America's History with America's Music

As we close in on the 250th anniversary of the founding of our country, it seems appropriate to start exploring some major events in the making of our history and to look back at times when the United States history offers patriotic, inspirational stories, as well as many complicated, divisive stories.

The class will not be a straight tale of history (i.e. facts and dates). We will concentrate on the “back stories” leading up to and during momentous times. In a good portion of our class, we’re going to try and tell our history through the music of the times - right from the Revolutionary War to today. Some of the music we will be familiar with, some of it not so familiar - but all of the music will help tell our story. We will see that music highlights the culture of the times, the issues of the times and the joy and sadness of the times.

America's music reflects how the country breathed and moved through the good and the bad days of our history. So let’s spend some time exploring and experiencing a different take on studying our remarkable history.

Format is lecture and discussion.

Note: It is planned that this is Part 1 of a series of courses on American History and Music.

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Instructor: Peter Reilly

Peter Reilly lives in Belfast and has taught at Belfast Senior College for over 10 years. He has a BS and MBA from Monmouth University.