Courses and Workshops

Van Morrison’s amazing career has spanned 60 years, and in that time he has produced 44 albums containing hundreds of his unique original songs. His eclectic career has seen him range from the early R&B influenced days of his Irish band Them, to his acclaimed twin masterpieces, Astral Weeks and Moondance, into the 1970’s where he parlayed R&B-based rock into superstardom. Since then, he has had a performing and recording career that has never slowed down. And in that time, Morrison has eloquently displayed the ability to go from one genre to another, yet always staying true to the twin themes of jazzy rhythm and blues and the Celtic folk of his ancestors, with healthy doses of rock and roll, country and pop.

In this class we will break down Morrison's extraordinary volume of work into periods, chronicling the artists’ evolving development as a man and a musician.

Faculty Bio

Pete Elman is a musician, an author, a journalist, a historian — and a star educator. He has performed, recorded and produced popular music since 1962, authored four books, been a sportswriter, taught K-12, and, since 2015, wowed OLLI members with more than a dozen courses on American music.

This is a Livestreamed + Recorded Course

• Classes will stream live on the scheduled day and time
• Classes will also be video recorded
• Please note: Due to copyright restrictions, some songs and video clips may be edited out of the final recording
• You must be a current OLLI @Berkeley member to register. Learn about membership, including our fee assistance program.

Schedule Highlights

• Course starts on Tuesday, April 2, and ends on Tuesday, May 21
• Classes meet for 8 sessions, 1.5 hours per session (10–11:30 AM)
• Videos will post on Fridays in Member Dashboards
• All course materials, including videos, will remain available to view and enjoy through May 31

Member Praise for Pete Elman

Another wonderful class from Pete! Once again, he added to my appreciation and understanding of the music and contributions from artists I already have enjoyed and admired for so long.

I gained so much appreciation for the musicians and their music than I expected to. Very, very enjoyable. I'll take any course Pete Elman offers.

Faculty Q&A

• Read an interview with Pete Elman from our archive.