• How music evolved from the decline of the Big Bands to Elvis, Buddy Holly and Eddie Valenz
• A look at The origins or swing/jazz big band music from ragtime and gospel and its decline
• The rise of R&B and Bebop
• Latin music and the importance of Latin Rhythm to all of American Pop
• DooWop and the acapella groups

• The lives of these three great lyricists/composers
• Their differing styles of writing

• A look at the composers, the music and the special performance requirements demanded
• Each week will be dedicated to songs of a specific country or language:
• German – Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Wolf, Weill and Strauss
• Robert Schumann – Dichterliebe and Liderkreis
• French – Berlioz, Massenet, Faure, Duparc, Debussy, Ravel and Poulenc
• Spanish – Sor, Valverde, de Falla, Granados and Rodrigo

• Italian – Donizetti, Bellini, Verdi, Tosti, Leoncavallo, Respighi, and Castelnuovo-Tedesco
• Eastern European/Russian – Dvorak, Liszt, Borodin, Mussorgsky, Rachmaninov and Prokofiev
• English – Delius, Vaughn Williams, Quilter, Britten and Finzi
• American – Copland, Beach, Barber, Niles, Ives and Rorem
• Each weekly program includes live performance plus lecture information

• The lives and music of Harry Warren, Chester Babcock and Dmitri Tiomkin

• How American Operetta rose from European origins
• The music of Victor Herbert, George M Cohan, Sigmund Romberg and Rudolf Friml and the popularity of the waltz
• The rise of ragtime from Minstrel Shows, and how jazz found its way into American culture

• Development of Rap from Hip Hop
• What is Rap/Hip Hop

• How technology, culture and politics have affected music throughout history
• The evolution of instruments (water-pipe organ, piano, saxophone, oboe etc.)

• A look at the lives and careers of the famous duo

• How the famous song came about during WWI as a German song

• The lives, partnership and shows of William Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan and Richard D’Oyley Carte
• The influence of Gilbert and Sullivan on Broadway and the Movies

• Music History from 1820 to Gershwin, focusing on:
• The French from Berlioz to Ravel
• The Germans from Beethoven to Strauss
• The Russians from Glinka to Rachmaninoff

• A look at the relationship between Steven Sondheim and Oscar Hammerstein

• The life and music of Quincy Jones, who might be the most important music producer since 1950

• The great story of Tony Bennett’s life

• Nat King Cole history – Capitol Records and “The House That Nat Built”

• The lives of the two most successful singers of the 1950s – over 100 million records sold – EACH!

• An overview of Bernstein’s life, music and legacy
•His life story
•Bernstein as musician, teacher and conductor

• The role of parody and comedy in music
• Famous comics of music – Allan Sherman, Ernie Kovacs, Steve Allen, Tom Lehrer, Spike Jones, PDQ Bach, Weird Al Yankovic and many more

• A look at the musical traditions in Jewish music from ancient times to the present
•The role and history of music in Jewish liturgical culture
•The influence of Jewish music on other cultures and vice-versa

• The music of Disney from Snow White to the present
• The songwriters and the famous performers