Today is our first day of class.  We will be meeting either in Monticello House (on Russell Square, across Montague Street from the British Museum) or at Richbell House (5 Richbell Place), both located in central London.  These facilities are air-conditioned (a rarity in London) and offer student services such as computers and printers.

Monticello House (on Russell Square)

Richbell House

Today I have four goals:

• To introduce ourselves and our interests in rock ‘n roll music (each of us has a musical biography),
• to discuss a brief history of Great Britain to better understand how London got to be what it is today,
• to discuss some basic facts about the science of sociology,
• and to begin our investigation of the Rock ‘n Roll Timeline, starting with Delta Blues great Robert Johnson.

Robert Johnson (1911-1938)

Our essay assignment this week is to respond to the prompt: What is sociological about music?