Great American Music

Rodgers and Hart. George and Ira Gershwin. Cole Porter. Lerner and Loewe. For most people who've grown up with and shared America's musical heritage, great songs open the floodgates to memories and feelings. Perhaps nowhere is this more profound than in the world of Broadway musicals, with their iconic melodies and memorable lyrics. Revisit the standards, originally written for the stage, that have both delighted and helped mend the broken hearts of Americans for decades. These 16 delightful lectures immerse you in the world of Broadway, exploring the intricacies of musical composition and song construction-and how they were used to create specific effects - as well as the social and historical backdrop against which musical theater must be considered. Much as we often concentrate on the so-called "golden age" of the 1950s, American musical theater spans the history of two vibrant centuries: the era of the minstrel show-whose contributions to American music were immense, in spite of the embarrassment we still feel at many of its images-vaudeville, ragtime, the revue; and the age of fully integrated book musicals launched by the 1927 production of Show Boat . With examples at the piano, Professor Messenger shows you the soundtrack of America - and for millions of us, the soundtrack of our lives. This insightful and sublimely enjoyable learning experience can forever change the way you experience musical theater.