Pepper! The album that shook the world like a universal sneeze: volcanic, thrilling and eccentrically pleasurable. In the years since its June 1967 release, Sgt. Pepper has always remained a high water mark of musical daring, ingenuity of audio recording, opulence of visual design, and overall artistic ambition and achievement.
Join us for a look behind the scenes at the creation of this ground-breaking work of art. This fall, RPM School will explore the album's innovative recording techniques and delve beneath the surface of the songs to see what makes them great.
The first 45 minutes of each class will be devoted to All Together Now, a live multimedia presentation and discussion on Zoom, with Beatles scholar Walter Everett and multi-instrumentalists Jack Petruzzelli and Cameron Greider. Afterwards, you have the option of staying on for a Seminar with Walter or a Virtual Band––a combination master class and remote recording project––led by Cameron or Jack.
RPM School is Jack Petruzzelli (The Fab Faux), Cameron Greider (Sean Lennon), and Walter Everett (The Beatles as Musicians). Participants range from those with no musical background whatsoever to those proficient as scholars, singers, or instrumentalists—we have several paths to joining in with our appreciation of this great music!
Choose your level of involvement: just enjoy online lecture-demonstrations, or stay on afterwards for a discussion seminar or a small-group “virtual band” recording project.
Each session starts with All Together Now––a live multimedia presentation exploringexploring the writing and recording of Sgt. Pepper, and unpacking the musical structure of that masterpiece.
For a deeper dive, stay on after All Together Now for Seminar, for study and discussion with Walter Everett, or Virtual Band, where you'll learn songs that inspired the Beatles and record your own versions together with a small group of musicians at your level, led by Jack Petruzzelli or Cameron Greider.
Virtual Band participants get exclusive access to interactive videos demonstrating each part for the songs they work on, plus isolated tracks and more.
They also receive expert training in the musical skills they need to play and sing them, in a small-group setting that is welcoming and non-judgemental.
FACULTY
One of the foremost authorities on the music of the Beatles, Walter Everett is Professor of Music at the University of Michigan. His two-volume study The Beatles as Musicians (Oxford University Press) has been hailed as “a milestone in Beatles research” and “without a doubt, the most important work on the Beatles to date”.
One of New York’s most sought-after session and touring musicians, Jack Petruzzelli has played with Patti Smith, Joan Osborne, Ian Hunter and Rufus Wainwright, to name a few. A multi-instrumentalist triple threat on guitars, vocals and keyboards, he is also a founding member of the world’s foremost band for the Beatle-obsessed, The Fab Faux.
Guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Cameron Greider has worked with artists like Joan Baez, Sean Lennon and Chris Cornell as well as top-tier producers
T Bone Burnett and Steve Lilywhite. He is also a dedicated teacher of guitar, bass and piano.
WHAT PEOPLE SAY
The class was amazing. Challenging and at the same time accommodated all kinds of level of play.
I’d take it again in a heartbeat.
I came to the class thinking I knew so much….wrong! They pulled out all the stops for us. Music, history, class materials, guest speakers…They truly put the Beatles in context both musically and everything else. It’s an excellent deep dive.
Singing and playing for anyone else besides myself is a BIG stretch out of my comfort zone. One of the (many) terrific things about your class is how genuinely non-judgmental it was. Just pure encouragement.