Rinzler, Paul  

Paul is a nice man, and wants you to understand the material, but has can have trouble grasping on to the question being asked. He is there for office hours, but it may not always be benificial since he doesn't always have an alternative explanation for the material. His lectures range from very good to confusing. The "Course Pak" is only a semi-helpful guide--it is like a barebones covering of the topic, and isn't always helpful when trying to study on your own. Having a musical background isn't necessary, but I think it is a major plus--certain concepts will come a little easier if you can relate it to your own experiences. You *do* have to work in this class--even music majors have trouble with it. But if you are looking for a non-art C1 GE, this class isn't a bad option.

Paul is extremely enthusiastic about the suject. He knows the materials inside out, after all, it WAS music 101. The materials are by no mean easy though. Sometimes he does have trouble explaining the subject because there sometimes is no explanation about some of the things we learned and you just have to memorize it, kinda like why do we have 26 letters in the alphabet. When there is a way to make the materials make sense, Paul does explain it to us. They will make sense after you spend some time think about them and let them sink in. Even if you don't he is very willing to help, during class, after class and office hour. We had a lot of fun in that class. Sometimes it doesn't feel like a lecture, but more a but class discussion with people asking questions and joking. Well, it is music, if a teacher can make that boring that, it is pretty bad. But, don't worry, Paul is going make the class fun. The course pack does not tell you enough to just read and understand. It just gives you the backbone of his lecture. So it means you have to go to class, listen, take notes, ask questions and do homework. By the way, the homeworks are not that involved, but you still have to do it 'cause he collect it and it does help you understand. So if you are looking for a enthusiastic and fun teacher, Paul is you guy.

i came into music theory late in the quarter, and paul was more than helpful in getting me settled. of course, it helped that i had been playing music for a while, so where the class was in lecture didn't confuse me at all. paul's lectures are kind of an aquired taste-you need to allow time to get used to them. they are sort of like listening to an organized stream of consciousness!!! the class itself was very fun and enjoyable. there is homework to be done, which accounts for about 1/5 of your grade. you need to do it because it is the only way to clarify the lectures!!! of course paul does have office hours; he's a very approachable guy and easy to get along with. he's very enthusiastic about music and i loved it when he would do jazz improv at his piano! you have to do some compositions, but those are more fun than work. his tests are straighforward and he prepares you well for them. he knows so much about music it's really fun to talk to him about it!! i plan on taking other classes from him in the future. definitely a good professor.

This man changed my life saved me from depression

Paul is an awesome instructor. If you're thinking about auditioning for jazz band definately do so. He has great ears and can pick apart any piece to make it sound better. He's a great instructor.

Paul is an amazing jazz director, if you played any jazz in high school you should take jazz band for sure. and for all the others on this page if you cant appreciate jazz why the heck did you take JAZZ studies.

Paul is an awesome professor to have the first thing in the morning because of his endless enthusiasm. My musicianship class was incredibly small this past quarter, which proved to be beneficial in the end because it gave paul a chance to really pick out what difficulties each of us were having and he made every effort to structure the lessons accordingly. There were several times however when things seemed to move a little too fast and they just flew over my head. There are quizzes every wendesday, at the same time a practice log is due. He also gives a performance midterm and then a performance AND written final. For those of you who fear performing for a professor solo, the great thing about Paul is that he gives you the benefit of the doubt a lot of the time because he understands that nerves play a huge part in a performace and in a test. This guy knows a lot about music, so if you are willing to dive into a fast paced course, I'm sure you will be able to get a lot out of taking Paul Rinzler's class.

Paul deffinetly was no cake walk. I enrolled in the class expecting it to be, and found that I actually had to pay attention and read. No music abilities were necessary, so don't be afraid of that. He was kind of a tripper, but overall his class was pretty fun.

Paul Was Awesome. He loves jazz and is so enthusiastic. He tells tons of stories and plays lots of music for you, both on the stereo and himself on the piano. I really liked going to the lectures, you basically just sit back and listen and take a few notes. But you do have to do the reading or you'll get burned on the tests.

This is a good class even if you know nothing about music, like myself- and I got a B. The midterm and final are hard but you also write two papers that are really easy and are what brought my grade up. Overall a good class- requires some study time but it is not bad at all.

