Nolan Gasser, Ph.D.

Custom lectures available per request on any musical topic - Pop, Rock, Jazz, Classical, Broadway, Hip hop, Electronica, World etc.: historical, cultural, musicological, etc.

• Speculum mundi: Music as a Reflection of Culture

  Nolan here provides an entertaining and eye-opening look at the whole of Western music - from Ancient Greece to the present - as a reflection of the cultural, social, and intellectual world in which it was created. With compelling graphics, rich anecdotes, humor, and lots of great music, this lecture brings clarity to the broad movements of history - from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance, Enlightenment, Modern, and Post-Modern eras - in a way that will delight and surprise. You'll never hear a Beethoven symphony, a Bach cantata, or a song by the Beatles the same way again.