Ryan Sheeler and David Stuart produce masterclass for the Surf Ballroom Enrichment Center

CATEGORIES: Announcements

Ryan Sheeler, lecturer in the Department of Music and Theatre, and David Stuart, professor of trombone in the Department of Music and Theatre, have filmed a two-part, rock-music history masterclass for the Surf Ballroom Music Enrichment Center in Clear Lake, Iowa.

Links to the masterclass can be found on YouTube:
Part 1
Part 2

In addition to its concert and event schedule, the Surf Ballroom also offers music lessons and masterclasses to area students in North Central Iowa every year.

The first part of the masterclass is an overview of early rock artists and their regional roots. The second part is an in depth look at the 1959 Winter Dance Party and the ill-fated tour stop on Feb 2nd 1959. Early the next morning, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson) were killed in a plane crash north of Clear Lake, known today as “The Day The Music Died”.

The Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake IA is a National Historic Landmark (US Department of the Interior, January 2021)