Paul was very enthousiastic and broke up the montonous class well, which was good because it was 3 straight hours of lecture. It was great that he put his powerpoint notes on the web so we could download them and bring them to class while he lectured. Tests are a bit difficult, so study hard. He tests mostly off of lectures, not the book.

I do not like Jazz Styles at all. The music is not bad, but the material is boring and I don't care if some drummer composed some song and he was the first to do it. The only thing that saved me were the papers that were written which were very easy. The tests were tough, but if you go to class and pay attention somewhat they are not bad.

I hated Jazz before this class and after I took it well my opinion on Jazz hasn't changed. I might be informed on it but I still hate it. Rinzler seems like a cool guy but due to the class being of eighty people and the whole grade is based on the midterm, two papers, and a final it was hard for me to like the class. I hated all the jazz band freaks in the front row that had all the right answers when I didn't know what they were talking about due to me never playing an instrument. Take an art appreciation course to fill this requirement over this unless you're some queer music major.

Paul's class was a good one. His lecture was easy to follow, because he put lecture notes up on the projector for us to copy down. Also, he picked good selections of jazz music for the course. His enthusiasm for the music (a jazz musician himself) showed, and he had some fun anecdotes about musicians that kept the information lively and interesting. I have no musical background, but I kept finding myself trying to apply some of the concepts learned in the course to non-jazz music (probably not entirely accurately, but...). The one complaint I have about the course is the requirement of papers. In a large-lecture format class, requiring two papers of students is logistically risky. It requires graders, and graders can lose papers--as apparently happened to some students'--including one of my own--papers. Also, given the role of MU 221 as a general education course, the papers don't really serve too much purpose in furthering students' knowledge of jazz history--they are, in effect, a kind of busy work. I can appreciate Paul's desire to get us to write, but it might be more productive to have a short-answer portion of the tests than to require essays. Also, the tests aren't too bad. I'd estimate that the split is 60% lecture and 40% reading as far as objective questions go. The listening portions of the tests are also not too bad, since Paul chooses excerpts from the songs that are pretty representative of the individual pieces. In the end, I'd recommend this course if you're interested in jazz music, and want a fun class for your GE C3 requirement (also USCP). Otherwise, take it or leave it.

Prof. Rinzler, like any musician should be, was a great showman, and thus a great lecturer. He got up in front of us everyday and really knew his stuff, and obviouslly really enjoyed it, which made the class a lot more interesting than I think it would be normally (even though I absolutley _love_ jazz and always have). However, I found that when approaching him in a more personal manner - whether individually or juat at office hours - he seemed quite caustic, like he really didn't care about the individual students, just about the class as one large mass of students. Oh, and specifically to MU-221, there is a HELL of a lot of reading, so MAKE SURE that you start reading early, otherwise you'll get...well, I'll bet you can figure out what will happen :-).

Rinzler is a very good lecturer. I feel that he doesn't really "care", so to speak, about the students personally. He knows his stuff and his tests are killer. Study alot and listen to every single second of the songs. you never know what part he will play from each song.

Old Paul expects you to know every little detail about who played in who's band when where why and how. He does know jazz though. His tests are tough, there are almost always two good options if you are hazy on the subject. Study hard, pay attention to detail and you will be fine.

I took this class as an elective because i thought that it wouldn't be too tough and i was very interested in Jazz, i thought it was a good decision. I was sooooooo WRONG. This class is absolutely impossible. I had absolutely no backround in music and he expected you to have a strong history in music in general. I felt like i was taking this class with the entire Jazz band and everyone was speaking this different language. He gives soooo much reading, it is impossible to get through and then he also tests on listening sections too. You have to go to the jazz concert and evaluate it but how the heck is anyone surposed to evaluate a concert when you don't know anything that is going on. There is also a huge paper due and then just a midterm and final. He is crazy about potential cheaters. He FLIPPED out and ran towards a student when he thought that he was cheating but it turns out that he was looking out the window. I would definatly not recomend this teacher if you are looking for a fun elective that you are interested in. This class is the hardest class i have taken so far and it sucked. NOT EASY, he takes Jazz way way to seriously and does not care about his student. I went to office hours all the time and he didn't even care.

