A new Masters degree programme focussing on The Beatles and their lasting impact on Liverpool and wider pop culture has been launched by the University of Liverpool.
From September 2021 students will be able to study on The Beatles: Music Industry and Heritage MA degree.
Dr Holly Tessler, lecturer in Music Industries at the university and researcher of The Beatles, said there was a demand for more research into the legacy of the band.
“Liverpool is synonymous with the Beatles. Liverpool’s Beatles heritage and tourism industry is an important economic and cultural asset for the city. So it makes sense to develop a degree in Liverpool, where we are able to study all of these issues in the one place that is most directly connected to the group and its legacy.”
The programme listing on Liverpool University’s site says that the degree will reframe and extend contemporary discourse about the Beatles.
The course, which is the only one of its kind, is aimed at mid-career professionals or people who intend to work in the heritage, culture and tourism sectors.
Dr Tessler said she was excited about every element of the degree and particularly to explore under-researched areas such as the impact of The Beatles on gender, race, culture and politics.
She said: “There are certainly other places that see a level of music heritage and tourism, but ultimately I think each generation finds its own powerful musical, cultural and spiritual connection to The Beatles and then comes to Liverpool to try to understand The Beatles on their own terms.”
Students in the programme will interact with Liverpool’s Beatles tourism sector and visit sites in and around Liverpool that were formative in The Beatles’ early years.
“One of the main aims of the degree is to try to understand how and why The Beatles remain so relevant to so many different disciplines of study. It’s nearly impossible for us to comprehend today just how popular The Beatles were. Their success was completely unprecedented.”
