ETHNMUS M50B
Jazz in American Culture: 1940s to Present
Description: (Same as Global Jazz Studies M50B.) Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour. Course M50A is not requisite to M50B. Survey of development of jazz in American culture. Discussion of different compositional/performance techniques and approaches that distinguish different sub-styles of jazz from one another, as well as key historical figures that shaped development of jazz from its early years through modern jazz. Important historical social issues (segregation, Depression, World War II, Civil Rights Movement) that intersect with history of U.S. and jazz music. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2025 - NO HOMEWORK, only a required concert observation and project both due towards the end of the class. One midterm with an in-person multiple choice and an at-home written portion, same with the final. Mandatory discussions that are pretty engaging. Marc is a super nice guy, you can tell he's really passionate about what he teaches and wish I went to more than 3-4 lectures. You definitely don't need prior musical knowledge because this is more of a history class than a music theory class. For the midterm/final: You will have required listening playlist on Spotify/YouTube, literally just memorize the songs and the artists that composed/performed them and have an understanding on the history behind it. Probably ended up studying 4-6 hours in total for each test and got 100 on the midterm and 94 on the final. Overall a super easy and interesting class
Winter 2025 - NO HOMEWORK, only a required concert observation and project both due towards the end of the class. One midterm with an in-person multiple choice and an at-home written portion, same with the final. Mandatory discussions that are pretty engaging. Marc is a super nice guy, you can tell he's really passionate about what he teaches and wish I went to more than 3-4 lectures. You definitely don't need prior musical knowledge because this is more of a history class than a music theory class. For the midterm/final: You will have required listening playlist on Spotify/YouTube, literally just memorize the songs and the artists that composed/performed them and have an understanding on the history behind it. Probably ended up studying 4-6 hours in total for each test and got 100 on the midterm and 94 on the final. Overall a super easy and interesting class
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2020 - If you have any interest in jazz music, I'd recommend taking this class. I took it as a GE, and I discovered some really great music. The 2 hour lectures in the morning can be draining, but usually there's not too much in the way of notetaking. A good chunk of each lecture is taken up by the professor playing a song or a portion from a documentary. The lectures aren't podcasted and the slides aren't posted online though. In terms of workload, it's pretty light. There's a paper due towards the end of the course that was graded pretty generously. You do have to keep track of the songs the professors posts though, as they make up the majority of the exams. In the end, the amount of songs amounted to a little over 80, so it is quite a bit, even though most of them are really enjoyable. I'd suggest making a Spotify/Apple Music playlist for easy studying and listening. Overall, I'd really recommend this class as an easy GE, especially if you have an interest in jazz music.
Winter 2020 - If you have any interest in jazz music, I'd recommend taking this class. I took it as a GE, and I discovered some really great music. The 2 hour lectures in the morning can be draining, but usually there's not too much in the way of notetaking. A good chunk of each lecture is taken up by the professor playing a song or a portion from a documentary. The lectures aren't podcasted and the slides aren't posted online though. In terms of workload, it's pretty light. There's a paper due towards the end of the course that was graded pretty generously. You do have to keep track of the songs the professors posts though, as they make up the majority of the exams. In the end, the amount of songs amounted to a little over 80, so it is quite a bit, even though most of them are really enjoyable. I'd suggest making a Spotify/Apple Music playlist for easy studying and listening. Overall, I'd really recommend this class as an easy GE, especially if you have an interest in jazz music.
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