• The Open University

From Notation to Performance: Understanding Musical Scores

Find out how musicians turn the notation of a musical score into a memorable performance. Change how you listen to music.

33,618 enrolled on this course

A photograph of a conductor’s hand over the notation of a musical score

From Notation to Performance: Understanding Musical Scores

33,618 enrolled on this course

  • 4 weeks

  • 3 hours per week

  • Digital certificate when eligible

  • Open level

Find out more about how to join this course

Understand musical scores and how musicians use notation

Would you like to know more about what musicians do in rehearsal and performance? Are you keen to learn different techniques for listening to and understanding music?

This online course will help you understand a musical score, what musicians do with the notation they contain, and how the notation you see is connected with the music you hear – from a short melody to a full orchestral score.

Focussing on Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven and Mahler, we’ll introduce you to a pianist, small chamber group and conductor who will explain how they create memorable performances from the notes on the page.

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Skip to 0 minutes and 0 seconds [Beethoven’s 5th Symphony playing]

Skip to 0 minutes and 13 seconds CATHERINE TACKLEY: Have you ever wondered what a conductor does? How do musicians work together to create complicated music that sounds like a single person or instrument playing? [More Beethoven’s 5th Symphony playing]

Skip to 0 minutes and 25 seconds CATHERINE TACKLEY: What do musicians have propped up on stands in from of them and how do they use it? What makes the lines and dots meaningful to musicians and allows them to create the sounds we call music? [More Beethoven’s 5th Symphony playing]

Skip to 0 minutes and 41 seconds CATHERINE TACKLEY: What does reading music mean? Why do some musician need printed music and some not? [More Beethoven’s 5th Symphony playing]

Skip to 0 minutes and 50 seconds CATHERINE TACKLEY: Music is a bit like a language. If you understand a little bit of the language of a country you visit you really get more from your trip. If you understand a little bit about how music works you will experience music in a different and more meaningful way. [More Beethoven’s 5th Symphony playing]

Skip to 1 minute and 8 seconds CATHERINE TACKLEY: Come behind the scenes with us to explore what musicians do in rehearsals and concerts. Understand more about how they use notation to create the performances that we all enjoy. Ultimately learn about how a conductor navigates the full orchestra scores of symphonies by composers like Mahler and Beethoven. [More Beethoven’s 5th Symphony playing]

What topics will you cover?

Week 1 Understanding the principles of musical scores

Week 2 Pianists and piano scores

Week 3 Musical collaboration and the role of the score

Week 4 Understanding orchestral scores

When would you like to start?

Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.

  • Available now

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Develop and understand the reasons for different musical notations
  • Apply and understand the relationship between notation and performance
  • Demonstrate how to navigate printed music
  • Engage and listen to a simple musical example alongside its notation

Who is the course for?

This course is intended for anyone with an interest in music. You do not need to be able to read musical notation or play an instrument.

Who will you learn with?

Lecturer in music at the Open University. Flautist, researcher in late 16th and 17th century instrumental music and early modern enthusiast. @naomibarker3

Who developed the course?

The Open University

As the UK’s largest university, The Open University (OU) supports thousands of students to achieve their goals and ambitions via supported distance learning, helping to fit learning around professional and personal life commitments.

  • Established

    1969
  • Location

    Milton Keynes, UK
  • World ranking

    Top 510Source: Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020

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Ways to learn

Choose the best way to learn for you!

Subscribe & save

$27.99

For the first two months. Automatically renews

Develop skills to further your career

  • Access to this course
  • Access to 1,000+ courses
  • Learn at your own pace
  • Discuss your learning in comments
  • Digital certificate when you're eligible

Cancel for free anytime

Buy this course

$134/one-off payment

Fulfill your current learning need

  • Access to this course
  • Learn at your own pace
  • Discuss your learning in comments
  • Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible

Limited access

Free

Sample the course materials

  • Access expires 16 Apr 2024

Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)

T&Cs apply.

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  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
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  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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