An enjoyable, if at times slightly underwhelming, course. Dr. Woolhouse was a great professor, and he always came to class enthusiastic and excited. Not all of the music was of interest to me, but most of it was. I found a lot of great new stuff through this class (pay attention to what he plays before class and at the end of the lecture- while not required learning, a lot of it is truly fantastic).
ASSIGNMENTS
Midterm 1 (20%)
I'm pretty sure I got the weight (20%) right (I can't find the actual course outline). Anyways, this was a pretty straightforward midterm. You get shown pictures of the composers and have to identify them, true and false questions, matching, and I believe multiple choice. There was also a listening component, where the professor would play 30 seconds of a song and you'd have to identify the composer, title, and answer a question about it. This midterm covered the introductory stuff (techniques of music, etc.) and the 18th century composers.
TIP: Go over the songs the night before the midterm, and really listen to them.
Midterm 2 (20%)
Exactly the same format as midterm 1, but this one covered the 19th century composers. It was harder because there were more tracks covered, and many sounded somewhat similar. In fact, I'd this was the hardest midterm.
TIP: If you Google the names of the composers and look at their faces, you should be able to recognize them on the midterm, even if it's a different shot.
Midterm 3 (20%)
Again, the same format as the first two midterms, but this time the content covered was 20th century composers. I loved a lot of the music here, so this was the most enjoyable unit for me on a listening basis.
TIP:
GO TO LECTURES, and pay attention! This really applies to all classes, but especially here, as some of the questions on the midterm(s) come from what he says.
Final Exam (40%)
A bunch of multiple choice questions (75 I think?) and then some composer identification, true/false, etc. etc. All the same types of questions from the midterm were here (except the listening ones) and the final exam covered the entire course.
TIP: With three midterms under your belt, you probably have a good idea of what will be asked. Use that knowledge and study strategically. Also, go to the final exam review classes- they're useful! He even gives out a practise exam during one.
PROFESSOR
Dr. Woolhouse was, as I said in the opening, a great professor. He's extremely knowledgeable of the subject matter, and is always excited and enthusiastic in class. There were some technical problems now and then, but they weren't his fault, and he always powered through them.
There were two TAs. Both seemed pretty young to me. They gave the review classes before the midterms and final exam, and had office hours should you have needed extra help. I never went to the office hours, and can thus solely judge them from their in-class performance during the review sessions. Neither were exceptional, though one was better than the other. To be honest, the weaker of the TAs was flat out bad, mispronouncing words all the time and having seemingly little knowledge of the subject matter.
OVERALL
I enjoyed the course overall. The majority of the music was great, and so was the professor. The TAs could have been better, and some more variety in the assessments would be welcome (I would have loved to write an essay about some of the tracks we covered). Regardless, this was a pretty good course, and again, Dr. Woolhouse did a fantastic job.
