OliverBlackman Posted May 11, 2013 Share Posted May 11, 2013 So I joined up to Berklee tutor and Jazz supreme Gary Burton's improvisation course on coursea.com. Its now been 2 weeks and from what I can tell the concept is ok and there is some useful information. The content however, is quite small, less than 20 minutes of video. Also the content they have released so far you can find from Gary Burton masterclasses elsewhere anyway. Also the deadlines for the assignments and quizzes come quick and fast (every week), and you feel it if you do other things. For example I have been busy learning a musical this week. The biggest problem is that the people who mark your work, are the other students! There are reportedly 40k students and each student has to mark 5 assignments against set criteria. Now this doesn't seem a lot but you are expected to give a deep analysis of how the student solo's over the changes. The solos are 2 and a half minutes each, so who has the time to transcribe and analyse 12 and a half minutes of solos in multiple instruments, in 2 days! Especially when you are supposed to be a beginner at improvisation. They use Gary Burtons name but he only features in the videos and there are no berklee officials monitoring the forums which has lead to quite a bit of confusion. So in conclusion, these online courses are good in theory but seem to lack in execution. I will be sticking to private lessons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratman Posted May 12, 2013 Share Posted May 12, 2013 How much were they asking you to pay for this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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