http://www.hope.ac.uk/press-releases/world-first-for-new-ma-in-the-beatles-popular-music-and-society.html
*** Press Release
***
3rd March 2009
A brand new MA in The Beatles, Popular Music and
Society has been launched at Liverpool Hope University and is the
first MA of its kind in the World.
The new course, which can be studied both full-
and part-time, covers four modules with specific issues relating to
The Beatles and Popular Music, consisting of four 12-week taught
modules plus a dissertation.
Mike Brocken, Senior Lecturer in Popular Music at
Liverpool Hope University said: "There have been over 8000 books
about The Beatles but there has never been serious academic study
and that is what we are going to address.
The Beatles influenced so much of society, not
just with their music, but also with fashion from their collar-less
jackets to their psychedelic clothes.
Their output covered a huge range from the black
and white film 'A Hard Day's Night' to Strawberry Fields Forever
which was accompanied by arguably the first pop video.
Forty years on, now is the right time and
Liverpool is the right place to study The Beatles. This
Beatles MA is expected to attract a great deal of attention, not
just locally, but nationally and we have already had enquires from
abroad, particularly the United States.
The MA the Beatles Popular Music & Society is
a seminal moment in popular music studies. For the first time in
the UK and possibly the world a post graduate taught course is
offered to research into the Beatles, the city from which they
emerged, the contexts of the 1960s, technology, sound and
songwriting, and the industries that have set up in their wake to
capitalise on tourism in the city of Liverpool.”
Popular music studies is now rightly regarded as
an academic discipline in its own right and its interdisciplinary
nature will appeal to those who have come from backgrounds in the
humanities, cultural studies as well as music. There are also
opportunities to study at certificate and diploma
level.”
The one-year full time course will cover not just
The Beatles but popular music in general and its effect on society
since the sixties.
The first module introduces methods and
approaches of how we go about studying popular music and is linked
to a specific text that is recommended to students, Longhurst -
Popular Music and Society. This module then focuses down on
several short Beatles-related issues that can be covered by some of
Longhurst's text - issues such as covering and authenticity,
locality, the music industry of the post-war era, and
subcultures.
The second module discusses Liverpool in the
immediately pre and then post wwii eras and how various social and
musical issues fed into the early Merseybeat & Beatles
profiles. It will also discuss the politics of place and focus on
venues in and around Merseyside, genres, class and
suburbia.
The third module looks at the studio sound and
compositions of the Beatles and will bring in popular music
semiotics. There will be an opportunity in this module to present a
case study of one song and this will be linked to a performance if
the student so wishes, otherwise assessment via a presentation and
written work will be acceptable.
The final module deals with social anthropology
and ethonography of the Beatles and gives the student the
opportunity to get out and interview people with a presentation and
report to submit. Students may wish to study some local musicians
or media or even the local industry that has now set up to
capitalise on the group.
*** ENDS ***
Notes to Editors:
1. Students on the full-time course would
attend two evenings per week and cover all four modules in one
academic year. Part-time students would attend once per week
for two years. In both cases a dissertation is due towards the end
of August.
2. There is no need to be a music reader for the final module
as popular music semiotics allows us to study a musical text in a
different way.
3. Different guest lecturers will be available for all three
modules.
4. Assessment will be via an annoted biblio, a presentation,
and an essay.
For further information please contact The Press
Office at Liverpool Hope University on telephone: 0151 291 3355 or
e-mail: [email protected]
