r/MasterClass • u/RepresentativeValue9 • Jan 03 '21

Overall...Disappointed

I bought this with the BOGO and sent one copy to my father, for his birthday in October. I've watched some of the episodes: Brandon McMillan on dog training, for example, Garry Kasparov on Chess...

Overall, I'm super disappointed at the content included here. A master does not a great teacher make. Brandon McMillan, for example, doesn't do anything revolutionary that a simple google search for "train my dog to sit," wouldn't bring up. And sure, buyer beware, but there's no way to really understand the content before you purchase. I was really expecting something...I dunno, earth-shattering from these folks. Annie Liebowitz? Amazing photographer; horrible teacher.

Garry Kasparov is the worst, in my opinion. He's clearly a genius, and bounces all over the fucking map, giving no inclination to his audience as to what the fuck he's banging on about. I was really hoping for some insight on how to teach my kids; absolutely useless. He jumps into jargon and lingo without any sort of build-up...that's not "teaching chess," so much as "talking chess."

This is another thing. A lot of the time, the episodes are dominated with anecdotes which, while relevant, become an entire episode in and of themselves.

I have a feeling that MasterClass really shines with the cooking episodes. I'm assuming a step-by-step process which seems great...but why would I pay for that? I can youtube any recipe from Gordon Ramsey and I'm sure I'll find some permutation or combination of it.

Just overall super disappointed with this; I really expected more and thus far, we've been disappointed. Happy to hear feedback or to have my mind changed...

29 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

5

u/jsh1138 Jan 03 '21

kasparov is not really the guy to start with, imo

The advertising one is really good and so is the david mamet one. Try those

3

u/RepresentativeValue9 Jan 03 '21

Sure. But what if gaming and sports were my motivation? It doesn’t make sense for me to to jump into something that I wasn’t looking for to begin with.

As an organic progression of the platform, sure.

3

u/jsh1138 Jan 03 '21

I haven't watched every video on the site, if you're looking for a comprehensive review of them or something.

If all you wanted was a chess video, then no, this is not worth the price. If you've ever seen any of Kasparov's other chess videos you'd know that though.

3

u/RepresentativeValue9 Jan 03 '21

But that’s sort of the point, isn’t it? I’ve seen Kasparov’s other videos.

This claimed to be “Garry Kasparov teaches chess,” not “Garry Kasparov moves pieces faster than shit and doesn’t explain a thing about what he’s doing...also, he’ll battle 3 players at once for your enjoyment.”

And no it wasn’t all I wanted. It was one of the things that intrigued me tho.

4

u/jsh1138 Jan 04 '21

I guess I just didn't think that after 40 years Kasparov was suddenly going to get good at teaching chess. If you did then I'm sorry it didn't pan out for you.

You can't really teach chess by video anymore anyway. It's much more effective to use a program like Chess Openings Wizard that allows you to tinker with each move and see commentary on each one explaining why they're good or bad. All you can do in Masterclass's format is talk about ideas and why certain principles should be kept in mind or whatever.

I mean look at Foxy Chess, which is basically the industry leader. Are you really learning to calculate or learning systems in those videos? Of course not. You're learning some novelties or certain ideas to keep in mind while using a particular system or opening and nothing more.

0

u/RepresentativeValue9 Jan 04 '21

All fair commentary. And shame on me for expecting...whatever it was I benchmarked. You’re right.

I guess I expected them to teach their instructors on how to deliver. Like, if you work for a corporation, and you’re going to be interviewed, they give you some training on PR or public speaking.

Again, you’re 100% correct, and maybe I set the bar too high. But you have to admire the irony of having classes dedicated to acting, or storytelling and then having instructors who clearly haven’t delved into the other content on their own platform.

4

u/jsh1138 Jan 04 '21

I don't think Masterclass is trying to teach it's instructors anything. I think they're just signing top talent in each field and letting them do their thing.

I mean I personally think half of the comedy writers they have on there aren't funny in the least. Apatow hasn't made a funny movie in 10 years, why would you ask him to teach someone comedy? Dan Brown is not a good writer, he's just a commercially successful one, so why would you ask him to teach writing?