This man is out of fuckin control, the only thing this guy cares about is the poly jazz band. He expects his students to know way to much on the subect "Jazz", for there not to be any pre reg. His teasts are absolutely impossible, but I have to say that if you love jazz and know everything about it you may enjoy it, but otherwise DO not take this class, it is horrible..i went everyday dreading every mili second of it. Being in the presence of this man is pure torture!!!!Oh, one more thing the paper that he has u write, he doesnt even grade his TA's grade it so if u go in for his help, he has no idea what you are even talking about!!! HE SUCKS!!!!!

Rinzler is a solid teacher. I've seen a lot worse, so in my mind he ain't so bad. Word to the wise, there's a lot of reading and shit like term papers so if you have a loaded schedule it's not the best way to go. I like jazz so I was diggin' the class. In lectures sometimes he'll bust out some jazz shit on the piano like duh duh dauw!! Bottom line he's a handful for a GE, but if you likes the jazz then he's the pimp.

If you already know anything about Jazz, this class will just bore you. I think Jazz is such an interesting subject and really looked forward to the class at first, but midway through the quarter I dreaded going. The computer presentations never worked, the cd sometimes didn't work. I would have liked to spend more time listening to music and less time talking about nothing or waiting for the computer to work. I ended up never going to class and still managed to get an A. Warning to those who hate papers... the grading on the papers is beyond ridiculous. Rinzler's student graders go crazy on grammar and style deductions. If you aren't a writing expert you will probably get screwed even if your content is good. The midterm and final were pretty easy. Anyway, proceed with caution if you're thinking about taking this class... art history or something else could very well be a more enjoyable way to fulfill this GE.

LAME. HATED IT! I enjoyed the subject matter(jazz) a lot and despite the guy's love for the music he doesn't do very well presenting it. the slides are boring and never kept my attention, but listening is good and he makes you go to a concert which is a good excuse to spend 5 bucks.

The grade in the class consists of two papers, a midterm, and the final. The papers weren't -too- hard, but it was kind of difficult to understand what he wanted. The tests were pretty easy, you have to make sure that you're caught up in the material, that you attend lectures and read the book some, but he doesn't put too many tricky questions in the test. He also has listening questions, so you have to take time and get familiar with the music he gives you for the test, but hopefully that's not too painful. It's a fun class, but you're going to have to be ready to work some, it's not a blow off class.

This is the worst professor I had at Cal Poly.He should not be allowed to teach. It is uncertain what exactly he wants in the paper that he makes you write...and treats the paper as if its an English class or something. He sucks at teaching, and needs to go back to school to perhaps learn how to become a good teacher.

I agree with a lot of people of this site. This professor is horrible, avoid taking him for a GE elective course.

horrible teacher, his exams suck and are unfair. Of course everyone who is doing good in there is either a music major or is in a jazz ensemble with him. This papers suck also, he doesn't even grade them, he has other teacher assistants grade them, and they don't know shit, just like him!

Ok some people in the class did really well. In fact there was a guy next to me that I'm sure got an "A" in the class but he was a jazz major and was on a first name bassis with the teacher. But this guy is a jack hole. to but it nicely Paul is like the Hitler of jazz. DO NOT TAKE HIM!!! By the way I like to think that I know music. I consider myself to be a creative musician, not the best though.

I like jazz music, but this class is not the one to take because "you like jazz music." It is a difficult class considering that you get arts credit for it. Be prepared for name that tune of songs that all sound the same, driving to cambria to do a concert review and trying to figure out how to do footnotes on a yahoo forum. Rinzler knows a ton about jazz music and he is excited to share it with you, but its not fun. If you are REALLY passionate about music, or jazz music I would for sure suggest the class. But, if you just like to listen to nice music that sounds good and think it would be fun to learn more about it, you might want to reconsider Rinzler for Jazz Styles.

2 midterms: 50 multiple choice, and 10 listening recognition. 1 5 page research paper, and 1 1.5 page concert review. Sounds like a lot but actualy very little to do. As long as you read the book and study his slides, you are golden for the tests. Paul is a very reasonable guy, and makes an already interesting subject more interesting. He is into the lectures and wouldn definitely recommend the class if your into jazz or music at all

Pretty interesting class, the way he presents the material makes it good because he seems genuinely interested. If you go to class and pay attention to his easy to understand slides and skim through that 5th grade reading level book you'll be able to do alright. The listening is a little hard but thats what all music classes do so dont think its his idea. Only inconvenience was that concer in Cambria, kinda hard if you dont have a car and need to find a ride but its a good show and nice view. Show up to class or you'll probably do pretty badly and be on here complaing about him being horrible.

