A music professor at a Nova Scotia university has turned the story of one of the most influential music groups of all time into a course.
Kevin Brunkhorst, a music professor at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S., is teaching a new course about the life and times of The Beatles.
Sixty-six students have registered in the course that examines how the band was formed and its meteoric rise to become one of the biggest names and most influential groups in entertainment history.
“It's a story that nobody could have written, it's too unlikely and that alone makes it worth having a class about,” says Brunkhorst.
The class is held once a week and playing the Fab Four’s music, watching their videos and movies, and discussing the band’s influence on music and culture.
“If I get too deep into the details of the music, the chords and the melody lines and sharps and flats and things like that, I will lose all of the students in the class that don't have a musical background and I want this to be of general interest for everyone,” says Brunkhorst.
Last month, Beatles music was released to streaming services, making it even more accessible to young people today.
Student Rae Becke says she is taking the course because The Beatles are her favourite band.
“I don't know, something about it just sings to the little girl inside everybody that wants to have a guy sing like that to you,” says Becke. “Like something about their music sort of just touches you, always, and they just always look like they were having fun and the music kind of says that as well.”
Becke’s appreciation of The Beatles is the kind of enthusiasm Brunkhorst is trying to share.
“I love this stuff so much that I take it seriously and I want everybody to love it as much,” says Brunkhorst.
Due to the popularity of the course, Brunkhorst says he will be offering it again next year.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Dan MacIntosh
