Online and Onsite Courses at MMB

Explore medieval music history, genres and repertoires, sources, performance practice, and singing and musical instruments

MMB Spring 2023
Online Course Offering

The International Course on Medieval Music Performance of Besalú (MMB), offers a practical study of medieval music history and its performance, modal and Franconian notations, research techniques and applied musicology, melodic ornamentation and improvisation, the Cantigas de Santa Maria of Alfonso X, the trouvère chanson, the estampies royales, and medieval singing and musical instruments within specific contexts, repertoires and music sources.

See the spring 2023 courses

Interested in getting a University Specialist Certificate?

Medieval Music Besalú in partnership with the University of Lleida (MMB-UdL) offers a “University Specialist Certificate on Medieval Music Research and Performance.” The program comprises core and elective courses on medieval music history, genres, and styles, musical and theoretical sources, medieval notations, repertoires, performance practice, voice and musical instruments, and modern research techniques. To earn the Specialist Certificate, participants should complete a total of 15.5 credits (ECTS) within one year.

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What Our Students Say

The Online Course was amazing. The content was very well organized, very didactic, with a lot of information distributed weekly. I had the opportunity to go deeper into the subject and was able to organize the course according to own pace and time. Highly recommended for everyone who loves medieval music and its context, and who also wants to go deeper in the subject.

Marcelo Miranda – Brazil

This was the best summer course I did so far. It is very complete, well structured, all teachers have the highest quality and the ambience is always constructive and friendly. I truly recommend this course to everyone that is passionate about medieval music and to curious that want to learn more.

Jorge Luís Castro

The online summer course was a fantastic experience! The fact that we had a week to comprehend everything, practice and work on it, gave us the opportunity to go much deeper than in regular an onsite course. The course was challenging and of great interest for beginners as well as for more advanced and professional musicians. Where other courses and institutions teach you about Medieval Music, the Online Music Course of Besalú gives you the real Middle Ages.

Marjolein van Amers - The Netherlands

I enjoyed the course a lot and learned many new useful things about everything from historical context to performance practice. It opened my eyes to some new repertoires and added perspectives on some of the ones I already knew. I especially enjoyed the Improvisation class, because I think it made me understand medieval composition in a much better way. I’d recommend the course to anyone interested in understanding medieval music better and who want to work from the sources.

Gustav Olai - Sweden

Last year I had the opportunity to attend the Manuscript to Performance sessions and I can only say good things. The depth, the rigor and the care with which each subject is treated are unique, the first-class teachers and of course the good atmosphere, make this course an unforgettable experience.

Fabiana Sans

This music program is excellent because it combines all relevant disciplines in a multi-disciplinary format that medievalists do not typically receive in graduate school: music performance, music theory, religious and philosophical study, and study in chant and liturgy that underlies other musical innovations. This ethno-musicological approach is an exciting way to bring the study of the Middle Ages to life.

Karmen Lenz

I have been attending the Besalú program for four years and I have yet to attend another summer school which surpasses it. I work professionally as a musicologist (albeit specializing on a different era) and I can only say that I wish my colleagues in academic musicology worldwide displayed the same amount of rigor, excellence, seriousness and enthusiasm in their research as staff at Besalú systematically do.

Eva M. Rodriguez

The International Course of Medieval Music Besalú offers singers and instrumentalists the possibility of studying the repertoires of monodic and polyphonic music composed between the 11th and 13th centuries.

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