Boston, MA (Top40 Charts/ Shore Fire Media) Berkleemusic, the world's largest online music school and the continuing online education division of Berklee College of Music, has signed an agreement with Coursera, an organization that offers classes from top universities and professors for free, to develop four online courses with some of their most popular instructors. These free online courses will be available to students across the globe in
Spring 2013. The four
Massive Open Online Courses (known as MOOCs) that will be offered are: Jazz Improvisation with 6-time GRAMMY-winner Gary Burton,
Music Production Basics with Loudon Stearns, Introduction to Guitar from Thaddeus Hogarth, and Songwriting with Pat Pattison.
"Berklee is committed to helping talented artists create the world's next big musical idea," said
Roger Brown, President of Berklee College of Music. "Coursera gives us a way to reach people all over the world, many of whom have no access to music education, and provide them with the opportunityto learn at no cost from great innovators like 6-time GRAMMY winning vibraphonist Gary Burton."
Berkleemusic's partnership with Coursera is the latest innovative step taken by the online school, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. Berkleemusic was an early practitioner of offering free online music lessons via their Berklee Shares program, as well as with YouTube. With nearly 35,000 subscribers and over 17 million video views, Berkleemusic's YouTube Channel ranks fifth among more than 400 universities in the U.S. and Canada.
"Berklee College of
Music has always been at the forefront of distance learning," added Debbie Cavalier, Vice President of Online Learning and Continuing Education at Berklee College of Music. "In the 1970s, there was the Berklee Correspondence course with lessons and assignments sent between students and faculty via US Mail. In 2002 we launched Berkleemusic, the firstfully online music education program. And now, Berklee is a music pioneer in the MOOC space with our Coursera partnership. This partnership will further extend Berklee's reach and provide free music education opportunities to many more aspiring musicians around the world."
Berkleemusic's Fall Term begins
September 24th, 2012
To learn more, visit https://www.berkleemusic.com
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