Christ.....

What a DOUUUUUUCHEBAG!!! God get a real job you jazz floozie.

What to say about Professor Rinzler... Well, first off, I think he is a sharp guy and knows jazz better than anyone I have ever encountered. This gives him a bit of an ego in the subject matter, however, and sometimes he can feel a bit condescending. Otherwise, he is able to provide a great introduction to the vast amount of jazz history. I enjoyed going to the jazz concert for one of the papers, and writing the assignment was not as hard as I expected it to be. The tests seemed unfair in my opinion because the questions were extremely detail-oriented. We were expected to know who played what instrument in every band, and many other details that were not focused on in class. Overall, I learned a lot, and unless you know everything about jazz, you probably will find the class interesting.

I guess a lot of people had a bad experience with Rinzler but I really enjoyed this class and having him as a professor. Given I do have some musical background it probably was easier for me than many other students, however if you put in any extra effort you can easily learn the small amount of musical terminology Rinzler uses. The tests are very short so missing one question is kind of a big deal however the questions on the test aren't tricky. Just go to class - he emphasizes a lot of stuff that you can be sure will be on the test in lecture. Also read the book. The amount he expects you to read is nothing and its written so that a fifth grader could read it. As for those people who complain about him being big headed the man does know what hes talking about. He is a very good jazz musician and also knows a lot about jazz history. Rinzler makes the class very interesting and I think if you put in any effort at all you can come out of the class with a B. Definitely take this class if you know music at all.

The class is fine. The tests are fine. The paper is a load of crap. I asked him simple questions and not only did he have a hard time trying to explain himself, he was rude. Flat out rude. He treated me like I had no reason to be asking him anything. The paper isn't really about jazz or afrocentrism. It is Rinzler going on a power trip, specifying how many words you should have per line and how many lines you should have per page. You can only respond in the paper to arguments on the outline he created and cannot stray from that. It wouldn't be a bad paper if he weren't so strict. He does not grade on content whatsoever. If you like the sound of this kind of paper, go for it. The class is really fine up until the paper, I enjoyed it even. But the paper kind of ruined it all for me.

You want a self-centered trouser stainer, take rinzler. Sure the class isn't bad cause he knows jazz like the back of his hand, but that doesnt mean you gotta be an ass about everything. He'll turn the simplest question into a personal attack. It's funny how he always announces to where he's playing (not for extra credit or anything). This class is one big venthole for Rinzler to be Mr. Narcissus.

this guy was alright. looks like he may have taken evaluations to heart and toned the class and his attitude down a little. I never really heard him be condescending to anyone. seemed like he was trying hard to be respectful. It also seems like the class is less demanding now than it used to be. Theres two papers, one about afrocentrism and another on a concert review. I wrote some B-rate papers, and even said i didnt think the person i saw in concert was enjoyable or creative and i still got an A on both. The midterms are only 30 multiple choice questions, some of them really specific, some of them really easy. Skim the book before a test and know the tunes he assigns for listening. The final is like a longer midterm.

the class was so interesting. he will use sound clips and actually play things on the piano to help illustrate things hes talking about. there are only 2 papers that you have, and they are both graded really easy. one is a concert review from a show up in cambria or the cal poly jazz band and that is just extra practice for the listening parts of the test. he encourages people to stop by with questions and is really helpful if you need advice on a paper or a topic for the tests. i highly recommend him and this class. =)

Rinzler is not as bad as everyone says. Just go to class and listen to lecture. I would also recommend reading the textbook, as random questions from the text will appear on the test. If you skimmed the text, those questions will be super easy. I mean you only have to go to class for 3 hours a week, go to one concert and get 4 units of credit...sounds like a good deal to me. There are two papers...which are a bit tricky. For example, you have to write on improvising and if you are not into music it is hard to tell when someone is improvising at a concert. He doesn't not grade toooo harshly on them though. There are two midterms and a final. Good luck...easy enough for a GE.

Paul is an jack hole, if you are a music major and already know a lot about jazz this is an easy "A" if you are like the rest of the world and like to listen to jazz and want to know a little more. DO NOT TAKE THIS GUYS CLASS. As far as he is concerned the Jazz is more important than anything else. The class is way harder than it needs to be, find another class to take.

