Professor
Elizabeth Upton
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Most Helpful Review
Upton comes off as sweet and caring but in reality she is anything but. If you disagree with her she takes it very personally and gets defensive and mean. I raised my hand during a lecture to ask questions and for clarification and I was met with irritated glare and a response of "Can I just finish this because I'm right." Fantastic, I wasn't doubting that and just wasn't clear on exactly what you are saying. Here lectures are extremely scattered and even to someone that is a 3.5 student and pays regular attention during lectures, and copious notes, she still did not fully explain her concepts and her midterms, while very fair essay questions, were extremely difficult to answer because she didn't adequately give us the information to fully answer the question the way she asked. And quite frankly, she's a medievalist but doesn't speak or even know Latin, despite 90% of the her studies being music that is in Latin. In my mind, that's like a scholar of Russian Literature not speaking Russian. Nor does she know how to do the Hand Reading system used by the Boy Choirs of the Renaissance and prior in the monasteries. How this woman ever got tenure in a major Musicology department is a massive mystery to me and anyones guess. I wish I could really respect her but ultimately, I really cannot, and really do not think she is worthy or earning of students respect and is extremely unprofessional.I feel more sorry for the other tenure faculty in the department and future students.
Upton comes off as sweet and caring but in reality she is anything but. If you disagree with her she takes it very personally and gets defensive and mean. I raised my hand during a lecture to ask questions and for clarification and I was met with irritated glare and a response of "Can I just finish this because I'm right." Fantastic, I wasn't doubting that and just wasn't clear on exactly what you are saying. Here lectures are extremely scattered and even to someone that is a 3.5 student and pays regular attention during lectures, and copious notes, she still did not fully explain her concepts and her midterms, while very fair essay questions, were extremely difficult to answer because she didn't adequately give us the information to fully answer the question the way she asked. And quite frankly, she's a medievalist but doesn't speak or even know Latin, despite 90% of the her studies being music that is in Latin. In my mind, that's like a scholar of Russian Literature not speaking Russian. Nor does she know how to do the Hand Reading system used by the Boy Choirs of the Renaissance and prior in the monasteries. How this woman ever got tenure in a major Musicology department is a massive mystery to me and anyones guess. I wish I could really respect her but ultimately, I really cannot, and really do not think she is worthy or earning of students respect and is extremely unprofessional.I feel more sorry for the other tenure faculty in the department and future students.
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Most Helpful Review
Took Music History 68. Was a very easy class! She was very energetic and friendly. tests were fairly simple and were easy to get an A on with a few hours of cramming the night before. Class was very interesting! especially if you are interested in the Beatles. We basically listen to music for half of every lecture. I got an A without putting in a ton of effort. Enjoyed the class and enjoyed the teacher!
Took Music History 68. Was a very easy class! She was very energetic and friendly. tests were fairly simple and were easy to get an A on with a few hours of cramming the night before. Class was very interesting! especially if you are interested in the Beatles. We basically listen to music for half of every lecture. I got an A without putting in a ton of effort. Enjoyed the class and enjoyed the teacher!
Most Helpful Review
Course taken: Music 68. If you're wondering if you should take the Beatles class, TAKE IT. You really learn a whole lot from Upton's class and classes are usually really enjoyable! Readings are not really necessary as long as you attend lecture and discussion. Upton's teaching style is a little erratic at times, she tried to teach us a little music theory stuff which we were never tested on. She went off topic a little on LSD and Yoko Ono but besides the class was a real treat. Grading depends a lot on your TA, Thompson is great. I heard of some TA's that knocked off points from the midterm/final for silly things such as mispelling names/places/etc. If you love the Beatles, you'll love this class. If you don't love the Beatles already, you will when you take this class.
Course taken: Music 68. If you're wondering if you should take the Beatles class, TAKE IT. You really learn a whole lot from Upton's class and classes are usually really enjoyable! Readings are not really necessary as long as you attend lecture and discussion. Upton's teaching style is a little erratic at times, she tried to teach us a little music theory stuff which we were never tested on. She went off topic a little on LSD and Yoko Ono but besides the class was a real treat. Grading depends a lot on your TA, Thompson is great. I heard of some TA's that knocked off points from the midterm/final for silly things such as mispelling names/places/etc. If you love the Beatles, you'll love this class. If you don't love the Beatles already, you will when you take this class.
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