Understand how and why music moves you as the first step to appreciating or even creating music on your own terms.

Music has the power to captivate our senses and create a moving experience. Dr Dairianathan shares with you how to draw inspiration from music. Uncover the mystery on why a piece of music seems to play on loop in your head. Discover the tools used to trigger your emotional response to a piece of music.

With a deeper reading of music, delve into the way a piece of music is written right down to its background, context, arrangement and theme. Explore the arrangement and theme to see if you can figure out how a particular tune can evoke your emotional memory. Open your mind to different possibilities of seemingly clashing musical genres coming together.

With a deeper understanding, you now hold the key to enjoying music in a more intimate way. You elevate your love for music to a whole new level and will soon start to listen out for things you have never noticed before. As you immerse yourself in music, you will be able to get something different out of a piece of music whether you are listening to it for the first time, the fifth time or the hundredth time.

What makes a piece of music worthy of a second read? Whether it is piece of music written in the 18th century or today, there’s a story behind it. Through examining one of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, get to know what to listen out for and have a feel for what the composer is trying to express. Relish in the potential of each element in the score and enjoy discovering how each contributes to making the music affect its listeners.

If your curiosity is piqued, learn to dig a little deeper into the background, the inspiration, the patronage and everything else that fills out the context to form the many layers to an excellent composition.

How are you listening to music today? What are the tunes that consume you so much that you feel an irresistible urge to respond to it?

Led Zeppelin’s ‘Immigrant Song’ was written in middle of 1970 but its irrepressible energy arising from its signature guitar riff and the vocal articulation of lead singer Robert Plant has turned it into a rock classic. A study of this song will reveal elements vital to our reading of music and make you look deep into the various elements that come together to immortalise a tune.

Music lovers today are privy to an amazing selection of music shared on the Internet. We can listen to music from centuries ago, we have the resources to engage more intensely with diverse sounds and we can gain access to the history and motivation behind almost any piece of music with a single click. Join us in discovering how you can make your personal listening experience count.

Compression, artifacting and decompressing, how do they transform the way we interact and engage with music? A piece of music has its start in the composer’s mind before it is expressed on a score and translated into sound by a performer and made ready for an audience. All the variable elements that come into play – be it the musicians, the instruments or even the venue – can transform the experience.

In this final chapter, learn to listen out for what moves you. Open your mind to how amazing new sounds can be generated from the interplay of different genres and even eras of music. Explore how you can capture the spirit of the composer and appreciate the experience all on your own terms.