by Susan Phillips
Introduction
This year Bard LLI celebrates its 25th anniversary offering courses to seniors with a desire to keep learning. Courses are taught by instructors from a wide variety of backgrounds. This includes many Bard professors who work with students all day and then show up to share their knowledge with older learners—for FREE!! Bard LLI is an all-volunteer operation where no one is paid to organize, support, or provide the classes we love. LLI annual dues go toward hospitality supplies, LLI social events, space rental fees, and a variety of scholarship awards to Bard students, as well as financial contributions to various Bard College programs. So why would Bard professors volunteer (some, year after year) to teach LLI classes? We decided to ask and started with the beloved Joan Tower.
Lucky Bard LLI
The celebrated Joan Tower, multi-award-winning composer, musician, conductor, performer, professor, and great friend of Bard LLI, has been teaching at Bard College for 52 years. During her tenure, she has been notably recognized for her numerous compositions on numerous occasions in numerous ways. Check out her accolades on her Bard webpage and WiseMusicClassical.com. Besides teaching Bard students, she has taught a very popular LLI course every year for at least the last 10 years. She is also one of the kindest, funniest people around, and is amazingly energetic for her 87 years.
Why Teach Us for Free?
In response to the question about why she continues to teach for LLI year after year, Joan explains, “I base my decisions on, and am motivated by, what I can learn from any commitment. Money is never at the top of the list.” When starting her LLI course she initially needed to learn about her LLI audience and why they wanted to be there. “After all, it’s certainly not a required class!” When establishing a format for the class, Joan needed to feel her way, especially when it came to which students she could count on to responsibly help organize and play in weekly performances. The format has basically stayed the same. Joan introduces the week’s musical theme and each student musician with a brief bio. The students perform for a delighted and respectful LLI audience. Then the student performers are lined up in a row of chairs to answer questions from Joan and the LLI audience.
A Winning Learning Experience for Everyone
Basically, Joan’s class is a rich learning experience for all those involved. The LLI audience, of course, learns about the music presented and hears wonderful student performances. The students have the opportunity to play for an extremely attentive and appreciative audience, talk about their music, and discover that this group of older folks can ask some surprisingly well-informed and thoughtful questions. And Joan learns from it all. She calls it a “Win, Win, Win” for all. We LLI members hope that ALL class presenters know how much they are appreciated for their expertise, planning, hard work, and time, and that we consider ourselves the biggest winners of all.
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