Seminars in the Arts

Jazz: America's Music Form with Fred Bouchard
Jazz has been whirling around the globe for the last century, influencing (and being influenced by) world music, including classical, folk, and Afro-Cuban. Join musicologist Fred Bouchard for music-driven lectures on topics such as the wizards of the piano lounge, jazz singers, and men of the saxophone.
$40
Three Wednesdays: October 7, 14, 21; 12:30–2 p.m.

American Popular Culture
Culture pervades all media, encompassing customs as well as values and ideals. In this three-part series, we’ll explore our own culture through popular forms of communication to see how ideas permeate our everyday experience.
$30 for the series
Three Wednesdays, 10–11a.m.:

October 28: "The Uproarious Gravity of American Humor,"
Joe Boskin, Professor Emeritus, Department of History
November 4: "Rethinking the 1950s: Rules and Rebels
in Postwar America," Brooke Blower, Professor of History
November 18: "Why Music History Needs the Rolling Stones,"
Victor Coelho, Professor of Music

The Salon of George Sand with Virginia Eskin
Chopin, Liszt, and their circle of friends were like modern soap opera characters—they were compelling, but up to mischief. Join world-renowned pianist Virginia Eskin for a behind-the-scenes tour of their private lives as she discusses their world—loves, literature, paintings—and performs their music.
$40
Three Wednesdays: October 28; November 4, 18;
12:30–2 p.m.

Psychology Goes to the Movies with Michael Fleming
Join Michael Fleming, of Boston University’s psychology faculty, as he introduces films that capture our fascination and make indelible impressions that reverberate throughout our lives. Such films seize elements of the collective unconscious and provide a focus for inquiring into the hopes and fears that drive humanity. The class will explore theories of psychology that shed light on the subtexts of these films.
$40
Four Saturdays: November 14, 21; December 5, 12;
10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.