Its a really interesting class. There are 2 papers, a long one on Afrocentrism and a shorter one as a concert review. Its not an easy A, but it is possible and if your interested in music, you'll probably enjoy it.

kind of a db, but not too bad, and he is sick at piano

interesting class lectures. good teacher. class load was appropriate. have fun.

Let's start out with this. Those of you thinking that jazz styles was going to be a total breeze, you really made a mistake. This class is a history class. With that said, it really doesn't ask much out of you for a history class. I think it's pretty darn sad that people result to name calling when you guys take quizzes based directly on the text and have an opportunity to swing by his office whenever he is there. He is possibly the most intelligent and nicest band directors I've ever had for jazz band, and even though I didn't get in with my previous audition, I look forward to showing him my best in my next audition. Whatever you do, do not judge him on the few people that resort to name calling, go take his class, judge him yourself and write a polyrating. :)

Awesome professor, cool guy, and most importantly, extremely knowledgeable about jazz and music in general. While I loved the class, and I thought Rinzler did a wonderful job of giving an overview of the important points of jazz history, and the stylistic aspects of the subgenres that define it, I think he has a hard time separating his own interest in the subject from the relative inexperience of the students. For instance, while no jazz head would disagree that Dexter Gordon was an influential player, and certainly worthy of an exam question, anyone unfamiliar with jazz would have no way of knowing to look him up in the book and gauge his significance. In short, do not take this class just because you're mildly interested in music. It delves into many intricacies of jazz styles, and unless you do have genuine intrigue in learning about jazz and its history, consider choosing a class more in line with your interests.

He really knows what he's talking about when it comes to jazz history. He may put a little to much of his personal input, but that's just my opinion. Overall, he made the material as straight-forward as possible, making it easy to learn. The only thing that bothered me was you could never really find out what exactly he was going to test you on. There were surprise questions that could only be found in the textbook and were never mentioned in lecture on more than one occasion. When asked what would be on the test, he would just say a mix of lecture and text and wouldn't really clarify how much we should focus on the text if it wasn't in lecture. Be sure to just skim through the chapters and note the important facts like any musicians he never mentioned and their styles, or any style of music he never mentioned and compare it to ones he did. Really easy GE.

Really cool guy who loves jazz music. He is really knowledgeable. His lectures were fun. If you like music and want to learn more about actual music, not the crap on the radio, take his class. If you are just a casual listener, avoid it. It really helps if you actually like the subject matter. Lectures were easy, tests were a bit difficult. You had to really know the songs he was testing you on and study with his online software. Overall, really fun and interesting.

as far as useless GE's go, this one is by far the most interesting. to demonstrate concepts he often plays something on the piano to keep things up beat. he obviously knows a shitload about jazz and did a good job of explaining things. hes open to student opinions and welcomes questions. the two papers were kind of annoying but graded very easily. the tests were easy if u kept up with the listening assignments.

Just don't take this class. It is ridiculously boring to sit through, and when there is a test, it is a massive time drain trying to study for it, even though you'll end up getting owned anyway. The class is only out of about 240 points, so each point you lose is almost a half percentage point blow to you final grade, and believe me, its impossible to not lose points on assignments or tests. Basically if you are a jazz musician, or are really really good at reading comprehension, listening comprehension, and memorizing random crap, then take this class, otherwise don't. If you do decide to take this class, which you will certainly regret, there is usually an extra credit link hidden away on one of his black board pages. Find this before the first midterm and you can get 5 points of extra credit, which will help you climb out of the inevitable hole the first midterm will put you into because you don't realize how ridiculous the midterms actually are.