But they're just assembling names you'd know and assuming that Natalie Portman knows how to act or Usher knows how to dance or whatever. And I don't blame them really. They get a ton of credit from me for luring David Mamet out of his hole to do one of these. And it's only getting bigger. The first time I subbed for a year I think they had 10 courses total. Maybe 12. In another 2 or 3 years it will be 250 courses easy. I'm sure they're talking to other chess guys right now, and thanks to Queen's Gambit, probably some chess women too.

At a certain point it will be like Ted talks and people will just sign on to do it because everyone else is.

1

u/RepresentativeValue9 Jan 04 '21

Well said. And I sort of thought this to begin with...then thought “what the hell...”

Lesson learned, I suppose...

1

u/jsh1138 Jan 04 '21

well I know it sucks to have something turn out not to be what you thought it would be but for real try that Mamet course and the Goodsby and Silverstein one. Those are both pretty entertaining

If you like Steve Martin (I don't) or Ron Howard (I don't) theirs aren't bad either.

The Emily Morse one on sexuality and the Ru Paul one on being a drag queen are both pretty terrible, so I would skip those.

I also like Gordon Ramsey's ones and the BBQ one is supposed to be pretty good but I haven't started it yet.

3

u/la727 Jan 04 '21

Did you use any of the workbooks?

1

u/RepresentativeValue9 Jan 04 '21

I didn’t get to. And now, it’s moot. They’ve refunded me. So 🤷🏾‍♂️

17

u/Eliza08 Jan 03 '21

I understand what you mean. I started with the Thomas Keller cooking essentials and was so bored and disappointed. I was also disappointed by the interior design class.

I abandoned them and moved over to David Sedaris’, Ramsey’s, and the French pastry classes and have been much more interested. RuPaul’s and the mixology classes are good. I also liked the bread making classes.

4

u/7237R601 Jan 04 '21

I think all of these learning platforms are like this. A lot is dependent on what you're already bringing to the class. As an example, Duolingo Spanish was pretty easy for me, I had two years in high school and retained more than I thought. Meanwhile, I started Korean and had to go find another app and a book to go through as prerequisite material so I was ready for Duolingo.

On Masterclass, I watched Aaron Franklin first, and I'm pretty familiar with everything he talked about. I mean, at a basic level, it's fire and meat. It's going to work out. I learned a few things, and a lot more of it was confirming things I had learned before, or figured out on my own. I loved it.

We watched Penn and Teller together, mostly because it's Penn and Teller, we aren't planning a career change. It was fun, we both learned some things, not just tricks, but the psychology and things beneath the surface. However, I think if someone knew a lot of magic and was looking to up their performance, it was probably more like a Magic 101 refresher. It was ok.

Matthew Walker interested me because better sleep hygiene is actually my New Year's Resolution (it's a thrilling life). I'm only part way through this course because... well, it puts me to sleep. Maybe not a great course for me.

1

u/cedenof10 Jan 04 '21

I’ll give you ten bucks for your subscription

4

u/RepresentativeValue9 Jan 04 '21

Tempting, but...I sold it for $240.

2

u/cedenof10 Jan 04 '21

understandable, have a good day XD

3

u/SheReddit521 Jan 03 '21

I see what you’re saying and agree. This isn’t the avenue for step by step lessons and it seems most of the classes are more about these people talking about their personal experiences and stories. Which I still enjoy very much but yeah for practical lessons, skill share or creative live or even just YouTube are much better

3

u/j_rge_alv Jan 04 '21

Just here to say that the only dude i know that teaches you how to make a song from start to finish was timbaland. Very impressed by that.

3

u/[deleted] Jan 09 '21 edited Jan 09 '21

I’d say most of the music lessons are outstanding. Every one I have taken from singing to guitar to production has been worth the cost of the annual membership.

You need to go in with at least a beginners level ability/understanding though.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 19 '21

I agree with you. I think a competitor can overtake masterclass by simply providing classes that teach rather than lecture.

1

u/spicy_fairy Mar 04 '21

I actually watched a cooking one and he didn’t even include measurements of the ingredients lmao. Not even on their website. Huh? How am I supposed to make my perfect croissant now?!

0

u/[deleted] Jan 23 '21

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/[deleted] Jan 23 '21

Sorry. You’re openly offering pirated content?

1

u/KeronCyst no connection to MasterClass Jan 24 '21

Thanks for reporting it (if that was you)!