Danielle Simon

This class was beyond easy. I did a lot of the extra credit work and then never studied for exams. I took it with Hamberlin, not Simon. If you need an easy A I would recommend, but it is not high value.

This course wasn’t very difficult. Most of the work just felt like busy work, and the tests were not difficult at all. If students wanted a good grade they were able to get one with minimal effort, and it seemed most people didn’t learn or benefit much from this class.

Music in Western Cultures is a difficult, reading heavy coursed required for the music major. We went from ancient music traditions all the way to contemporary music in an entire semester–it was rapid speed. That being said, the Professor Simon was mostly focused on teaching the scholarly aspects of musicology–which felt at times a bit distracted from learning music history. Every class we would begin with a student-led discussion on the reading which was often beyond our comprehension, and Professor Simon would have to jump in to steer us back on track. Research project, presentations, discussion leadings, and special collections visits were all part of the course. I really enjoyed the material of this course, but struggled to stay caught up with all of the material we blew by, and often skimmed the readings that felt most relevant to music history to prioritize the scholarly discussions. I wouldn't recommend this class to students looking for light reading or are shy in discussions.

Music in Western Cultures is a difficult, reading heavy coursed required for the music major. We went from ancient music traditions all the way to contemporary music in an entire semester–it was rapid speed. That being said, the Professor Simon was mostly focused on teaching the scholarly aspects of musicology–which felt at times a b …Read more