Amaster class is aclass given to students of a particulardiscipline by an expert of that discipline—usually music, but also science, painting, drama, games, or on any other occasion where skills are being developed.
"Masterclass" is also used in a figurative sense to describe a display of great skill in a context where education was not the primary intention; e.g., "his last few laps were amasterclass in overtaking" (referencing a race around a track).[1]
The difference between a normal class and amaster class is typically the setup. In a master class, all the students (and often spectators) watch and listen as the master takes one student at a time.[2] The student (typically intermediate or advanced, depending on the status of the master) usually performs a singlepiece which they have prepared, and the master will give them advice on how to play it, often includinganecdotes about thecomposer, demonstrations of how to play certain passages, and admonitions of common technical errors. The student is then usually expected to play the piece again, in light of the master's comments, and the student may be asked to play a passage repeatedly to attain perfection. Master classes formusical instruments tend to focus on the finer details of attack,tone,phrasing, and overall shape, and the student is expected to have complete control of more basic elements such asrhythm andpitch. The value of the master class setup is that all students can benefit from the master's comments on each piece.
Many concert performers have given master classes, starting with its inventorFranz Liszt[3] and including such greats asYehudi Menuhin,Isaac Stern,Itzhak Perlman, andVladimir Horowitz. Often, a touring performer will give a master class the day before, or the day of, their performance in a particular city. Giving a master class before a concert provides both artistic stimulation for the performer and a means of obtaining a larger audience.
Aspiring classical musicians, and their teachers, typically consider master classes to be one of the most effective means of musical development, along with competitions,examinations, and practice.
Somemusical theatre composers will also give master classes to college students studying performance.
Some speciality classes may be referred to as 'mini master classes'. These can involve short, faster lessons on a new subject. Students, typically experienced in one discipline, may attend these classes to learn the basics of a new, related discipline.
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In 1884,William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, delivered twenty lectures onmolecular dynamics and thewave theory of light.[4] In their 1987 bookKelvin's Baltimore Lectures and Modern Theoretical Physics: historical and philosophical perspectives, Robert Kargon and Peter Achinstein write[5] that the sessions, which were held in a small lecture hall, were conducted as "master classes". The tone was conversational and informal; Kelvin made almost no use of notes ... Usually Kelvin lectured from one of these standpoints, then engaged the audience in a discussion of the details, then shifted to another of the standpoints for the second part of the lecture. They explain:[6]
The attendees were expected to have advanced knowledge of physics and mathematics. Among them were British physicistsLord Rayleigh andGeorge Forbes; ProfessorsKikuchi and Fujioka of Japan; American instructors in physics from eastern and western colleges, includingAlbert Michelson andEdward Morley; attendees from Canada, Germany, and Russia; and Hopkins faculty and students includingRowland,Thomas Craig,Fabian Franklin,Henry Crew, Gustav Liebig,Joseph Sweetman Ames, andChristine Ladd Franklin.
A record of the twenty classes was made byA. S. Hathaway and circulated afterwards usingpapyrograph stencil duplication. It is these notes that were reproduced in 1987 for the publication sponsored by Johns Hopkins Center for the History and Philosophy of Science. In fact Hathaway continued to correspond with Kelvin, who supplemented the notes, and the "Lectures" were eventually broadly circulated in 1904.[7]
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