Our Distinguished Team of Architects

Front: (L-R) Berlioz, Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Haydn.

Back: (L-R) Dvorak, Brahms, Wagner (seated), Liszt, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Chopin.

Illustration: Victor Juhasz

Have you ever felt intimidated or perplexed by classical music? 

Curious, but unsure how to dive in? 

Prepare to face those fears and understand the architecture of music under the delightful instruction of classical music expert, Lawrence Rapchak. With his overflowing passion and sense of humor, Larry provides a concise blueprint through classical music’s most complex masterpieces. 

This is an audio course for everyone: from music nerds who are looking to deepen their passion for classical music to beginners seeking an introduction. Allow yourself to be amazed, even moved, by some of the greatest compositions of all time! 

In these courses you will grow to understand how music works. Larry breaks it all down, providing you with the tools to hear how the architects of classical music built their most adored compositions. Larry guides you into the minds of the masters. 

You can apply this knowledge to the music you hear on the radio every day. Impress your family and friends with how developed your ear and musical intellect can become through these courses. You, too, can become a musical architect or, at the very least, someone who can appreciate how music is built, note by note!

√ Free introductory program

√ All courses available for one low rate 

√ Learn the architecture of music in just 9 hours 

√ Gain an appreciation for how music works 

√ Understand why music makes you feel what you feel

√ Hear an entire, captivating story, where once you only heard a series of notes 

√ Accessible for all ages 

√ Wealth of information for music students and teachers alike 

√ Great for beginner and seasoned music enthusiasts

JUST ADDED AS A BONUS

BEETHOVEN SYMPHONIES 1,2 AND 3. ALL MOVEMENTS!

Course Curriculum

1. Introduction - Click here to preview

What do rhythm, ornithologists, the whack of the guillotine blade, and harmony have to do with each other? Download this free introduction to find out and for an exciting taste of what’s in store for you in the Architects of Music course! Meet your host: the charming and exceptionally knowledgeable Larry Rapchak as he breaks down how he will approach exploring the architecture of classical music’s masterpieces.

2. Mozart: Symphony 34 - Analysis

In this episode, Larry brings us along on a guided tour through the architecture of the 1st movement of Mozart’s Symphony No. 34. Larry opens our minds and ears to hearing the dramatic sequencing, logic and symmetry of this festive piece. Additionally, Larry will help you brush up on your knowledge of musical terminology as he breaks down basic classical music vocabulary complete with its historical relevance at the time this symphony was composed.

3. Mozart Play-by-Play

With this lively play by play, Larry takes us through the 1st movement of Mozart’s Symphony no. 34 in real time. Larry builds upon the previous episode by keeping up with the high-spirited tempo and showing us, moment by moment, the building blocks of this piece. By the end of this play by play, you will see into the architectural foundation of this symphony.

4. Haydn: Symphony 102 - Analysis

In this episode, Larry gives the inside scoop about what precisely was so revolutionary about Haydn’s musical architecture. Larry’s analysis of this magnificent symphony, complete with historical facts about Haydn’s life, allows us to better understand this composer’s mind at work. Larry shows us how Haydn’s use of tonality and harmony reveal an attention to dramatic impact and even to the comedic effects of music. Bonus fun fact to be uncovered by listening: find out why Haydn always composed in his Sunday best!  

5. Theme and Variations - Introduction

Larry describes this episode best: it truly is a “real surprise package,” on all things Theme and Variations! Dig into this smorgasbord of material on the building blocks of classical music’s architecture. What is the importance of a good theme - such as Mozart's variations on "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and how is it created? What do the familiar Pachelbel’s canon and the possibly unfamiliar Italian word passacaglia have to do with one another? What the heck does passacaglia mean? Prepare to deepen your understanding of a few, key musical terms in this episode.  

6. Theme and Variations, Part Two - Chopin

Put your understanding of theme and variations to work as Larry guides us through Variations for Solo Piano and Orchestra composed by Frederic Chopin in 1827. A composer so revolutionary and adored, when performing his own works on piano, Chopin wouldn’t even be able to hear the orchestra over the audience’s ensuing applause. His grasp of melody, contrast, musical balance, and form make him an absolutely unmissable architect of music, and, in this episode, Larry tells us why.

7. Theme and Variations, Part Three - Dvorak

Meet the great composer, also known as the butcher’s son from rural Bohemia, Dvorak! In this episode, we meet the family of variations that make up Dvorak’s great Symphonic Variations. Larry offers us a roadmap to identify just how Dvorak decorates and evolves a whopping 27 (!) variations on a theme, how each variation is related to one another, but also unique in itself, just like the members of a big, musical family.

8. Theme and Variations, Part Four: Post Game Wrap-Up

As we wrap up our sojourn in the world of theme and variations, Larry completes this education with a sampler of themes and variations through a multitude of musical architects. Impress yourself with the way your ear has already grown to be able to identify the theme imbedded even in the most intricate variations. Really feel the way that you, too, can be emotionally moved by variations on a theme in this concluding episode.

9. Minuet

Everyone has heard this word somewhere or another, but do you know what it really means? How the Minuet came to be? Larry helps deepen our knowledge of how this form evolved to be one of the premier styles of popular dance, and how various musical architects approached the delightful minuet. He presents a “gallery of minuets” from the classical era that give us a comprehensive sense of this architectural form, complete with a final piece of surprising trivia that you must listen for at the very end.

10. Rondo

In this episode, become aware of the satisfying symmetry of the rondo form. Because of this symmetry, the rondo, though easier to grasp than the sonata form for instance, is equally weighty as one of the primary architectural formations of the classical era. One can even connect the rondo form to the form of popular music we hear today in its recalling of a kind of “chorus”. Larry assists us in building a connection between the minuet and rondo as two premier forms of popular dance music in the classical era.

11. Harmony

Proclaiming himself as a “harmony guy,” Larry gives us his personal take on why harmonic language is the first aspect of music to which he is drawn and by which he is emotionally moved. In this episode, he brings us through the significance of the major and minor triad, of various intervals as guiding foundations of harmony, and so much more. Discover how harmony gives both context and shape to all compositions as the “life-blood” of musical architecture.

Conclusion

Now that you've come to the end of the course, please feel free to go back and listen as many times as you would like to any of the episodes. We'd also love to hear your thoughts about this course and any suggestions you might have for future courses.

Please write to us at: [email protected]. We have an idea for a future course and it will be ready to roll in the Fall: Larry's analysis of the Beethoven Nine Symphonies! Every movement from every symphony. When it's ready we'll send you an email. 

Thanks for listening and we look forward to hearing from you.

Steve Robinson, Executive Producer, Architects of Music.

All Architects of Music content copyright Lawrence Rapchak, 2018-20

Thanks to the Negaunee Foundation, the Seid Foundation and the Angell Foundation for their support