Audio

Bach’s Open Goldberg Variations (CC0)

The Open Goldberg Variations (Johann Sebastian Bach, BWV 988), played by Kimiko Ishizaka on a Bösendorfer 290 Imperial piano, are free to download and share.

Courses

Art and Music Since 1945 (CC BY)

This open website is used for a course on Art and Music since 1945 offered at The Ohio State University. The website contains  a collection of biographies of artists and musicians, a sample syllabus, and assignments. Its companion textbook is meant to be A Quick and Dirty Guide to Art, Music, and Culture, which is posted below.

Textbooks

A Quick and Dirty Guide to Art, Music, and Culture (CC BY)

An open textbook by The Ohio State University that discusses art and music in the context of popular culture. It is meant to work with the open course Art and Music Since 1945, which is posted above.

Music Appreciation (CC BY-NC-ND)

For the course that this text accompanies the goals for each student are: To gain basic exposure to the elements of music and their treatment in music, to learn historical and cultural signifiers in a diverse body of music, to approach listening to music actively/analytically and to reflect on the experience, to understand the factors that contribute to musical style in their own music and music presented in the course, to gain knowledge about differing musical aesthetics and trends, and to become more knowledgeable and sensitive to varied human expression through music.

Sight-Reading for Guitar: The Keep-Going Method Book and Video Series (CC BY)

This book teaches guitar players from all musical backgrounds to understand, read, and play modern staff notation in real time. The Keep-Going Method is designed to impart the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for sight-reading with efficiency, fun and encouragement.

Understanding Music: Past and Present (CC BY-SA)

Understanding Music: Past and Present is an open Music Appreciation textbook co-authored by music faculty across Georgia. The text covers the fundamentals of music and the physics of sound, an exploration of music from the Middle Ages to the present day, and a final chapter on popular music in the United States.

Videos

Acoustics (CC BY)

A set of four videos on acoustics.