Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.98 GPA, 98.2% A/AB (n=56 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.81 GPA, 92.6% A/AB (n=27 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.89 GPA, 96.3% A/AB (n=27 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.
Fall 2026
Special Topics in Music
MUSIC 297 explores wide-ranging topics in music history, performance, theory, or education.
Summary
1 / 6
Historical reviews of Margaret Butler: Margaret Butler's section is reported as unnecessarily tough on grading and punishing for minor guideline deviations or illness.
Grade history
↗ average GPA
letter grades
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F
All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors
Prerequisites
Course mapNone
- None
This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.
Prerequisite text tree
- None
Professors
Fall 2026Historical instructors & teaching patterns
Historical reviews of Margaret Butler: Margaret Butler is described as poorly organized and overly strict, with vague guidelines that lead to harsh grading penalties. Reviewers found her unpleasant and noted she punishes students for being sick, resulting in a very low quality rating.
JAVIER CALDERON is recorded teaching in Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Spring 2025, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
MARGARET BUTLER is recorded teaching in Spring 2024, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Calendar & sections
Fall 2026Schedule loads here as you scroll.
| Section | Mode | Enrolled / capacity | Waitlist |
|---|---|---|---|
| LAB 011 | Classroom Instruction | 26 / 35 | 0 |
| LAB 038 | Classroom Instruction | 8 / 100 | 0 |
Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.
Meeting source records
Student experience
the class
A historical review of Margaret Butler describes the course as poorly organized with vague guidelines and harsh grading, advising students to avoid the class.
Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.97 GPA, 97.4% A/AB (n=77 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.90 GPA, 95.1% A/AB (n=81 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.91 GPA, 97.4% A/AB (n=78 letter grades).
difficulty & workload
Historical reviews of Margaret Butler: Margaret Butler's section is reported as unnecessarily tough on grading and punishing for minor guideline deviations or illness.
Historical reviews of Margaret Butler: Students found Margaret Butler's teaching unpleasant and poorly organized, with a lack of clear expectations despite strict enforcement.
Topics
Grades
Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Fall 2026.
Grade distribution · % of letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F
Grades over time
Through Spring 2026
More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data
Where this course fits relative to
Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels
GPA
Higher than % of other courses in this group.
Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range
letter grades
More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.
Typical course in this group: letter grades.
About this comparison
1283 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.
Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.
Sources & history
UW–Madison
Catalog & offerings
Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.
Catalog observation history
Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.
Selected offering source records
Special Topics in Music
Recorded 2026-09-07Beginning Class Guitar
Recorded 2026-09-07All-University Phil Orchestra
Recorded 2026-09-07Raw records
[
{
"run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
"semester": "1272",
"observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
"offering_id": "1272:660:026560",
"course_id": "MUSIC 297",
"course_uid": "course_16e51e486970b4d2385f093e",
"term_id": "1272",
"source_course_id": "026560",
"source_subject_id": "660",
"title": "Special Topics in Music",
"credits_min": 1,
"credits_max": 3,
"typically_offered": "Not Applicable"
},
{
"run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
"semester": "1272",
"observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
"offering_id": "1272:660:026560.2",
"course_id": "MUSIC 297",
"course_uid": "course_16e51e486970b4d2385f093e",
"term_id": "1272",
"source_course_id": "026560.2",
"source_subject_id": "660",
"title": "Beginning Class Guitar",
"credits_min": 1,
"credits_max": 3,
"typically_offered": "Not Applicable"
},
{
"run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
"semester": "1272",
"observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
"offering_id": "1272:660:026560.8",
"course_id": "MUSIC 297",
"course_uid": "course_16e51e486970b4d2385f093e",
"term_id": "1272",
"source_course_id": "026560.8",
"source_subject_id": "660",
"title": "All-University Phil Orchestra",
"credits_min": 1,
"credits_max": 3,
"typically_offered": "Not Applicable"
}
]Rate My Professors
Student reviews
Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.
Read original reviews
Madgrades
Grade history
Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.
Explore recorded gradesModel outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces
Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.
Model & dataset provenance
{
"model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
"model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
"task_version": "14",
"output_id": "83c02588ca5ede7ba9825b76c062cb10b17b810a2dfb7317fad88ebee0c00916",
"requirements_status": "valid",
"dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
"observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}