middCourses
with Kyle Saulnier3 days ago

This was one of my favorite courses at Middlebury. I originally took it to fulfill an art credit, and as someone who doesn’t consider myself artistically inclined, it turned out to be the perfect choice. The course offered a broad and accessible look at the history of music in the United States, and I walked away with a much deeper understanding of how music has reflected and shaped American culture over time. Kyle is an excellent lecturer—engaging, approachable, and incredibly knowledgeable. His passion for the subject makes the material come alive, even for students who don’t have a strong background in music. The lectures were always fascinating, and I appreciated the balance of historical context, cultural analysis, and musical listening. The workload was very reasonable. Assignments consisted of weekly readings and listening examples, which were manageable and always connected meaningfully to the lectures. The main assessments were a midterm paper and a final paper, both of which allowed students to choose their own topics in relation to the course material. This flexibility made the assignments much more enjoyable, as you could pursue areas of personal interest while still tying back to the themes of the class. Overall, I would highly recommend this course to anyone—whether you’re an arts major or just trying to complete a requirement. It’s not only manageable in terms of workload, but also intellectually rewarding. You’ll leave with a stronger appreciation for American music and culture, and I hope Kyle has the chance to teach more courses at Middlebury in the future.

This was one of my favorite courses at Middlebury. I originally took it to fulfill an art credit, and as someone who doesn’t consider myself artistically inclined, it turned out to be the perfect choice. The course offered a broad and accessible look at the history of music in the United States, and I walked away with a much deeper u …Read more

Chill and RelaxedEasy GradingNo Exams
2hrs / week Very low difficulty Extremely high value Would take again
with Kyle Saulnier2 years ago

Extremely interesting class which was fairly easy but required you to put a little effort in rather than your normal very easy class. But it was easy to when Kyle is just easy to talk to, listen to, and be present in class with. Most work is discussion/lecture based, with some sparse readings, listening to Spotify playlist and writing short-medium length responses about a topic, and a 5 page midterm which required some research as well as a 5-6 page final paper but as long as you did your due diligence it was graded pretty easily. 9/10 would take again

Extremely interesting class which was fairly easy but required you to put a little effort in rather than your normal very easy class. But it was easy to when Kyle is just easy to talk to, listen to, and be present in class with. Most work is discussion/lecture based, with some sparse readings, listening to Spotify playlist and writin …Read more

Chill and RelaxedEasy GradingNo Exams
2hrs / week Very low difficulty Above average value Would take again
with Kyle Saulnier2 years ago

I really enjoyed this class and Kyle was clearly passionate and excited about the topics he was teaching. Most of class time was used to listen and watch music videos and discuss music through a historical lense. We had two larger writing assignments to analyze music albums and then a final essay. There was a lot of freedom in the final essay. We were assigned weekly playlists which were fun to listen too.

I really enjoyed this class and Kyle was clearly passionate and excited about the topics he was teaching. Most of class time was used to listen and watch music videos and discuss music through a historical lense. We had two larger writing assignments to analyze music albums and then a final essay. There was a lot of freedom in the fi …Read more

Chill and RelaxedNo ExamsEasy Grading
1hrs / week Very low difficulty Above average value Would take again
with Kyle Saulnierlast year

I enjoyed the course very much, the material is interesting and Kyle is a great professor. The homeworks are not difficult, but they are a huge part of your grade, so make sure you complete all of those if you wish to get a good grade.

Chill and RelaxedFair GradingProject Exams
2hrs / week Low difficulty High value Would take again
with Kyle Saulnier2 years ago

Kyle is super funny, and enthusiastic about course material. You can tell that he is very knowledgeable about what he is talking about. Homework is super fun lots of playlist to listen to and independent research. Midterm and Final work is interesting since there is space to explore topics you are personally interested in.

Fast-PacedFair GradingProject Exams
4hrs / week Low difficulty Extremely high value Would take again