March 21 (UPI) — Vermont State University officials said a Harvard course on the music of Taylor Swift inspired them to create a class of their own based around a different sort of musician: “Weird Al” Yankovic.
The class, led by VTSU Lyndon Music and Performing Arts Professor Brian Warwick, is titled “Weird Al and his Polkas,” which the school said “humorously echoes” the title of Harvard University’s “Taylor and her World.”
The school said that while the class name — and much of its subject matter — is based around humor, students also will learn some serious concepts.
“Studying his work offers students a fun and engaging framework to study things like parody, songcraft and music production analysis,” the school said on social media.
Warwick, who has worked as an audio engineer for Yankovic’s two most recent albums, said the class won’t just cover the musician’s famous parody songs like “Eat It” or “Amish Paradise.”
“Al Yankovic’s work is not just about the parodies. It’s also about his tribute or pastiche songs, where it’s actually an original work by Al Yankovic, but he’s paying tribute to another artist,” Warwick told WCAX-TV.
He said the class will also look at the larger cultural context surrounding the artist’s works.
“It just gives us an avenue to start studying the 20th century and pop culture in the 20th century,” Warwick said.
The class will be open to all Vermont State students in the fall, as well as members of the public who are not enrolled in the school.
