Royal Conservatory Curriculum Review

The Royal Conservatory is a great option for homeschool music courses. The Royal Conservatory of Music is offering a new online class – Music History Level 9 Online. It’s a great overview of music history – perfect for learning the styles, genres, composers and their masterworks that helped shape the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Modern eras. It’s an exceptional fit for homeschoolers, especially for kids ages 12 – 17.

The course is very thorough. Specifically, it provides-

  • More than 150 learning activities
  • More than 30 interactive listening activities
  • More than 100 practice questions to test knowledge and confirm understanding
  • More than 185 embedded audio examples from the Naxos Music library

Plus, the course is designed to meet a variety of learning styles (Yah!), and features enjoyable, interactive elements.

After completing the course, students will have a thorough knowledge and understanding of:

  • 15 prominent composers including their biographical details, musical careers, and musical styles and contributions
  • The structure, genre, plot, and historical context of 15 masterworks
  • More than 100 musical terms with examples as they apply to representative compositions
  • The historical events and musical milestones that helped shape the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Modern eras

The course also includes an online exam which is an excellent way to test student’s knowledge in a way that reflects the interactive nature of the course.

What do I like about this course?

  • You learn a lot! FYI – this is the Table of Contents for the Baroque portion of the course:
    • Baroque
    • Introduction
    • Polyphony
    • Definition: Baroque, homophonic texture, polyphonic texture
    • Basso continuo and figured bass notation
    • Basso continuo and figured bass notation (2)
    • Definition: figured bass and basso continuo
    • Ornamentation in art
    • Ornamentation in music
    • Definition: ornamentation
    • Terraced dynamics
    • Definition: terraced dynamics
    • Major-minor tonal system
    • Definition: major-minor tonal system
    • The Affections
    • Definition: the Affections
    • Time travel (Optional)

Things We Learned While Taking this Course

While learning about the Baroque period, you learn about the following musicians – Vivaldi, Bach and Handel. Specifically, here’s what you learn about Handel :

  • Discovery Listening
    • Oratorio
    • “Overture”
    • “There were shepherds” and “Glory to God”
  • Composer’s Life and Work
    • Early years
    • Hamburg and Italy
    • French overture
    • Rinaldo
    • Patronage
    • Water music
    • Royal Academy of Music
    • Giulio Cesare
    • From opera seria to English oratorio
    • Later life and death