Professor
Robert Fink
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Most Helpful Review
Spring 2018 - Professor Fink is great. Take this class whether you love EDM or your just curious about it. It is really interesting and professor Fink does a great job explaining the material. Don't expect to focus entirely on todays EDM scene because the bulk of the class is about the very beginning of it in the US and the UK. Overall the class was easy in my opinion. Two assignments one in which you create your drum rhythm and the other is a short essay about your experience watching an edm set in person. A midterm and final with essay portions. Discussion is mandatory since its a part of your grade but all the TA's were pretty chill. overall a really interesting and fun class.
Spring 2018 - Professor Fink is great. Take this class whether you love EDM or your just curious about it. It is really interesting and professor Fink does a great job explaining the material. Don't expect to focus entirely on todays EDM scene because the bulk of the class is about the very beginning of it in the US and the UK. Overall the class was easy in my opinion. Two assignments one in which you create your drum rhythm and the other is a short essay about your experience watching an edm set in person. A midterm and final with essay portions. Discussion is mandatory since its a part of your grade but all the TA's were pretty chill. overall a really interesting and fun class.
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Fall 2015 - He was a very fun lecturer. He has a tendency to get really into his music and it might take up a lot of the class, but it's pretty fun to listen to edm. The first half is mainly the history and the second half is more about the music. The hardest part of the class is memorizing songs. You have to be able to listen to it and identify the song title, artist, and the year it was produced. Other than that, if you pay attention to class you will pretty much do well. He posts his lecture slides online and passes out an outline every time.
Fall 2015 - He was a very fun lecturer. He has a tendency to get really into his music and it might take up a lot of the class, but it's pretty fun to listen to edm. The first half is mainly the history and the second half is more about the music. The hardest part of the class is memorizing songs. You have to be able to listen to it and identify the song title, artist, and the year it was produced. Other than that, if you pay attention to class you will pretty much do well. He posts his lecture slides online and passes out an outline every time.
Most Helpful Review
Wow! All these reviews are way too positive for me! Whoever said he was pompous is right on the dot (lectures and office hours). No doubt he loves the subject matter, but he loves himself a lot more. I didn't learn anything relevant in Music 10. I attended every single lecture, stayed awake (pretty impressive), aced the midterm, aced the paper, and thought I did pretty well on the final. Ended up getting a C+ in the class. Tried inquiring what I may have done wrong but he gave me some sarcastic remark and that was that. No discussion. He did all the talking as well during office hours. Oh, and don't walk in late or fall asleep or he'll draw attention to you, as I've noticed w/ classmates. Music is my passion. I love the creativity; love the technicial aspect. Looking into it as a future career, in fact. I give this guy credit for being able to make me despise music for a whole 10 wks.
Wow! All these reviews are way too positive for me! Whoever said he was pompous is right on the dot (lectures and office hours). No doubt he loves the subject matter, but he loves himself a lot more. I didn't learn anything relevant in Music 10. I attended every single lecture, stayed awake (pretty impressive), aced the midterm, aced the paper, and thought I did pretty well on the final. Ended up getting a C+ in the class. Tried inquiring what I may have done wrong but he gave me some sarcastic remark and that was that. No discussion. He did all the talking as well during office hours. Oh, and don't walk in late or fall asleep or he'll draw attention to you, as I've noticed w/ classmates. Music is my passion. I love the creativity; love the technicial aspect. Looking into it as a future career, in fact. I give this guy credit for being able to make me despise music for a whole 10 wks.
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Fall 2023 - Taking this cluster is one of my best experiences here at UCLA. For those of you who are deciding whether or not to take this class: there will be 2 lectures (75 minutes each) and 1 discussion (1h50min, ik it's long). There will be 2 essays (poli sci 30% + English literature 30%), a midterm (20%), and discussion score. For 60A, there is no final, but for 60B, there is no midterm but a final that is cumulative. Now I've finished taking 60B, and I'm grateful for how much I learned from this class. This class is really interesting and enriching if you are interested in this period, but the workload can also be pretty big (that's expected for a 6-unit cluster, though). Personally I think if you are a humanities/social science and good at writing, go for it. But if you are a STEM person and hate reading/writing, you would probably have to spend more time considering whether to take this class and going over other reviews. Here are some suggestions: (a) I don't do the reading ever since week 2. Trust me you don't have to do the reading because professors will cover all you need to know during the lectures; b) go to lectures and take notes; c) your essay scores are TA-dependent, so go to their office hours and ask for suggestions; d) some TAs are strict about grading participation in discussions but some are not, but I would say participate; e) for each of the professor: Vavreck (polisci) is clear and interesting and organized; Avila (history) is clear but sometimes boring; Fink (music) is really interesting but sometimes unclear; Decker (English) is the most boring prof, but try to stick to his lectures as he is also knowledgable.
