Your mileage with this class will vary depending on your knowledge of music theory and/or film going in and your attention span. Lectures were interesting if you summarized the content in notes, and the professor was nice enough to let us have a break halfway through the 2-hour lectures, but overall, in the moment I found myself tuning out more often than not. This is better listed as a film class, as I was hoping to discuss the music itself on an analytical/music theory level, not so much the film as a whole and how the music adds to it.

I would consider this an easy GE however it'll feel like a pain in the butt at times. Her lectures are pretty unorganized and you'll get annoyed because you don't know what to write down, what to pay attention to, etc. After taking the midterm and final, I now know that it was heavily movie based and you should pay attention to those details the most. You also have to come to every lecture because she doesn't bruincast/put slides up. The midterm/final are pretty easy if you take notes and pay attention in lectures, as I studied very minimally for them and still did well. Discussions section is a COMPLETE waste of time but you still have to go for participation points.

This class is now listed as MUSCLG 7.

The lectures could get boring at times. The professor does not put much on her slides and does not post them. The midterm/final are based on the scenes analyzed in class from the films that were homework so as long as you pay attention during lecture and watch the assigned movies you should be fine. It is all short answer and a short essay.

There are weekly journal assignments (super easy), a final paper, and the midterm/final. The workload is very light.

DO NOT BUY THE TEXTBOOK!! There is a free pdf of the book if you search for it online.

This class has the potential to be interesting but lacks focus. Even with the long class times we often don't even or barely touch on the films assigned. I like the readings but they're often really long and it doesn't feel like it's worth it since we barely go over (or even at all) the readings in class or in section. In the end I didn't even read at all and I only skimmed a bit for essay writing when I needed to.

As for difficulty, I don't think the class was hard at all. The trick to this class is to understand what the big picture is- other people mentioned that you have to pay vigilantly attention in class to every detail but this isn't the case, just pay extra attention when she goes over big ideas. For example, something tested was about how a certain studio sounds- while she did provide a lot of misc. (but interesting!) details she reiterated over studio sound many times so that's what I put into my notes. You'll find that Holley speaks in a outline format and if you pay attention you can prioritize what to listen to. Also, pay attention when she goes over the movie assigned. That's what is most tested on the midterm and final.

All in all I did enjoy the class but I can see so much more potential for the class. Holley is passionate about what she teaches and that elevates the class a lot.

Homework: 1 movie, 2 readings, and an online post based on lecture/movie/readings per week. You can skim the readings and still do well on exams.

Exams: There is 1 midterm and 1 final based entirely on what Professor Replogle teaches you about the movies during lecture. The final only covers the material after the midterm which is nice!

Paper: There is 1 paper that you work on throughout the quarter about how the music functions in a movie of your choice. You turn in a thesis statement draft, outline, and your final paper for credit along the way.

Overall, this was a pretty good GE for my first quarter at UCLA. The workload could be annoying at times, but if you go to the lectures and do the work then you should do well. Professor Replogle sometimes went on tangents during lectures, but she is very helpful during office hours and definitely deserves a higher rating than she has. Lastly, take Damjan as your TA if you can!

Ok, Holley is definitely a good lecturer. She's clearly interested in the material she teaches and doesn't drone, keeps showing film clips and musical demos through lecture, etc. She'd be great to just listen to if I never had to take notes during class. Unfortunately, you must, and that's what makes this class a hard take.
Holley doesn't put too much on slides, and she keeps going on tangents and you must note down almost every single point. And yes, she tests some obscure things she just mentions and doesn't have on the slides. The midterm was ridiculous, I had 2 tough CS classes and a math class along with this and somehow this midterm managed to be the hardest one out of all of them. 2 hours to do a rushed short answer question section AND a 4-5 page essay is ridiculous, my hand almost fell off.
The final is much better, and the course material is interesting enough to make the class worth it. Most of the movies were a lot of fun too. I definitely think there's better GE's you could take, but its not the end of the world if you're stuck in this one. Not a lot of reading (and you can get away without doing any of it, because I didn't), and the final essay isn't that bad either. Overall, fun experience, but again, there are better 'ez A' GEs.

PSA: this class is now MUSCLG 7.

From what I remember, your grade in this class is made up of attendance in discussion, a midterm, a final, and a final paper. You have 1 excused absence from discussion before your grade is affected. The final paper is worth a good chunk of your grade, but they grade super easy, so no stress.

Professor Replogle was a pretty okay lecturer. Sometimes she gets too carried away out of excitement and goes off on tangents, which are interesting, but usually not important for the exams. Her slides are super important, so make sure you attend lectures, or have someone take notes for you. As long as you know what she talks about per movie, you'll do fine on the midterm and the final.

If Ross Mitchell is still a TA, please choose his discussion section. He's honestly amazing and made discussion fun to go to, and provided so much help for the exams and final paper.

Overall, easy class and pretty interesting too!

Weekly assignments and movies that are pretty long. tough to take notes in class because she will cover a lot of material but since the TAs grade pretty easily I don't think its too bad but it's somewhat annoying that she touches on one topic and then will go into another very quickly. she gives breaks during lecture which is nice too and the movies are pretty diverse and interesting to watch as well

Good class, tests are very fair. Lectures are pretty boring.

This is the second class I have taken with Dr. Replogle and I have really enjoyed both. This is a super interesting class. One of the criticisms I gave her in the other class was that her selections of music weren't very diverse, racially. I would say that this is not the case for this class. I feel she covered a wide range of musicals given the time she had. For any of her classes, the TA really matters as they will be doing all of the subjective gradings. Discussions are also mandatory. Dr. Replogle is great and I would for sure recommend her!