Music in the United States
Explores American musical genres like folk, pow wow, psalmody, pop, theater, opera, concert, blues, and jazz within social and historical contexts.
Summary
Past student reviews · Margaret Butler
Assignments came with vague guidelines but harsh grading criteria, creating a difficult work environment.
What you’ll be able to do
Identify principles and distinguishing features of select American musical genres.
Explain the relevance of a genre in relation to American culture and society and its role in national identity, values, attitudes, and norms.
Identify the interdependent relationship between composers, performers, other creative personnel, and audiences that has shaped the works listed in the course units.
Link content with personal experiences and observations.
Effectively discuss, present, and write about a related topic.
Conduct original research that meets disciplinary standards and might serve the basis for a larger project in the student's area of specialization.
Source: UW Guide
Grade history
↗All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors
Prerequisites
Course mapMUSIC 212 or declared in Music, Music: Education, or Music: Performance graduate program
- MUSIC 212
- declared in Music, Music: Education, or Music: Performance graduate program
This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.
Prerequisite text tree
- Any of
- MUSIC 212
- declared in Music, Music: Education, or Music: Performance graduate program
Professors
Spring 2027No instructors recorded for this selection.
Historical instructors & teaching patterns
MARGARET BUTLER is recorded teaching in Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2023. 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 2027Schedule loads here as you scroll.
| Section | Mode | Enrolled / capacity | Waitlist |
|---|
Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.
Meeting source records
No records available.
Student experience
the class
Past student reviews · Margaret Butler
Past students found Margaret Butler's teaching unresponsive, noting that she shut down discussions and questions.
Recent recorded grades — Fall 2009: 3.08 GPA, 38.9% A/AB (n=18 letter grades); Spring 2020: 3.92 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=12 letter grades); Spring 2023: 3.88 GPA, 92.3% A/AB (n=13 letter grades).
difficulty & workload
Past student reviews · Margaret Butler
Assignments came with vague guidelines but harsh grading criteria, creating a difficult work environment.
Past student reviews · Margaret Butler
Students described grading as sluggish and criticized the instructor's handling of mental health topics as offensive.
Topics
- Folk songs and ballads
- Native American Pow Wow
- New England psalmody
- Popular song repertories
- Musical theater and opera
- Concert music
- Blues and jazz
- Music and American culture, society, and national identity
Skills
- Identify principles and distinguishing features of select American musical genres.
- Explain the relevance of a genre in relation to American culture and society and its role in national identity, values, attitudes, and norms.
- Identify the interdependent relationship between composers, performers, other creative personnel, and audiences that has shaped the works listed in the course units.
- Link content with personal experiences and observations.
- Effectively discuss, present, and write about a related topic.
- Conduct original research that meets disciplinary standards and might serve the basis for a larger project in the student's area of specialization.
Grades
Latest available · Spring 2023— not enough history to project Spring 2027.
Grade distribution · % of letter grades
Grades over time
Through Spring 2023
More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data
Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.
Sources & history
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
No offering records for the selected term.
Raw records
[]
Student reviews
Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.
Read original reviews
Grade history
Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.
Explore recorded gradesRecorded 2026-10-14
Model outputs & technical records
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces
Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.
Model & dataset provenance
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"model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
"task_version": "17",
"output_id": "8dbb4a54818177bf8e89179d8ce16400f817fa4eeec1e3133dcc3ed89d4dfd25",
"requirements_status": "needs_review",
"dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
"observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}