Do NOT take this class if you are not skilled in music. The lectures are pretty boring because he reads right off of the slides. The listening part of the tests is hard, the history part is easy. Matt Jones was an okay TA. He often lost papers of some students, but eventually found them. He is kind of bias in his grading though.
I personally enjoyed this class. Deveaux claims that he teaches this class without requiring any prior knowledge of music. I disagree; I can't imagine taking this course and being remotely successful without a strong musical background. Exams are almost half listening and half history, which again, emphasizes having some sort of musical background. Probably one of my favorite classes I've taken at UVA, but it isn't for everyone. I've heard that it won't count for non-western perspective in the near future, so check on that first before you sign up.
This class is terrible. He reads off his slides the whole time. Going to class was a waste of time and I got the best grades when I studied the book. Slides follow the book word for word.
This class is known to be easy, which can be nice, but the problems I had with the class stemmed from this lack of difficulty. There is little to no motivation to read the textbook because Deveaux covers a vast majority of the material in class through powerpoint, which can be mind-numbingly boring if it weren't for his ability to engage his students. All of the papers are graded by your presumptuous TA, who is more than likely preoccupied with his/her own academics to actually give your paper the time it needs. From what I've gathered, they give you a mediocre grade (that "no one gets an A on their first try" bullshit") on the first paper and then promise improvement by the second paper so long as you adhere to their advice. But guess what, they grade the second paper too, and give basically everyone 4-6 points higher than the first paper, which comes out to be an A- or low A for most students. Many aspects of the class resemble how one might imagine the 13th grade, which sucks, but the subject matter is interesting, and if you're into guys with crippling heroin addictions and names like Jellyroll Morton, Sun Ra, Thelonious Monk, Ornette "Cornhole" Coleman and the likes, then by all means, go for it.
I took this class to get my Non-western perspective requirement out of the way in what I hoped would be an easy class for people with little to no musical knowledge. It definitely was not easy, and I wouldn't recommend taking it unless you're truly interested in the subject material and have background knowledge in music. The material is very interesting and fun, the listening section of the exam is just very difficult to get used to if you don't come in already knowing how to identify different things in music.
This class is an amazing class (at least until he gets to what i call "messy" jazz)...i learned things about jazz i would never have known...deveaux is entertaining and can be quite funny...the class is as fair as can be because you either know the answers or ya dont...nick rubin was an amazing TA who really knows what he is talking about
Would not recommend this class unless you are good with music. I have been reading music for over 10 years and I thought it was hard.
If you have an jazz other other music background, you'll enjoy the class. There is alot of concentrate on deifferentiating eras, rhythms, textures, scales, and even individual performers in the 200+ songs provided. If you don't have an ear for music, beware.
This class was great. Deveaux really knows what he's talking about, even if he can be a bit strange. I would highly recommend this class, especially if you love music.
If you're interested in jazz or music in general, this is a good class to take. Professor Deveaux lectures from Powerpoint slides which can sometimes be dry, but he knows his stuff and isn't bad on the piano either. Also, the class seemed to be easier for people with musical backgrounds.
