Spring 2027

Topics in Music and Ethnicity in the United States

Explores U.S. ethnic group music, including marginalized minorities like African American, Asian American, Native American, and Jewish communities, in cultural contexts.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Nadia Chana4.0/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Susan Cook

Past students reported that exams required writing two essays and short answers within 50 minutes, which was often insufficient time. Lectures also involved random call-outs on long reading assignments, causing anxiety for some.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Identify and analyze how music contributes to the construction of ethnic identity.

  • Collaborate with others to analyze complex texts dealing with social and cultural theory.

  • Analyze the different historical experiences and social forces that contribute to the social construction of ethnicity, and how these forces change over time.

  • Integrate insights from academic discourse with personal observations or lived experience.

  • Distinguish different perspectives and methods of academic inquiry regarding culture and music.

  • Conduct creative research that integrates insights gained through critical engagement with course material.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

None

  • None
MUSIC 319

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.43/5 from 14 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

No course-specific feedback yet.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

CHARLES DILL is recorded teaching in Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

PAMELA POTTER is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2009, Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SUSAN COOK is recorded teaching in Spring 2008, Spring 2010, Spring 2013, Spring 2016, Spring 2022. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

TREVOR BACA is recorded teaching in Spring 2019. 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

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 070Classroom Instruction0 / 200

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Charles Dill, Trevor Baca

Past students found the course material interesting and praised specific instructors for their enthusiasm and deep knowledge. One reviewer highlighted a professor's genuine passion for Delta Blues, while another described a different professor's teaching style as unparalleled.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2019: 3.95 GPA, 98.0% A/AB (n=100 letter grades); Spring 2020: 3.81 GPA, 88.5% A/AB (n=87 letter grades); Spring 2022: 3.50 GPA, 73.8% A/AB (n=65 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Susan Cook

Past students reported that exams required writing two essays and short answers within 50 minutes, which was often insufficient time. Lectures also involved random call-outs on long reading assignments, causing anxiety for some.

Past student reviews · Susan Cook

Several reviewers described lectures as unorganized or jumping between topics. One student noted that while the delivery seemed disorganized, the necessary information was still present in the material.

Topics

  • Music of U.S. ethnic groups and marginalized minorities in cultural context
  • African American, Asian American, Native American, and Jewish community music
  • Historical experiences and social forces in the social construction of ethnicity

Skills

  • Analyze how music constructs ethnic identity
  • Collaborate to analyze texts on social and cultural theory
  • Analyze historical and social forces shaping ethnicity
  • Distinguish academic perspectives and methods in culture and music

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2022— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2022

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2022 · 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

1168 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.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
MUSIC 319 · Spring 2027

Topics in Music and Ethnicity in the United States

Recorded 2026-10-14
MUSIC 319 · Spring 2027

Indigenous Musics

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:660:013009",
    "course_id": "MUSIC 319",
    "course_uid": "course_ec64591a50d4c42fdc257d68",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "013009",
    "source_subject_id": "660",
    "title": "Topics in Music and Ethnicity in the United States",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  },
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    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:660:013009.9",
    "course_id": "MUSIC 319",
    "course_uid": "course_ec64591a50d4c42fdc257d68",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "013009.9",
    "source_subject_id": "660",
    "title": "Indigenous Musics",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "c68941bbf739f6bcf09c3f5574d963dce851c3e0ac81523e1742e4e8ca5780c5",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}