World-renowned Stanford University is now offering an online class on the music and culture of The Grateful Dead.
Titled Psychedelia and Groove: The Music and Culture of the Grateful Dead, the six-week-long online course will be comprised of six 50-minute long sessions. It will be divided into three sections.
According to the class’ breakdown via the Stanford University official website (above), the first section of the class will focus on a historical perspective of the band’s evolution, followed by an analysis of the Grateful Dead’s diverse and ever-evolving musical catalog. The course will end with the band’s cultural impact on society, including its “connection to art, literature, and social change, as well as its unique fan culture and the phenomenon of the ‘Deadhead.’”
It will be taught by journalist and musician David Gans, the producer and host of the nationally syndicated radio show Grateful Dead Hour and co-host of Tales From The Golden Road, a two-hour talk show on SiriusXM’s Grateful Dead Channel. Gans is also the co-author of the book This Is All a Dream We Dreamed: An Oral History of the Grateful Dead.
“Grateful Dead music is collaborative and improvisational. Accordingly, I have invited guest speakers to join me in at least five of the classes. I’ve been an oral historian and a radio interviewer for more than 40 years; I have learned that conversation is a vastly more effective mode of presentation than lecturing,” read Gans’ syllabus for the course.
The course is set to begin on January 22, 2024 and costs $405. Registration is open now. Visit here to register.
