I took this class as a GE and overall enjoyed the class material, but the lectures were very boring. You really only need good memorization to do well in the class. Lectures were long, boring, and unengaging but the expectations for the class were very clearly outlined which I found helpful. I knew exactly what I had to study for exams, and papers were graded generously. The lecture slides even have a slide at the end with a list of terms you’ll need to know for the tests, and you really don’t need to know anything else. Overall a boring but easy GE. TA Heidi wasn’t very good at explaining things clearly to us and I didn’t really gain anything from sections but it didn’t matter because the class was so easy. However, I would recommend avoiding her if you are able to.

I took this class as a GE and honestly, it was super easy. I loved her class and it was interesting, however, the lectures could get a tad low energy which isn't super helpful, but it was a 1 and a half hr lecture at 9 am. She is super passionate about the topics and would have guest performances so a lot of the time half of the class was lecture and the rest was that. Once we got to try Thai instruments. Attendance is not required for the lectures, however, she does not record but you do have access to her slides and the textbook genuinely does cover what she talks about minus the special topics she includes. It's not hard to catch up but if you miss multiple it can be a bit hard to. Discussion attendance is graded but there was a midterm test and a final test that was half made up of listening samples, which are easy to memorize and identify and then short writing prompts. The rest of the grade was made up of an easy quiz based on a reading, a musical autobiography, a textbook chapter critique, and then a concert report.

This class was very interesting and a great experience if you want to diversify your knowledge of music and cultures. Professor Helen Rees was very understanding and genuinely cared about student learning. It's very common for students to have little to no experience with music before taking this class, and that is completely okay! Though her lectures were hard to stay attentive to, the PowerPoints themselves told you everything you needed to know about the cultural region you were studying. My favorite thing was that in each slideshow, Professor Rees concluded them with a "What you need to know for exam purposes" which included key terms and names to come back to by the time you needed to study.
Rees always encourages student participation, bringing in many guest performers and inviting students to come up and play the instrument during the lecture. The class itself is fairly easy if you do the work when you need to. With my experience, I stopped going to lectures by Week 3 and only would go to discussions. As long as you took notes on the lectures and actually listened to the listening examples, you should be good to go. The papers are subjective so as long as you hit all the points/questions asked for, it will be light work.
Most people got screwed over with the midterm but all you need to do is mainly study the listening examples (my best tip is to find a distinct factor in each example) and then familiarize yourself with different instruments and artists that are mentioned in the lectures.
I also got COVID during finals and was unable to take the final in person, and she was more than willing to accommodate my situation and make the final accessible in a virtual setting which I am very thankful for!

Grade Breakdown
10% - 1 open book, in-section reading quiz
20% - midterm
20% - final (not cumulative)
10% - 2 pg musical autobiography
20% - 4 pg concert report
20% - 4 pg textbook chapter critique

I took this course because I heard from a friend that this class is super easy. While this is true, what they failed to mention is that the lectures are very dry. The lectures are 2 hours long, twice a week, and this was the only part of the course that I found to be extremely difficult. The reading assignments are not necessary, as Professor Rees will go over the exact same material in the lectures. Professor Rees seems to express her extensive knowledge about ethnomusicology through her monotone voice. There are barely any graded assignments (3 papers). My TA, Tingting Tang, was very sweet and helpful. Would highly recommend choosing Tang for your TA.