Let Oscar-Winning Composer Hans Zimmer Teach You How to Score Movies

Even if you don’t recognize Hans Zimmer's name, you’ve almost certainly heard his music. The 59-year-old German composer has scored the soundtracks for more than 150 films—including Gladiator (2000), the Pirates of the Caribbean series, and Inception (2010)—and his work on 1994's The Lion King earned him an Academy Award for Best Original Score. For film buffs wanting to follow in his footsteps, Variety reports that educational startup MasterClass will offer an online course on writing music for the movies, taught by Zimmer himself.

Zimmer never received formal musical training, and believes that anyone can write songs if they’re inspired to do so. “My MasterClass is a way for me to show that bold ideas can come from anyone and all you need is a computer to make music. Maybe even just a phone!” Zimmer said in a statement. “I hope my MasterClass helps people see they just need to break the rules and move their ideas forward. The rest is just technicalities.”

The $90 class includes more than 30 video lessons, which will be available online starting in January 2017. Students will study Zimmer's work to learn the basics of musical composition, how to tell a story with music, and how to pair melody with dialogue and image.

Pre-enrollment for Zimmer's MasterClass is available now. For more information, watch the composer explain his curriculum in the video below.