Education vacations are nothing new. Universities from Padua to Princeton offer short-form courses for youths looking to experience learning abroad as well as lifelong students just looking for a little didactic fun. But a new, tuneful twist comes courtesy of the “Oxford Experience”—a continuing education service at the ancient English university that offers crumpet-sized samplings of their lecture-and-tutorial based system—and their new course, “The Beatles, Popular Music and Sixties Britain”. Yes, it’s a soup-to-nuts education in the Fab Four and the post-war, working-class historical context from which they sprang. On top of offering seminars like, “The White Album – doll’s house or glass union?”, the five-day course features a walking tour of the magnificent city and colleges of Oxford, its sinewy rivers, an inside look at the massive Christ’s Church College (above), and “an evening of croquet and wine in the Masters’ Garden”. I’d suggest a trip to the Bear or the Turf as well, but you can do that on your own time. It should be noted that none of the Liverpudlian Beatles actually attended Oxford or even graduated college for that matter (the “Smart One”, John, dropped out of Liverpool College of Art in his final year). Nonetheless for a summer fling with English music, English academia, and English public houses, what could be better?
“Brush Up on Your Beatles Knowledge With Summer School at Oxford University” [Jaunted]
For an entire world of musical education, snap up our “Music + Travel” guide that supplies backgrounds and beats on musical scenes from Beijing to Buenos Aires.
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