The Dr. Gradus Guide to Classical Music

Dr. Gradus comes from Claude Debussy's piano piece "Dr. Gradus ad Parnassum," which playfully transforms a dry academic exercise into beautiful music. The guide follows this spirit—making classical music accessible and alive rather than academic. Read more, and watch the piece, in the introduction.

This guide is written with the belief that classical music should belong to anyone who listens to it - not just those with a formal education or a means to go to live performances. As such, I offer various approaches to the music - through film, or dance, or spirituality, or logic, or storytelling - and try to guide listeners to a way of listening that works for them. I do hope that listeners will pick up some language for thinking about and discussing classical music, but teaching formal concepts is not the primary goal. Likewise, teaching theory, history, and covering the repertoire are explicit non-goals.

Musical legends like Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland have written excellent-if-dated intro to classical music books - but this one is designed for the modern listener. Most critically, it incorporates the music interspersed in the text itself, and presents an experience that is visual, focused, and fresh. The examples chosen include music written by living composers, and are designed to break out of the notion that a piece's value is based on how often it's programmed by major orchestras.

I want to help readers build up their own musical intuition so that they no longer feel like they need to be told what the music represents and can trust their own reactions to the music.

For one, there's actually embedded music in this guide! And yes, a YouTube series would also be a good way to consume this content. But there are still nice things about text - you can read it at your own pace, often faster than video, and I think it pairs quite nicely with the video examples.

I will be publishing read-throughs to YouTube, where I will also be soliciting feedback from viewers! I am working on an AI-based out loud reading experience as well on a dedicated app for iOS and Android. If this is of interest to you, please leave some feedback!

Not now, but maybe someday. If this is of interest to you, please leave some feedback.

Not at all! I started writing this book for Millennial parents who were putting their kids in music lessons (or thinking about it), but weren't sure what classical music actually had to offer. As I wrote, the audience has expanded to anyone who is classically curious. Maybe they have an interest because of film soundtracks but don't know where to go from there. Or maybe they heard it in church. Or maybe they are learning an instrument, or used to play. Maybe even a classical aficionado who never really liked opera and wants to give it a chance. Really anyone that wants to find new ways to engage with classical music.

For now, while it's still in beta and incomplete. If you would like to support this work, please buy me a coffee.

I hope so! If you want to write or request one, leave some feedback!

You can, of course, just scroll normally. But if you follow the "reading instructions", you'll see that I encourage tapping the right side of the screen to scroll down, or using the arrow keys on a laptop. This gives you a few things: it updates the address bar to save your place. It updates the reading progress bar on the top. It auto-plays the videos. And I think you'll get used to it more easily than you expect.

I am still refining this - feel free to send feedback.

In general, I've chosen to cast a wide net, and since no two people have identical tastes, I can't satisfy everyone. So, I try to strive for balance between the standard repertoire and works from under-represented composers. I'm open to adding new videos - send them to me as feedback, just make sure they are legally uploaded to YouTube.

Great! Get in touch.

My thesis is that you shouldn't really have to trust anyone but yourself about your interpretation of this music. So if you disagree with me, great! With regards to the factual accuracy, I do have a formal conservatory training, but I still make mistakes. Help me find them all, and report them.

Yes! I'm happy to discuss what this would look like and provide a discount if this content becomes paid at some point. Leave me some feedback to get in touch.

Or is it a gateway to classical music? There will have to be some compromise. 40 minute long works are unapproachable for many new listeners. Some see minute long Tik-Tok style clips as "music porn." But if it helps people see the magic in the music, who am I to judge. And if this format bothers purists, it's probably doing something right.

Treat it like a popular nonfiction book. It'll flow better in order, but you won't be totally lost if you jump around.