Professor
Raymond Knapp
5 of 5
Most Helpful Review
(IGNORE THE COURSE TITLE, I took Music History 60, The American Musical) I am so glad I decided to take Professor Knapp's class on the American Musical. I already had a strong interest in musicals coming into the class, so that may have helped. Knapp is a very distinguished man in his field, and extremely intelligent. He's super soft-spoken and friendly (you can always go up to him during breaks and ask him a question). With that said, the lectures can get dreary at times. Since he sends out the lecture outlines beforehand, I suggest bringing a laptop to class and typing your notes onto the outlines. The two textbooks we used were actually written by Knapp himself. While they are interesting, and you get to learn a lot about specific musicals, his scholarly language and technical musical terms might fly over your head. I definitely suggest reading the assigned chapters before coming to lecture, so as to get a basic understanding of what everything is about, but the reading WILL be long and dry. We had three listening quizzes (very easy), a midterm (multiple-choice), a final (multiple-choice, essay), and a five-page paper on a musical of your choice. Your TA will be the best source of guidance--I had a fantastic TA who was a tremendous help on my paper. Knapp provides study guides before each exam, so you just need to know them well. All in all, the class was insightful and interesting, and I loved the music. We learned about so many classic musicals (Cabaret, Hair, Anything Goes, Singin' in the Rain, West Side Story, Oklahoma, among others), and I feel great going places and understanding all these musical references! With A's on every assignment and exam, and a great relationship with my TA, I ended with an A+.
(IGNORE THE COURSE TITLE, I took Music History 60, The American Musical) I am so glad I decided to take Professor Knapp's class on the American Musical. I already had a strong interest in musicals coming into the class, so that may have helped. Knapp is a very distinguished man in his field, and extremely intelligent. He's super soft-spoken and friendly (you can always go up to him during breaks and ask him a question). With that said, the lectures can get dreary at times. Since he sends out the lecture outlines beforehand, I suggest bringing a laptop to class and typing your notes onto the outlines. The two textbooks we used were actually written by Knapp himself. While they are interesting, and you get to learn a lot about specific musicals, his scholarly language and technical musical terms might fly over your head. I definitely suggest reading the assigned chapters before coming to lecture, so as to get a basic understanding of what everything is about, but the reading WILL be long and dry. We had three listening quizzes (very easy), a midterm (multiple-choice), a final (multiple-choice, essay), and a five-page paper on a musical of your choice. Your TA will be the best source of guidance--I had a fantastic TA who was a tremendous help on my paper. Knapp provides study guides before each exam, so you just need to know them well. All in all, the class was insightful and interesting, and I loved the music. We learned about so many classic musicals (Cabaret, Hair, Anything Goes, Singin' in the Rain, West Side Story, Oklahoma, among others), and I feel great going places and understanding all these musical references! With A's on every assignment and exam, and a great relationship with my TA, I ended with an A+.
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Most Helpful Review
I took Music History 60 with him and even though I love musicals it is a really boring class. I had it at 9 am and I slept through every lecture. He puts the slides online so there really is little point in going. He takes lecture role every class during a ten minute break an hour in which sucks. Do not buy the books they are written extremely pretentiously and you do not need them. The midterm is a bitch, but even if you do not do well on it you can still make up your grade with listening quizzes that are a joke. I got an A- even with sleeping through lecture and not reading.
I took Music History 60 with him and even though I love musicals it is a really boring class. I had it at 9 am and I slept through every lecture. He puts the slides online so there really is little point in going. He takes lecture role every class during a ten minute break an hour in which sucks. Do not buy the books they are written extremely pretentiously and you do not need them. The midterm is a bitch, but even if you do not do well on it you can still make up your grade with listening quizzes that are a joke. I got an A- even with sleeping through lecture and not reading.
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5 of 5