Terrible teacher. The book is beyond dry (seriously he couldn't find a better textbook??). His tests ask you such specific questions from the text and he gives you multiple choice answers which may seem easy, but no, he tricks you on every question. He assigns copious pages of reading for each test and asks such specific intricate details about each chapter that taking that class as a music class is a joke and a waste of time. He should not even be a teacher at Cal Poly. He is uptight in office hours, not friendly, not helpful and clearly has social interacting problems; I went to his office hours several times and he was like this every time. Not to mention the songs that you not only have to listen to outside of class over 20 times per song (and there are about 15 songs per test), you have to know what is happening in each part of the song. Again, he tries to trick you and play songs sections that sound verrry similar; so unless you're a music major or are an experienced musician that knows sophisticated diction in music, then do not take this class or this teacher at all. Avoid this teacher at all costs. You've been warned.

most of the material that is taught during lectures is interesting, but rather useless for midterms and the final. i think the only useful thing in the lectures were his opinion because he will put opinionated multiple choice questions on test (ex who is the greatest composer of all time?) i thought those questions were rather ridiculous. although i went to every class, i think it was useless. you will learn better reading the textbook (but you need to read, memorize, and understand every detail from the text) he likes to put trivial questions, which is really frustrating. be on top of the listening and artist of the songs.

He should be fired. Worst class I've ever taken and worst teacher I've ever had. He made me hate jazz music. 1500 words on Louis Armstrong my ass. Kill yourself.

Long story short: if you have a genuine interest in learning about jazz music, this class will be easy and pretty fun. If you're taking this to just fulfill a GE, it will probably be a drag. Rinzler knows his stuff forward and backwards, and totally ignores students walking in and out in the middle of lecture, playing with their phones, etc. He's really enthusiastic and has a lot of interesting anecdotes about the various artists we learn about, making lecture pretty interesting if you like the subject matter. A lot of the midterm/final questions come from stuff he discusses in class that isn't in the book, so you should definitely show up and listen. There are two essays, both of which seem to be graded largely on formatting, so as long as you hit the word count it's easy to get high scores on those. There were a lot of complaints about his midterm being much harder than people anticipated, so he changed the format of the class, and there are now two midterms, so that people "know what to expect," according to him. This made the class significantly easier, since it's now broken into three chunks instead of two, and there's less to memorize and study for each exam (neither midterm nor the final are cumulative). Even if you end up hating jazz it's pretty easy to get an A in this class. There's usually one or two curveballs on his exams, but overall they're pretty easy if you went to all the lectures and listened to the sample songs. I didn't read the book parts until the day before exams and did fine. You'll do well on the Louie Armstrong paper if you meet the word count and format everything perfectly (which takes some time but is easy). The concert review is a breeze as long as you don't B.S. and try to talk in music terms that are over your head - I'm not a music major and said pretty basic things about the concert, got an A. Overall, the class isn't as bad as people make it out to be. I definitely like jazz more coming out of the class than going in, and would definitely recommend it to anyone with a real interest in music.

I did jazz band for 6 years before taking this class so I basically knew a little bit of everything being presented to me. If I was completely new to jazz music, I would of been lost. This professor will try to provoke the class into discussion then will totally shut down your opinion and try to correct you in any way possible. I enjoyed some of the music we had to study, and then some of the music was kind of like listening to elevator music on the descent to hell. I knew this class would be a breeze for me, but the professor is tacky and I hate him. :)

Honestly speaking this teacher made me hate Jazz and everything about it. He gave terrible assignments, graded his papers harder than any other teacher I have had, even English classes. Graded purely after quantity, and not quality in any shape or form. Do not take if you want to enjoy a music class, recommended for Music majors only.

Definitely knew the material he was presenting. However his grading policy can at times be unorthodox and confusing. His essay grading criteria, which makes up most of the grade, is very specific and if you follow all of his instrtuctions, you will get an A. But if you miss one aspect of his policy, it instantly tanks your grade downwards. Furthermore, his tests are at times difficult to study for and some answers to the questions don't follow his lecture or the textbook. It's impossible to reason with him so take this class with caution.

This guy is literally the worst. I forgot to do one simple task in an assignment and that lowered my overall grade from a B to a C+. Avoid him like the plague.

