Narrating The Beatles |
MU363, "Senior Seminar" | Fall 2014 |
| Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4:00-5:50 | Zankel 215 |
| Gordon R. Thompson |
| The Beatles and their music have been the subjects of numerous articles, books, videos and probably thousands of web pages, and their music and recordings have become an important part of Western culture. Each of these representations purports to say something new and different about the band, or at least to put the story of the band into a new form and/or cultural light. |
| With the publication of the first volume of Mark Lewisohn’s The Beatles: All These Years, this already extensive library of books on these musicians just gained a substantial addition. As in Kurosawa’s film Rashomon, anyone wishing to understand this signal musical and cultural phenomenon of the twentieth (and now twenty-first) century must critically weigh the data, claims, and interpretations of this complex story. Indeed, in the twenty-first century, a significant question is not “What information can I find on the Beatles?” (or any other subject), but rather, “How reliable is the information?” Who are the authors and how has their background shaped the way they narrate their stories of the Beatles? |
| This seminar will work through a chronological series of subjects that teams of students will examine by comparing sources that seek to narrate the story of the Beatles. Each team present in every class and students will write short essays every other week, as well present a paper at the end of the semester. We will compare documentary representations and a sampling of the written biographies. |
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| http://www.skidmore.edu/academics/music/courses/mu363-2014/index.html. Edited
25 August, 2014
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