Jazz and American Culture

O'Meally is a teacher who truly seems to be excited by the material that he teaches. He doesn't always get through the material in the syllabus but that is because he wants to thoroughly explore the topics. He is quite knowledgable about what he is teaching but understands that many students in the class do not have the background that the has and tries to make the material interesting to everyone. He sometimes gets a little off topic but he always has something important to say.

A couple of reviewers have already mentioned that Professor O'Meally himself is an intelligent, knowledgable, unpretensious instructor and that the class content is very interesting - i want to emphasize that it is also extremely relevant, thoughtfully presented (this class is not just finger snapping to good songs) and provocative. If you do the reading, whether the class gets to it or not (and O'Meally will), listen to the songs and listen to what he has to share, there should be no end to the discussion on our American culture, and the wayJazz dynamics reflect and inform it. I learned a lot from Prof O'Meally, not just in a text-book, now I can write a term paper way, but in a way that inspired me to ask my own questions and seek connections between the classroom and life. .

That last reviewer completely misses the idea of what higher learning is about. O'Meally is a master in his field. No question. But O'Meally's purpose in that course was to encourage "love of learning," what philosopy is all about. O'Meally is definitely a lecturer-discussion leader, and he blends the role well, for he knows that students are not empty vessels that he must "fill" with his "knowledge." We're not robots dude. And O'Meally isn't the only brain in the classroom. I enjoyed the class because of the diversity of the points of view, and how well O'Meally guides students in the process of learning. Now, that's what higher learning is about: figuring out what you think and finding the answers. Don't come into his class like the typical Ivy League "stiff" expecting answers on engraved silver platters, and you'll do fine.

I can't believe this guy won a teaching award. The class was a joke and a half. Most of the time (really. most of the time), he'd play us a song he liked, and rather than explaining any of the musical elements of it, or even what it had to d with anything, he'd sit there and snap along, occasionally making a face as a player hit a high note. Don't get me wrong, he has great taste in music, and there could be worse ways to spend a morning, but come on. Our assignments were either fun but marginally relevant books (for instance, Louis Armstrong's autobiography) or pretentious essays in which someone uses every cliche about art to describe jazz ("jazz reflects life, jazz reflects the personal life of the musician, etc.) Still, it's pretty pointless to do most of the reading, since he never gets around to talking about it (remember--the snapping), and the weekly reading respones are ungraded chances for you to become your own jazz scholar ("jazz is life, etc"). So, take it cause it's fun, but don't expect anything more than some fun listening and hyterical b.s-ing about art. Oh yeah, it's also easy as hell.