Paul Rinzler was a pretty good professor. I took this class because I was interested in learning more about jazz music (of which I had no previous knowledge). He had some interesting lectures and funny anecdotes. Additionally, to supplement the lectures, he would occasionally play a piece on the piano. About once per class, he would ask a discussion question. Often he would play devil's advocate, but I enjoyed this approach. Students should expect: 1500 word paper about Louis Armstrong, 750 word concert review, and two midterms. To succeed: Make a list of every person mentioned in the book and his lectures. Study the notes and songs and people list before every midterm. The papers aren't bad. He mostly looks to make sure you are following his exact guidelines. I did, and received an A on both papers. Lastly, find the extra credit page on his polylearn site. Follow the instructions and you'll receive 5 points of extra credit

I thought Rinzler was a pretty good professor. I believe growing up around music similar to jazz helped me with certain terms in the class. His class consists of 2 midterms, 1 final, and 2 papers. He posts the slides on PolyLearn as well as the link to the annotated songs used on listening questions. He proves to be a true connoisseur in jazz music and teaches with great excitement. His papers are graded pretty intensely on grammar and sentence structure rather than on the overall content which I found surprising for the first paper on Louis Armstrong. But I figured out what he wanted for the 2nd paper on a mandatory jazz concert (which was almost a disaster had I not been able to attend). He offered only two venues for a review: one located off campus and sold-out about a week and a half before it opened... So plan to go to the one at the PAC. Lastly, some of the listening questions can be deceiving, but I had great success in using the annotated songs, and listening to songs from many different starting points. Many songs are still stuck in my head. It is a fun class if you enjoy music.

Good guy but hated the class. Went into the quarter hopeful and paying attention then ended the quarter by falling asleep and not taking notes. He is really picky about how he grades stuff. We had 2 papers to write and one of them wasn't even graded on the content. it was graded on grammar and formatting. This isn't an english class. His tests were hard to study for and you never knew what you were going to be tested on. A lot of the time you just had to remember small obscure details. You HAVE to study to do decent on a test. If you are looking to just take a GE and are not serious about learning about jazz, don't take this class. Jazz music now haunts me because of the number of times i repeatedly listened to songs. Good Luck with him

The main thing to know about this class is that if you have no interest in jazz, this class will probably seem extremely ridiculous to you. Paul Rinzler presents the information in the class somewhat clearly and he says he tries to keep his personal opinion out of it, but that's not always true. The class requires you write two papers, it's easy to lose points on these papers so it's important to very carefully follow the guidelines. The tests in the class were difficult. It wasn't until I was taking the second midterm that I realized that he doesn't present all of the necessary information in his lectures. That said, there isn't that much extra on the tests that comes from the book. The hard part about the tests is trying to remember something from a lecture or the text that seemed like an insignificant detail that you wouldn't have guessed would be on the test. He will tell you to look at every page on polylearn at the beginning of the quarter. Do this because there was extra credit hidden on polylearn on one of the pages, and you have to see it before the first midterm. Overall, to do well pay attention to his lecture, listen to the songs you need to know for the listening part of the test, and read the book.

Lmao, if you don't really care about music, take this class. Otherwise, be prepared to listen to shit music like this, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bRTFr0ytA8 Anyway, if you know anything about music, don't take this class because it will annoy the shit out of you. He's not a bad professor but the kind of jazz you listen to is boring as fuck.

A literal God.

Pretty shitty class if you're not studying music or haven't in the past. I barely got a B and only because I did well on the papers, but I know very little about music and jazz. He expects you to memorize the names of about 20 songs without lyrics and recognize them from a five second clip he plays during the midterms and final. Total bullshit and a waste of time. The papers are easy. He doesn't look at the content at all, just the grammar stuff he has online. So be sure to follow all of his little dumb rules closely and you can easily get 100% on those. I barely passed the tests though. So many super specific questions about what one jazz artist played and for what band and which songs are theirs and what style they played with. Way too specific. Also lectures are very boring. Would not recommend this class at all.

Rinzler's lectures were not the most exciting, but he does occasionally play music on his piano to demonstrate some concepts (which was a cool way to see how some of the concepts applied). His tests are easy as long as you read the chapters he assigns and listen to the music (around 6 songs per test) and be able to identify them. The papers were easy as long as you followed his grammar rules and organized the essay structure well. I would recommend him as an easy A.

If you want an easy A do NOT take this class. The midterms are exceptionally difficult. I was a part of my high school jazz band and middle school jazz band for 6 years, and understand jazz theory and still struggled in this class. He assigns two essays but the guidelines are super super strict and it is graded super hard. He's a cool guy and the class is interesting enough. But if you're looking for a good GE to boost your GPA, do NOT take this class cuz it was absolutely rail you. I do not recommend. Also there's always super snobby marching band kids who will take the class and act like they're better than everyone.

Most unfair grader ever. He has student graders who are absolute weirdos who are on a power trip. He does not care about your grade.

