Susan Boynton

Though I wouldn't say I thoroughly enjoyed every class we had this semester, I 100% learned from Professor Boynton. She can be a bit scattered in her lecturing, but I always come away from class or from an assignment with new knowledge that is directly relevant for what we are learning. I find this extremely helpful and it is much appreciated. Though she can be a bit odd sometimes, she is very, very endearing and very sweet. She always lets us know when there is a concert, museum exhibit, or performance of some sort that we may be interested in -she even led us on a class trip to the Cloisters. She also invited our whole class over to her house for a home-cooked dinner -a good one. She is one of the few professors I have had here who really, truly cares about her students.

Professor Boynton made Music Hum a really valuable course. She is approachable and willing to answer any questions - no matter how elementary. I really appreciated her historical contextualization of all the works. We focused on five pieces in depth rather than doing a more general survey like other sections. By the end of the year I felt like I had actually learned something and had a new way of thinking about and talking about the things we studied. She does a good job of navigating the difficult territory inherent in this course - engaging rather than alienating both those with no musical background and those with extensive musical background. All in all, a great Music Hum experience.

Boring class. Lenient grader. That's it. She just wants people to learn the stuff.

I took this class for fun because I love opera, and I was not disappointed. Prof. Boynton's dry and serious manner of speaking does not accurately reflect her personality or attitude towards the material. At first I thought she was boring and stolid, but as the course went on she relaxed and even showed a sense of humor (albeit not a good one). It was her first semester at the school so she may have been somewhat nervous. The class focused on four operas, only quickly filling in the gaps with basic information. The four operas were Monteverdi's Orfeo, Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, Verdi's Otello, and Carmen. I love these operas (except for Carmen), so I was happy with the course. Overall, Prof. Boynton was an adequate lecturer and a very approachable person who let the material speak for itself, and conducted a pretty good class discussion. So if you like opera or think you might like it, then you shouldn't be disappointed.

A great historical course for anyone interested in music. 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Fall 2022 Course: MUSIUN3128_001_2022_3-HIST-WESTMUS:MIDAGE-BAROQUE : History of Western Music 1- MUSIUN3128_001_2022_3 - HIST-WEST MUS: MID AGE-BAROQUE Instructor: Susan Boynton

Professor Boynton is a very nice person who would who help you a lot if you're having trouble or just have general questions. She has an air of a good teacher, however I find her very hard to follow and confusing. I think she uses the hardest ways to explain the simplest things, and I think which is why class gets bored sometimes. In general i think it's not a bad class to take as a requirement.

If you have the chance definitely take Music Hum with Professor Boynton. She is extremely knowledgeable and also, unlike may instructors, able to impart her knowledge of and interest in the subject to her students. Class time was engaging and always went quickly. Moreover, she had reasonable expectations of her students and was a completely fair grader. Though we learned more than in other music hum classes and she actually situated the music in its social and historical context (which other teachers are supposed to do but don't) she didn't expect an unreasonable amount of knowledge on tests. In fact, the extra we learned just helped us understand the basic concepts we were supposed to learn. She may seem standoffish at first but she's really an incredibly caring woman. You don't really have to do the daily homework because she gives you a review sheet before the midterm that tells you exactly what you have to learn.

A performance report, a very simple midterm and final, and an 8-page paper comparing Verdi's Otello to Shakespeare's play. Seemed like a lenient grader.

I agree with the other reviews that Boynton is a nice woman, however, I do not agree that it is not her fault that this class is boring. Sure, the subject is not exactly immediately grabbing, but with the right approach it is possible to make almost anything interesting, or at least good enough to keep the class from doing crossword puzzels, reading and passing notes. It's a tragedy that with all of her enthusiasm and knowledge, not even a trace of it comes across to the students. The bigger tragedy is that so many of us had to waste a semester with this class just to be able to major in music. The good news is no one will ever have to sit through it again thanks to the change in requirements!! Thank your lucky stars new music majors, and think seriously before taking any other classes with Prof. Boynton even though she is a nice woman interested in her students, although not in her teaching.

Susan Boynton seems to be well intentioned, but she fails to make Music Hum the great course it could be. As another reviewer mentioned, her explainations of simple concrete concepts and ideas are vague, and she uses terms without ever defining them, managing to alienate the non-musically inclined folks, and to bore the ones who knew what a "chord" was. Everyone in class stopped doing the reading a couple weeks into the class, and since she didn't enforce it at all, no one had any idea what was going on. She would ask the class about the reading - no one would answer - and then she'd threaten us with something like "I'll just sit here until someone answers". She seemed to be in denial that no one read. This "no reading" attitude continued after the midterm, as she gives out a specific sheet of things to know about each song, and GIVES you the 2 essay questions beforehand. Basically, you'll ace the tests if you spend 5-10 hours reading / listening / preparing before the midterm and final (exactly the same, just different songs). Also, she left for Europe before the last class (which was taught by the great TA, Amber) and never came back. Kinda seems like she couldn't care less. She was very stringent with deadlines for papers also, don't be late. The papers are also not as great as rumored in other Music Hum sections. One 5-6 page Opera Report on Don Giovanni (which we were not…