminished Scale, Phrygian Dominant, Double Harmonic Major, Double Harmonic Minor, Hirajoshi, and the Whole Tone Scale can be used to create tension, mystery, exoticism, wonder, and other evocative musical atmospheres.
Practical Application of Genre & Styles
Bridge the gap between music theory and real-world media scoring. designed for media composers of all levels, this practical course guides you through a diverse range of dramatic scenarios, teaching you how to adapt your musical toolkit to deliver high-impact cues for film, games, and modern media.
Basic Chromatic Harmony
Discover the chromatic harmony found in Richard Wagner, Anton Bruckner, and Richard Strauss, which stands as the foundation of modern film music. Chromatic harmony has been used extensively throughout the history of music, from Baroque music to the rich, expressive harmonic colors of Romanticism and Impressionism. Its influence has been heard in the works of prominent Hollywood composers such as John Williams, Howard Shore, Alan Silvestri, and many others.
Creating Mood Instantly with Two-Chord Structures
Discover how just two chords can instantly transform the emotional landscape of your scene. Perfect for media composers of all levels, this course reveals how simple harmonic pairings can unlock an endless variety of cinematic moods—from intense suspense to heroic triumph.
Master Music Modulation
Become a master of modulation! Topics discussed in the course include common functional harmony modulation, pivot modulation, closely related major chord modulation, and just about everything you need to know to master the most fundamental and commonly encountered modulation skills. In Part 1 of the series, we emphasize "Pivot chord modulation" using common chords, whereas in later episodes we will apply the same technique, but move from mode to mode.
A Second Look at Melodic Minor
Learn some of the most common melodic minor progressions and practice how they should be applied when playing them in descending order. Additionally, we will study the Mixolydian ♭6 scale (the fifth mode of the Melodic Minor scale) and practice implementing the scale into your composition.
Using Ostinatos to Construct a Piece
When writing music for media, an ostinato can be a valuable tool for creating a focal point that builds on itself over time. We will examine ostinatos in the orchestral genre, where we can use them to create a sense of power and momentum.