Paul is chill in class, but that is about the only good thing i can say about this class. His tests are VERY difficult and so are his papers. Paul also chooses to grade his papers completely unreasonably and unrelated to music. He knocked 4 points off my 50 point paper for one incorrect use of a comma. Do not take this class if you can help it. I know several people using grade forgiveness for this GE MUSIC class. Don't take this class

DO NOT take this class for a simple GE! I'm normally pretty good at term based, memorization classes but this class boned me. The midterms are extremely difficult (I don't even know where he pulls the information from) and he uses a lot of music terminology that non-musical people do not understand. Also, the essays are a drag because one of them is super strictly formatted and the other is a concert review - which, if you're like me and felt as if you didn't learn a single thing about jazz music it's really hard to write an entire essay on jazz musicians techniques and styles. He's also just extremely pretentious and thinks jazz is the most important subject ever. If you're someone who loves music and has a background in it then you'll probably love Rinzler and the class but if not then definitely avoid this class.

Rinzler is such a nice guy and he's so willing to work with you so you understand the topics, but this class is HARD. The questions on the exams are incredibly detailed and you will never be fully prepared for them. He is such a nice guy, but this is not an easy GE whatsoever. He's a funky dude and does make the class interesting, but you can only do so much for a jazz class.

The course description for Jazz Styles is inaccurate. He covers a considerable amount of theory for a GE course and theory is not mentioned once in the description. Many students know nothing about music, especially jazz theory. He takes this course way too seriously and expects students of all majors to dedicate way too much time to learn the material. Two papers are due. There are listening portions on the exam that are very demanding (they include song recognition and theory elements) and count for a large portion of the overall exam grade. Overall, there is just way too much curriculum, artist names, sub-genres, and other excessive information you need to memorize. Also, his exams are very short so a couple of wrong answers will bump you down significantly. DO NOT TAKE if you just need to fulfill a GE credit. I wanted to learn about jazz but I'm leaving this class feeling very jaded and no longer enjoy it as much as I used to. His appreciation for jazz is beautiful and he really is a cool person but the class itself is too difficult for a GE.

Don't take this class if you just want an easy GE. Rinzler is a very sweet man, but jesus christ is this class hard. If you don't know every detail of jazz, you won't do well. I was never prepared for this midterms no matter how hard I studied.

This class was pretty DAMN HARD!!! I only got a C becuase of the papers i wrote. If not for those I would have failed them for sure. I don;t recommend him if you want an easy class...stay away unless your a jazz fanatic..and like to read ALOT

Man's a JAZZ ASS.

Paul was excellent in teaching jazz improv. He helps people of all ranges from no improv experience to some of the best jazz improvisors in the school. My improv skills skyrocketed in this course. My excellent jazz friend said that at first he thought i had no clue what i was doing, but now he loves to hear me solo. Paul listens to your solos and tells you exactly what you need to work on. He is very fair, and this class should be an A if you practice everything covered. Also his funny character keeps you entertained. A fun and very helpful class.

Nice guy, horrible teacher. This class is extremely irrelevant and honestly useless; I cannot believe poly let this curriculum slip through. Expectations for a GE class are enormously high. 4 in-class essays, 1 term paper, enormous amount of readings and listening assignments. If you do not come up with the exact point he came up with, you will get points taken off. Midterm grading is impossible and his lectures consist of him rambling on while presenting one slide for the entire class period. Never posts his slides online and is insane about cheating; didn't allow us to have the essay prompts in front of us while writing in-class essays for fear of cheating. AVOID this class!

I'll start with this, Paul is out to wreck your GPA. He makes an easy class hard as shit and is super specific about what he wants and is obscure in giving directions. This guy is sorta a dick too. Whenever a student raises their hand to answer a question (even if it's an opinion question), he'll question you and tell you that you are wrong. Or he'll talk down to you and be like "Oh i think what you meant to say... or Oh you are trying to say this, arent you?" and you'll be sitting there in your head like "no I literally told you what I said you jazz ass."... Overall this guy sucks. It blows because this class has high potential to be engaging. he's just anbother reason why nobody likes jazz. 0/10. Massive L. Avoid at all costs.

Professor Rinzler did not teach me much about jazz, but did teach me about one of the worst types of pretentious people in the world: the jazz ass