Actually took 50B. This class was really annoying. There's so much stuff that you need to know for the tests it's absolutely ridiculous. Also he tests you on material from the textbook I don't know what everyone is talking about. Basically if you're looking for an easy A don't take this class.

Very simple evaluation of jazz 50A....
Harrison goes off on tangents brings up his childhood alot and plays tons of videos... TONS.
Class is extremely easy if you study the study guides from your TA.
The grades just released for the class and i got a 95% and i only been to lecture about 5 times.
There are 3 essays 4-6 pages each (one is a rough draft everyone gets 100% on that one) and then a midterm and final both 100 questions each.
THE TA MAKES YOUR GRADE!!! Attendance is taken in discussion and generally EVERYONE gets A's on the essays if you meet the page requirement and sources.
If you are just looking for the A and not really learning about jazz dont buy any book except course reader i wasted a ton of money.
First midterm i got a 100% and final i got 90% both times i studied the night before and day of.
LEARN THE SONGS IN ADVANCE TRUST ME.
In general take the class! All you need to do is got to discussion and make friends with people who are in other discussions so you can exchange study guides! class is easy as long as you study for midterm and final. PS. Do not take the black TA he is the worst!!

I was really grateful to take his class during my first quarter at UCLA. Professor Harrison mostly relied on a jazz documentary, so it does get boring sometimes; but when he does lecture, you can tell that he really loves jazz. One thing to keep in mind is that the TA really matters. My TA was pretty terrible but thankfully I had a friend in a different TA section to compare notes with. The assignments were pretty easy: two really short essays, a midterm, and a final. The final is done a week before finals week, so that can be either a blessing or a curse. MAKE SURE TO CHECK THE TEST BANK BEFORE THE MIDTERM. If nothing's changed since I last took this class, you'll find that taking a visit to SAC's Test Bank will be very beneficial *Hint hint*

This class was really easy! I took it as a freshman my first quarter and very easy GE compared to other GEs. We had a midterm, 2 essays (both very easy to BS), and a final. Both the final and midterm were so easy as long as you take about two days beforehand to actually go over all the terms and musicians. the midterm is EXACTLY like the test bank I got from the student center. Also, he doesnt have ppt slides but as long as you go to most of his lectures and take down notes and what he says you will be fine. he shows a lot of videos. he was easy to understand. I did not care at all about Jazz before taking it and it was still pretty interesting. Also, i did not buy any of the books. literally not needed at all. The only times i would need to textbook was studying for the exams but I found the book in the music library and just took notes! also, some TAs will give study guides that are really helpful and if yours doesnt, ask around!! OVERALL, i definitely would recommend

Exams: The midterm and final both entirely from Harrison’s lectures, so there’s no need to buy the textbook or course reader. The midterm and final are both worth 30% of the final grade, and the final is not cumulative. Both exams have about 50 general jazz knowledge questions, about 30 T/F or musician-instrument matching questions, and then 20 questions based on songs you have to memorize and recognize during the exam. Overall, the content is very easy as long as you put in the time to memorize basic facts, and the songs are pretty easy to memorize as they’re all pretty distinctive from each other. I was in band in high school, and a music background definitely makes memorization easier, but it’s still easy enough to get an A with a decent amount of studying.

Essays: The essays are pretty easy. You have essay #1 rough draft, essay #1 final draft, and a second essay on Lester Young or Billy Strayhorn. I know everyone else says that these essays are automatic 100s, but it really depends on your TA, because mine didn’t give out automatic 100s. Overall, the essays count for 30% of your grade (10% for each essay assignment). There’s also an extra credit essay performance report worth up to 3% of your final grade. You don’t need to buy the jazz book or the course reader, but the course reader can be helpful as a source for your essays. Otherwise, just attending lectures is fine.

