Professor Keyes is a great woman and its evident that she's really passionate about the subject material. She goes off on many tangents that you might think aren't that important but let me stress to you... TAKE NOTES ON EVERYTHING SHE SAYS. She doesn't have slides and but she sometimes emails the class a page or two on something she finds really important. Other than that, take lots of notes (I'd honestly say its more important than completing all of the readings). On a positive note, you do learn a lot about interesting history of Black music and the discussion section is extremely helpful as well. The midterm is pretty short, and the TA gives a practice midterm which is really similar. He also sends out note templates that outline everything you'd need to know to succeed in the class. DO THOSE!!! We also have to do 5 one page papers summarizing the readings for that week which really isn't that bad. The final essay isn't too difficult, but make sure you clarify with the TA exactly what he's looking for because sometimes the prompts can be a bit confusing. The Final was long and had lots of random information, but as long as you do well on the others, and complete the extra credit, you should be good to go.

Midterm I got a 95%, Paper 100% Final 79% and didnt do the extra credit but I managed to get an A. Id recommend the class if you're willing to pay attention to lecture and take notes. And don't be hesitant to talk to the TA, If I had done that sooner, I would have saved myself a lot of stress. He knows so much!