• Develops literacy, vocabulary, geography, history!
• Exposes the student to great composers lives and works!
• Fun, creative hands-on work!
• Develops critical thinking skills!
• Develops study in a self-determined manner!

Another in STEPS series of courses covering the history of music. Glinka, Scriabin, Borodin, Mussorgsky,Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Shostakovich - The lives of ten important Russian composers are studied. For each composer, many links are provided to performances of their most important works, often by the greatest musicians of the 20th century. Dozens of works illuminate their genius.

The course starts with three lessons covering What Is Music, providing a background that will allow the student a more profound understanding of the great works to be studied.

Russian history in the 1800s - 1900s is studied, the changeover from Czar to Communism, and the effect this had on the arts. A big course that explains much of the 20th century, and presents the student some of the most beautiful and powerful music ever composed.

Composers and concepts covered include:

• What is music
• Russia and Classical Music
• Romanticism
• Glinka
• Borodin
• Scriabin
• Moussorgsky
• Tchaikovsky
• Rimsky-Korsakov
• Rachmaninoff
• Stravinsky and the birth of modern music
• Prokofiev
• Shostakovich