As someone who could care less about jazz, I really enjoyed this class. The lectures were two hours which would drag on but being honest, I never attended class and just reviewed the slides which provided the lectures WORD FOR WORD. Prior to the TA strike, I must have just been unlucky but my TA would not really help us in any way, and for every assignment she graded, she would give me a 4.9/5, which felt a tad dramatic. The midterm and final were easy considering each question was based on the SLIDES. Although for a GE, the work and tested material were tedious considering you are expected to memorize artists from a selected list including a song, and significant fact but the exams being online made it less stressful. The final project was on anything jazz-related, I did a research paper that got an A+ since it was graded by Bolin himself due to the TA strike, which I was fortunate in that sense.

Although I am just listing downfalls, the class was not difficult considering I got an A. LOTS OF EXTRA CREDIT WAS PROVIDED ... but, it was a lot of work for one point which felt not worth the time. As someone who put in the bare minimum, I still landed an A. Bolin is also a very understanding man, I missed a quiz due to being out of town but because I communicated with him about my absence, he allowed me to take it from home which was a relief. Following that, he then sent me a link to the recorded lecture and that saved me a lot of stress. Overall, I enjoyed the class because of Professor Bolin, As a freshman in my first quarter, it was nice to take a class that was stress-free and engaging.

Worst GE ever. I love jazz and absolutely hated this class. It was so incredibly unorganized and I had no idea what was expected of me the entire time. The classes were each two hours long and he would ramble about who knows what. It was so unclear what you were supposed to be learning. The midterms and finals were torture. I studied for days and ended up doing well because I spent so much time on them, but it was way too much work for a GE. The questions were super random and rarely were actually covered in class/ the readings. Also, we were expected to remember long lists of songs (he would play the song and we had to recognize it and memorize their titles, artists, genres, years, and random details. We had to write multiple essays (literally the longest essays I've had to write in my life even though there was nothing to talk about), a long project, and try to find a boring concert to attend just to write another incredibly long essay. If you put an insane amount of work in, you'll do fine, but it's not worth it. As a pre-med student, saying this is the most time I've ever put into a class is insane.

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

the lectures are 2 hours and unrecorded. i stopped going and started relying on the slides to figure out what was going on, but the slides are not super detailed. the tests are easy, and the projects are fine as well. it's just a lot of hassle for a class i opted to take as a GE! the subject is of course interesting, but i wasn't as invested/interested in the class as i thought i would be.

He is a really nice professor and did try really well to explain Jazz terms to non music majors. However the class would benefit from more structured lecture slides.

Your grade is based on participation in discussion, a final project, two exams, and a concert analysis. Overall everything is graded pretty leniently. Professor Bolin lets his TAs assign section grades (~20% of your total grade). There are some pretty lengthy weekly readings but they are not tested on the exams AT ALL. I wouldn't waste my time on them (I stopped reading them after week 2).

The exams (midterm and final) both have an in-class Canvas MCQ and a few take home short answer questions. The MCQ was actually a bit difficult because it felt like it was about stuff he didn't emphasize as much (for the first one at least, i stopped going to class after midterm #1 which made the final MCQ even harder for me). Honestly, if you're fine with risking an A- or below I wouldn't bother with going to class. That said, even if you don't go to class there's enough extra credit that you can probably still get an A or A+. Again, there is a sizeable amount of extra credit on the short answers (around +20% of the short answer grade) that more than makes up for a poor MCQ score.

Your grade ultimately depends on your TA (although I'm pretty sure ALL the TAs grade pretty generously so long as you put in some effort). My TA was Martin Hundley who was a bit disorganized at times but graded extremely easily. He was also really passionate about the subject in discussion which was nice to see. Our grade was based entirely on attendance at discussion and 2-3 sentences in a weekly Canvas discussion thread.

For the concert observation analysis you go to a random jazz concert and take notes on it. I wouldn't stress about finding one on your own too much because the professor/TA usually drop 1-2 opportunities during the quarter about events you can go to.

Directions for final projects were a bit unclear. Most people end up doing a 7-8 page research paper. It's not too bad considering this is the only real/hard non-exam work you're doing the entire quarter for this class.

Lectures are sometimes boring. He spends a lot of time rambling around and I never grasped the point of what he wanted to get across. We get weekly readings to discuss in discussion and we can use them for our "take-home" free response portion of the midterm and final where we are given up to 10 points of extra credit. There is a listening portion on the midterm and final which was not difficult if you listen to the playlist a few times. We had a project due at week 8 and we had lots of freedom with how we wanted to go about it. I would say the TA's don't grade too harshly on the project or the observation analysis of a performance. Overall the class was a good GE. Low maintenance but interesting enough to stay present.

I took this class not only because I am interested in jazz but also because it is a rather easy GE. There is a midterm and a final, both online, and a final project as well. Weekly assignments are easy and just go over the reading (which isn't tested over). The final project was very enjoyable for me, as I did it over something I am passionate about - this class really isn't hard, just know that it isn't over the actual music but rather the genre's history. There are lots of extra credit opportunities as well. One complaint I have is that the rubric for the short-answer final writing was changed last minute and I had to re-submit my 10+ pages of writing close to the deadline because of a typological error in the rubric. Overall, Marc is a great professor and I do recommend the class.

This class is extremely easy and I would recommend it if you were only seeking for an easy GE and an easy A. This class however is extremely draining, not work-wise or content-wise but his lectures were possibly the most boring on the planet. There's little to no work outside of a weekly discussion about readings and a project but his 2 hour lectures (with no break) are intolerable. He often goes on tangents, calls on random students to discuss niche abstractions about jazz, and is just not an enjoyable lecturer. His exams are not about larger processes or the "big idea," but rather random names in jazz that he covered in maybe one bullet point in one lecture. His final study guide contained 79 names and the exam reflected that: not any historical concept that jazz related to or cultural evolution, but some random jazz artist that produced one song and was called "the king of [insert]." If you take this class, don't go to lecture and just study what your TA tells you to do. You'll probably be fine. Overall, wouldn't recommend this class for any reason other than to get an "A."

This class is fairly easy and manageable. The issue is, an almost two hour lecture is a little insane. The professor never fails to go off on tangents. Especially if you're tired in the morning, you're not going to remember everything that he says. Whenever I walk out of class, I ask myself, what did I even learn. I skipped like half of the lectures before the midterm and got an A on it. The slides have little information on them, but the information that is there is actually valuable for the midterm and final. The midterm is easier than the final, although the final isn't cumulative. There aren't any weekly assignments, and everyone is given notice on the due dates of every assignment from the beginning. It's relatively easy and I would recommend giving yourself enough time to complete them. The readings are pretty easy, and its only one reading per week. For midterms and finals week, he doesn't assign a reading. Overall easy work, but your grade does depend on your TA. Most if not all TAs were nice people and they aren't overly analytical/picky. I would say go to them if you need anything. Do with that what you will.