MUSI BC1001

3 listening reflections, 3 5-page papers turned into a writing fellow a few weeks before they're due, and a final. The final was difficult, but Professor Archer gave plenty of review material.

Three essays (they need to be well-written!), seven (I think?) listening quizzes, which take intense studying...the night before, and a final, which is not too difficult if you've taken good notes.

light: 3 papers, midterm, final, attendance/participation

I had no idea what to expect from this class coming in, but it was INCREDIBLE. I truly was fascinated by every lecture. Professor Archer is entertaining, warm, and so truly passionate about what she teaches. I am now minoring in music thanks to this class.

This class with this professor is one of those that people either love or hate. Or both. I was a little of both. The positive (which outweighs the negative): - Boerger knows her stuff very, very well, and is incredibly passionate about it. I don't think it's possible not to get excited about Bach during her lectures (even to a classical violinist who has played Bach partitas ad nauseum). - There's a textbook, but readings are optional and everything you need to know is covered in lecture (but copying her blackboard notes is essential!), except a few quiz questions, which she gives you beforehand. - You get a very thorough overview of Western music and the history that surrounded it. - She is a fantastic writing coach--much, much better than the FYS teacher I had at the time--and wants you to become a better writer, too. The negative: - Boerger usually came into class sort of angry (usually not about the class) and took it out on us, but she always cheered up after 10 or 15 minutes of teaching, and you could tell she loved the class. - My section had 15 very quiet people in it. She became frustrated when nobody answered questions, we got timid whenever she was frustrated, she became more frustrated... - I think pre-1600 Western music is sort of boring, especially if you've played classical music before. Some of it is beautiful. Most of it is totally predictable. Never took the…

I loved coming to this class. I learned a lot, and the work was completely manageable. She really tries to engage her students in class. She even had the class learn some dances that would go with the music being discussed. The tests are easy to study for because she gives out detailed study guides. Still, the memorization and listening involved for studying can take a long time. So, start studying more than a few hours before a test. Her grading is pretty fair although I think her comments on essays could be more thorough.

3 one page (single spaced) listening reflections, 3 five page papers (which you need to submit a draft of to a writing fellow a few weeks in advance of the deadline), and 1 final exam, worth 35% of your grade.

I'm nearly tone-deaf and I loved this class. Hated the final (basically a three-hour vocabulary test), and the three listening quizzes throughout the semester were murder (but that might not be true if you're not, you know, tone deaf), but the lectures are awesome: fascinating and fun, all at once. Prof. Boerger is willing to explain concepts as simple as a "note," over and over and over again, and she's also willing to go off on tangents about concepts that interest her students; you can tell that she loves talking about music, and will happily do it under pretty much any conditions. She's tough about deadlines, though -- the papers are totally doable if you put in a reasonable amount of work, but don't even *think* of turning them in late.

3 writing assignments, midterm, final exam

gail is such a lovely person, so passionate about what she is teaching, and so invested in the well-being of her students. though the subject matter of this class is rather niche (and i wouldn't suggest taking it if you don't have a fairly strong interest in medieval and renaissance music), her joy makes it fairly easy to feel invested in the lectures. she is also generous when grading and with her time, providing lots of office hours and also taking us to various museums around the city outside of class time. however, this class does have some problems. the lectures feel very disorganized, for one thing. each typically focuses on a different composer or other important figure, but they are not really connected much—you have to do that work for yourself. it was the kind of thing where during the lectures i felt totally engaged and then afterwards i couldn't really articulate what i had learned. the prompts for each assignment is rather vague, also. they're designed so that people with zero familiarity with music can take this course, so they are mostly subjective rather than analytical, which i struggled with, but that also means they're pretty easy to do well on. the major problem with this class, though, was the final. it was a take home final (thank god) and it took me the whole three hours. gail gave us a study guide for this exam in october and told us multiple times sinc…