Is this thing on?
I’ve been working on that damn lecture for so long now, it seems kinda strange to have actually begun it. As it turns out, I should probably have backed off on the research a bit. I thought I’d be able to get through everything in two days, with a possible third day in case of questions. In the event, I didn’t even get through half of what I’d planned for the first day. It now appears that I will be there at least through Thursday. (Thankfully, the class schedule is fairly flexible; they spent all last week watching Gone With The Wind. My friend had only wanted to show a few clips, but they wanted to know how it ended and she, being something of the “Southern belle” herself, acquiesced.)
Getting started was a little rough, but once I was up to cruising speed it was OK, I think. High point of the day: delivering the line, “Music for teenagers is all about establishing an identity for yourself; if you can piss off your parents, so much the better”, and getting a laugh. Low point: trying to start the CD player while standing behind it, playing the wrong cut, getting flustered, and spending about 5 minutes trying to verbally describe Dixieland jazz. I’m pleased that the class chose not to riot at that point.
I got them through the Blues and some Jazz today. Tomorrow I’ll finish up Jazz (through bebop and hard bop, anyway; after 1959 I’m taking it decade by decade) and, with any luck, Country & Western and the beginnings of Rock & Roll. If I push hard I might be able to squeeze the early Sixties in tomorrow, but after today I’m not counting on it. I’m hoping to get through the Sixties and possibly some of the early Seventies on Wednesday, which means we have to cover the rest of the Seventies, the Eighties and the Nineties Thursday.
Or I may just be there for the rest of the week.
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