Verde Valley Campus (Clarkdale)   

Music cleanses the mind and frees the soul. We'll listen to some of the world's greatest classical music composed by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorak, Franck, Mussorsky, Saint-Saens, Vaughan-Williams, Copland, Barber, and Bernstein. Thanks to YouTube, we'll watch performers close-up in their home concert halls. This is not an analytical class. We'll simply listen and briefly say how the music makes us feel.

Following the big band swing era in music, jazz began to diversify into several different genres: bebop, hard bop, modal, free jazz, and jazz fusion. Beginning in 1945 and until his death in 1991, Miles Davis was at the forefront of this evolution in music. We will discuss Miles' life and listen to examples of his music.

Inspired by Hans von Bulows successful concert tours of America in the late 1800's, this series seeks to recreate the nature of his historic Beethoven "lesson" concerts. Bulow selected a sequence of Beethoven Sonatas to be performed as solo recitals over a period of (usually) 4 nights. Adjusting program length to present day tolerances, I propose the following four recitals followed by classroom analysis and discussion: 1. Op. 10; 2. Op. 31; 3. Op. 53, Op. 57; and 4. Op. 109, Op. 110, and Op.111.

Let's review prominent current events in their historical context, with the goal of providing a fuller understanding of their causes and possible consequences. Participation and discussion will be encouraged. Please note this class skips one week (no class 6/17).

Organize your thoughts, photos, artwork, letters, diaries, and emails. We will write in class and at home - yes, homework. Bring paper, pen, and/or laptop. Your first chapter will be on your grandparents, second chapter on your parents, then chapters about your life divided into 15-year segments. Writing topics will be suggested, and your work edited. You may read your work aloud to the class, if you like.

We take to the out-of-doors (en plein air) to create our summer poetry. No history or counting of syllables, just fun as we take the class to favorite Yavapai Clarkdale Campus locales, creating our poetry together--giving new meaning to Free Form Verse! Meeting "early" mornings (10:30am) for 4 weeks only. Facilitator will send email with the first week meet-up location on campus and then explore from there. Hopefully 10:30am-noon will keep us out of the summer’s extreme heat. Bring your notebooks! Let’s have Fun!

In Classroom 1-1/2-2 hours each, weekly lesson plan handouts and assignments, 5-10 minute in class writing and critique from prompts, stand alone essay based memoir topics, essays in progress readings and critique. Participants will produce three 1,000 word essays to be compiled into a document for each participant. Sample prompts: Influencers, A Childhood Friend, A Favorite Place, A Memorable Journey, others as chosen by participants or the facilitator.