TVO’s Best Lecturer competition, the "idol"-style series for academics, concludes this weekend when the lecture by Rob Bowman, professor of ethnomusicology in York's Music Department, Faculty of Fine Arts, will be broadcast Saturday at 1pm and voted on by viewers.
Rob Bowman |
The "Big Ideas" broadcast will be repeated on Sunday at 1pm. Voting, at the TVO Big Ideas Web site or by phone at 1-866-281-3536, opens immediately after the lecture and closes at noon on Monday.
Bowman, one of the longest-serving instructors at York, began teaching his courses on rock & roll and popular music 27 years ago at age 22, after doing his undergraduate work here. He said his success is partly due to his efforts at "treating a 300-seat lecture hall as if it was a 20-seat classroom" and the energy he transmits when he lectures.
TVO taped Bowman delivering a lecture titled "Where Meaning is Located in Music" on Sept. 26. The lecture, scheduled for broadcast at 1pm on both Nov. 5 & 6, includes a comparison of several different versions of the song Try a Little Tenderness and leads into a discussion of the need for changes to current copyright laws.
The other York finalist in the competition, Paul Delaney, professor of physics & astronomy in York’s Faculty of Science & Engineering, was featured in the Oct. 22 broadcast. His lecture, taped at York on Sept. 21, featured ideas in science fiction writing that have pointed the way to current reality. See the Sept. 8 issue of YFile for the full story on York professors in the competition.
The winner will be announced on Nov. 12 and TD Meloche Monnex, the sponsor of the competition, will award the winning university a $10,000 scholarship.