This week we’re announcing a new course as part of our Circle of Scholars. It’s very much your course, because the idea for it came from you—the people I meet when traveling and speaking.

Here’s the situation so many of you have described. A body of compositions stands before you, unfamiliar, even daunting. And yet instinctively and deeply, you want to “meet” that music: to become conversant with it and enjoy both its mysteries and its beauty. And so, the question is framed something like this: “I’m interested in Classical Music, but where do I start?”

Of course, one answer is our courses, particularly Discovering Music. But for some of you, a different, less formal direction is needed.

Consequently, we’ve designed A Journey through Great Music as a gentle guide through a selection of pieces that are significant, vivid, and enjoyable. These compositions will serve as musical highways, leading to other pieces that will deepen and extend your experience. We’ll provide the organization (seven stages), concise introductory information for each, and a series of good and interesting performances. There are no tests, no assignments, no grades. Just an open opportunity to enjoy fine, exciting music.

By taking this journey, you will also become familiar with quite a few magnificent performers, not to mention some interesting performance venues. Some are historic places: palaces, concert or opera houses, or churches. Other performances are placed in more ordinary settings like a rehearsal hall. You’ll even experience the fun of Renaissance part-singing on a train. Okay, they didn’t have trains back in the Renaissance, but they did have carriages, and this style of singing would have worked in a carriage just as well.

For those of you with a music background, or the students, teachers, and families who have taken our courses, don’t worry. Much still awaits you in A Journey through Great Music. We explored quite a few new directions, just to make sure that you would be equally engaged.

One more thing. Journey through Great Music appeals to people of all ages. The performances may interest even your little ones, while the commentary, written for adults, should be accessible to students as young as upper elementary, and certainly to middle- and high-schoolers.

We hope that our Circle of Scholars members will enjoy this new course as a bonus to their discovery of music and the arts. We welcome all of you who will be new to the Circle of Scholars and look forward to your feedback.