By Kathy Tam
Randy Jackson Next, Jackson’s personal website dedicated to discovering “What’s next?” in the arts and technology industries, recently mentioned University of California, Irvine OpenCourseWare course, “Introduction to Pitch Systems in Tonal Music”, in a web post titled, “Your Own Personal School of Rock.” Jackson lists “Introduction to Pitch Systems in Tonal Music” as a course worth looking into for anyone looking for free, educational resources to jumpstart their music education. Jackson’s website is focused on staying ahead of the curve in arts and technology and finding the talents and strengths within his readers.
“Introduction to Pitch Systems in Tonal Music” offers a 10-part series of video lecture/presentations covering properties of tonality and circulating pitch systems in addition to audio examples and sound visualization. The course is currently used by UC Irvine music students and was developed especially for publication via the University’s OpenCourseWare. Course instructor, John Crooks, M.F.A., is an award-winning instructor, receiving the OpenCourseWare Consortium’s Awards for OpenCourseWare Excellence. Crooks’ course received the award in the video and multimedia courseware category.
“UC Irvine is delighted to have one of its courses recognized by someone as prominent in the music education and technology industry as Randy Jackson,” said Larry Cooperman, director of UC Irvine’s OpenCourseWare project. “OpenCourseWare initiatives around the world are creating a significant impact on the future of higher education, and through contributions such as the courses offered by John Crooks, UC Irvine can play a monumental role in creating equal, open accessibility to high quality educational materials.”
Crooks is a 2009 graduate of UC Irvine’s M.F.A. program in Integrated Composition, Improvisation and Technology. An active bassist and composer, Crooks has used OpenCourseWare materials for his own education. In addition to his teaching work at UC Irvine he teaches innovative music technology, music theory, and ensemble courses for high school students in collaboration with the COSMOS-UCI summer program and String Project Los Angeles.