Ehichung Chung

Takes the class seriously, but makes a good effort to make it interesting to students. She knows a lot about music, and she tries to encourage class discussion both on particular pieces and on the greater issues of music and music hum. Generally, class was relatively interesting, and students were involved. She was always trying to give us opportunities to explore more contemporary music, as she realized that the course didn't really cover that at all. The workload is fairly light/moderate, and the grading is fair. Doing the short written HW assignment every night became a little annoying after a while, but it did help you to actually absorb something from the reading, which was helpful for the midterm and final. She was also always open to suggestions and comments from the class. Like most music hum sections, the class can start to feel a little long at times, but overall, it was ok.

I have learned things that I did not expect to learn coming to class the first day: I have learned to analyze East Asian texts from both the wardrobe and the narnia levels. In other words, I have realized that there are almost always negative spaces behind the east asian culture (both classics and music). While the surface, wardrobe aspects are comfortable places where one can enjoy oneself, there will always be the narnia aspect where one are confronted with uncomfortable questions that makes them think more deeply about the issues at hand and their lives at large.

Reading/listening/short written HW for every class, a concert report (3-5 pages), a research paper (4-5 on absolutely anything related to music), a midterm and a final (non-culmulative). Class participation and attendence necessary.

Different genres of East Asian music, the ethos behind the music, and the different philosophies undergirding music's function as it was perceived in East Asia.

this course completely shattered my intellectual frame of mind, you learn about East Asian music but more about the ethos, philosophy, and historical context of the various eras of music and the prominent musicians of the time. It's a great counter balance to the Western philosophy courses that we all have to take and it'll open your mind to seeing the world in a different way

Approaches to understanding music and performance art developed in East Asia

I learned a lot about East Asian music and its history and techniques; but much more than that, I learned about East Asian culture, I learned about how to ask tough social questions and how human experience is translated into music and art in general, I learned a lot about myself.

It runs a bit late sometimes, but otherwise the course is really engaging and makes invaluable contributions to the Core since not much Eastern thought is present in other classes.

My best class experience at Columbia (I admit it's probably really dependent on having great classmates too, since it's very discussion-based)! You get out what you put in - if you're not willing to genuinely engage with this stuff on a deeper level and emotionally invest yourself, you'll get much less out of it. But if you're willing to really care and think about this, your life will change 100%.