Fall 2023 - Taking this cluster is one of my best experiences here at UCLA. For those of you who are deciding whether or not to take this class: there will be 2 lectures (75 minutes each) and 1 discussion (1h50min, ik it's long). There will be 2 essays (poli sci 30% + English literature 30%), a midterm (20%), and discussion score. For 60A, there is no final, but for 60B, there is no midterm but a final that is cumulative. Now I've finished taking 60B, and I'm grateful for how much I learned from this class. This class is really interesting and enriching if you are interested in this period, but the workload can also be pretty big (that's expected for a 6-unit cluster, though). Personally I think if you are a humanities/social science and good at writing, go for it. But if you are a STEM person and hate reading/writing, you would probably have to spend more time considering whether to take this class and going over other reviews. Here are some suggestions: (a) I don't do the reading ever since week 2. Trust me you don't have to do the reading because professors will cover all you need to know during the lectures; b) go to lectures and take notes; c) your essay scores are TA-dependent, so go to their office hours and ask for suggestions; d) some TAs are strict about grading participation in discussions but some are not, but I would say participate; e) for each of the professor: Vavreck (polisci) is clear and interesting and organized; Avila (history) is clear but sometimes boring; Fink (music) is really interesting but sometimes unclear; Decker (English) is the most boring prof, but try to stick to his lectures as he is also knowledgable.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2023 - #Real Rating I'm going to be honest here. I was unhappy over my A-, but I am going to try to be as objective as possible. The class is not that hard, but you have to participate in the discussion (I was marked off pretty heavily). The reading is way too much (like 40-50 pages on a normal day and more on other days) and absolutely ridiculous for a GE class. Me, personally, I skipped a lot of the reading and was able to do well on the essays and midterms - except for the last essay which I guess I did not understand the prompt and my TA did not make it clear what they wanted us to answer (as you can see, pretty salty). Just show up to lectures and take notes, you will have all the info you need for the midterm, but your overall grade is super TA dependent (One of my friends had literally no idea what was going on in the class, but his TA handed out A's like Oprah we both still joke about it). As for the teachers, Fink's and Vavreck's lectures are pretty cool. Avila and Decker are a little bit less cool, but they care a lot about what they are teaching they are just hella confusing. Summary: If you are looking for an easier cluster to take for STEM majors, take a different cluster like the violence one or the race and indigeneity one. This one ain't it. But if you like this part of history go for it, it's not too hard just a lot of time.
Fall 2023 - #Real Rating I'm going to be honest here. I was unhappy over my A-, but I am going to try to be as objective as possible. The class is not that hard, but you have to participate in the discussion (I was marked off pretty heavily). The reading is way too much (like 40-50 pages on a normal day and more on other days) and absolutely ridiculous for a GE class. Me, personally, I skipped a lot of the reading and was able to do well on the essays and midterms - except for the last essay which I guess I did not understand the prompt and my TA did not make it clear what they wanted us to answer (as you can see, pretty salty). Just show up to lectures and take notes, you will have all the info you need for the midterm, but your overall grade is super TA dependent (One of my friends had literally no idea what was going on in the class, but his TA handed out A's like Oprah we both still joke about it). As for the teachers, Fink's and Vavreck's lectures are pretty cool. Avila and Decker are a little bit less cool, but they care a lot about what they are teaching they are just hella confusing. Summary: If you are looking for an easier cluster to take for STEM majors, take a different cluster like the violence one or the race and indigeneity one. This one ain't it. But if you like this part of history go for it, it's not too hard just a lot of time.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2019 - I'm not going to try to convince anyone to take this class because if you're looking at BruinWalk for 60B then I'm guessing you've already taken 60A and you know that it's an interesting class and that Fink is a literal GOD. I will say that I'm selling the course reader for this quarter. I paid $60 for it and I'm willing to sell it for $40. It's only got a few notes throughout but its in great condition. If for some reason you didn't see my post for 60A, I also have pdf's of all the books you need for the year so if you realize that you need the writer's handbook or any of the others, I'll share it with you for free. If you're interested in the course reader or any of the books I have to offer, just shoot me an email at ************* and I'll be happy to help you out.
Winter 2019 - I'm not going to try to convince anyone to take this class because if you're looking at BruinWalk for 60B then I'm guessing you've already taken 60A and you know that it's an interesting class and that Fink is a literal GOD. I will say that I'm selling the course reader for this quarter. I paid $60 for it and I'm willing to sell it for $40. It's only got a few notes throughout but its in great condition. If for some reason you didn't see my post for 60A, I also have pdf's of all the books you need for the year so if you realize that you need the writer's handbook or any of the others, I'll share it with you for free. If you're interested in the course reader or any of the books I have to offer, just shoot me an email at ************* and I'll be happy to help you out.
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