The term “master class” is also used figuratively to describe a demonstration of great skills in a context where education was not the primary intention; For example, “his last laps were an overtaking master class” (based on a race for a track). [1] The difference between a normal class and a main class is usually in the configuration. In a master class, all students (and often spectators) watch and listen to the master take one student at a time. [2] The student (usually advanced or advanced, depending on the status of the master) usually performs a single piece he has prepared, and the master will give him advice on how to play it, often with anecdotes about the composer, demonstrations on how to play certain passages and warnings of frequent technical errors. It is then generally expected that the student will play the piece again in light of the master`s comments, and the student may be asked to play a passage several times to achieve perfection. Musical instrument master classes tend to focus on the finer details of attack, tone, phrasing, and overall form, and the student must have complete control over more basic elements such as rhythm and pitch. The value of setting up the Master Class is that all students can benefit from the Master`s feedback on each piece. These sample sentences are automatically selected from various online information sources to reflect the current use of the word “master class”. The opinions expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us your feedback.

Some musical theater composers also give master classes for students studying performance. Many concert performers have given master classes, from its inventor Franz Liszt[3] to big names such as Yehudi Menuhin, Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman and Vladimir Horowitz. Often, a touring artist gives a master class the day before or on 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 way to reach a wider audience. Aspiring classical musicians and their teachers generally consider master classes to be one of the most effective means of musical development, along with competitions, exams and exercises. Find the answers online with Practical English Usage, your essential guide to English language problems. Some specialty classes can be called “mini master classes”. These can include short, quicker lessons on a new topic. Students who usually have experience in a discipline can take these courses to learn the basics of a new related discipline. A master class is a class given to students of a particular discipline by an expert in that discipline – usually music, but also science, painting, drama, games or any other occasion where skills are developed.

In 1884, William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, gave twenty lectures on molecular dynamics and the wave theory of light. [4] In their 1987 book Kelvin`s Baltimore Lectures and Modern Theoretical Physics: historical and philosophical perspectives, Robert Kargon and Peter Achinstein[5] write that sessions held in a small amphitheater were conducted as “master classes.” The tone was talkative and informal; Kelvin used almost no notes. Usually, Kelvin would lecture from one of these views, then engage the audience in a discussion of the details, and then move on to another of the viewpoints for the second part of the lecture. They explain:[6] A recording of the twenty classes was made by A. S. Hathaway and then broadcast with a papyrograph-stencil duplication. It was these notes that were reproduced in 1987 for the publication sponsored by the Johns Hopkins Center for the History and Philosophy of Science. In fact, Hathaway continued to correspond with Kelvin, who completed the notes, and the “lectures” were finally widely circulated in 1904. [7] Participants were expected to have advanced knowledge of physics and mathematics. Among them were the British physicists Lord Rayleigh and George Forbes; Professors Kikuchi and Fujioka from Japan; American physics professors from Eastern and Western colleges, including Albert Michelson and Edward Morley; Participants from Canada, Germany and Russia; and Hopkins professors and students such as Rowland, Thomas Craig, Fabian Franklin, Henry Crew, Gustav Liebig, Joseph Sweetman Ames, and Christine Ladd Franklin. Find out which words work together and create more natural English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app. Join our community to access the latest language learning and assessment tips from Oxford University Press!.