Lecture: First, the lectures don’t have slides and it’s not podcasted, so you have to either attend class or get notes from friends. Second, the material is surprisingly interesting. I didn’t expect the history to be so engaging, but it is. I think that is probably due to professor Harrison’s really engaging lecture style. Some may not like it, but Harrison tells stories from his childhood and makes “short stories long” a lot of the time. I like this better than just straight recitation of definitions. I really like the tangents that he goes on, and you can tell that he’s really passionate about jazz, so it’s always nice to learn from him. Basically take notes on everything he says in preparation for the exams because all the questions come from things he says in lecture, especially the days when he goes over musicians and their instruments. He also likes to play Ken Burns’ Jazz documentary during the second half of class. It’s pretty interesting, but it’s all repeated information from lecture and it doesn’t show up on exams. I still liked watching it though.

Overall: I would definitely recommend taking this class! Before I took this course, I had moderate interest in jazz, but after this class, I absolutely love it! It is also a very easy GE with little work (which is why most people take the class), but I really enjoyed the music and content. This class was very easy, but it actually sparked a great interest in jazz even after the class was over, so I’m very happy with my decision to take the class.

Ethno 50A was such an easy GE class but such a boring course... like half of the class didn't bother to show up to lectures. The lecture size is big (240 students) so no one really notices or cares if you show up to class. People come to lecture to take notes on what he's saying which will be really useful for his tests but to be honest you don't really need to take notes for the test. Just go to the test bank to find an old copy of the midterm (hint hint as he would say) and find a really good study guide for the final. The questions on each tests are kind of weird, sort of following what he says in lecture, but some questions are just out of the blue. He says you should read the textbook, but it has a lot of extraneous information you don't really need. Pretty much if you find old tests to practice, memorize the listening list in advance, and study which musician played what instrument or if they were a bandleader or not, you will be fine.
There are two essays- 1 graded draft and two final essays. Usually everyone gets an A and the TAs grade pretty nicely. If you're really worried ask to go meet with the TAs before submitting your paper and they'll tell you everything they think you should revise. Every TA is looking for specific things in a paper but they're willing to let you know beforehand and you'll get a good grade. Also for papers, check out your books early because about 50 other people are gonna wanna check out the same book since everyone is doing the same research paper. Discussions are mandatory (10% of your grade) but not really helpful. You don't need to do much to do well in the class, which is why I'd consider it an easy GE.

GREAT CLASS IF YOU WANT AN A.
It's a simple class. Go to lecture, take notes. If you don't go, have a friend go and give you his notes. Me and my friend would both go. I would sleep for the first half of lecture, and then he would sleep for the second half. Then we would exchange notes. His midterm was literally the same as the one in the test bank. His final had like 15 questions that were different.
RECOMMENDATIONS: Listen to the songs that he tests you on early!! It sucks to cram them all in in a week... Get the tests from the test bank!! Start your essays and rough drafts early!! Or you will screw yourself over like I did...Do the extra credit and solidify your A. I literally got an A by 1 point. Thanks you extra credit.

this dude so boring i cant smh

Honestly this class wasn't too hard. However, the lectures can get a bit boring, especially since they mainly involve just Professor Harrison listing musicians, the era they were in, their instrument, and other facts about them. The midterm was really tricky in that there were 100 multiple choice questions, which means a lot of small details were tested and memorization of the lecture is crucial. There were questions that came from videos played during class. There was also a listening portion of songs from your listening list, which was more straightforward. I heard that Professor Harrison reuses a lot of questions from past exams, but he took his test out of the test bank. The 2 essays in the class are graded pretty easily by the TAs. There's also an extra credit essay (3-4 pages) that can boost your final grade by 3%. I also felt that the final, which is not cumulative, was easier than the midterm. Overall the class isn't super hard, but it also is not super interesting because the exams focus a lot on just memorization.

Lectures are incredibly repetitive but straightforward and give exact information more directly than the textbooks will. The books (especially the course reader) barely helped me and didn't have the explicit facts that the tests were asking. Writing essays is pretty easy and straightforwards, but the tests are very specific and you have to memorize every instrument and period for every musician, even ones that aren't on the listening list, which Harrison didn't make clear. We watch a lot of films that aren't helpful, but overall this class is very low effort as long as you study for exams and can memorize about 30-50ish musicians. Also I've heard that for 50A you can get an exact copy of the midterms at the test bank and he never changes his questions, but this is definitely not the case for 50B.