Gold[MUSI V2315] Ear Training II
Departments: Music
Professors: Victor Adan, Carl Bettendorf, Francoise Murail, Eric Sewell, and Victoria Tzotzkova
April 11, 2012
Bettendorf, Carl 
[MUSI V2315] Ear Training II
Carl Bettendorf is the best. He's a great teacher and composer (he writes some really cool contemporary/new music, so if you're into that stuff you should take a listen!), and extremely friendly and approachable. He is also very chatty, always a fun person to talk with! If you ever need help he's really nice about it and will give you a detailed explanation of what he expects from you and how to do it. Even though he knows his stuff and is an awesome musician, he is a great, down-to-earth guy. In addition to music, you'll learn a lot about soccer. You'll also learn about his life; he tells hilarious stories. Ear-training with Carl was a rewarding experience. He is very lenient and does not take off many points if you get things wrong, but tests are very straight-forward and if you can do the exercises in class, you'll get an A+. So if you want a very funny and cool professor, take a class with Carl, you'll love it :)
just go to class, very little homework. a few quizzes, midterm, and final. all easy stuff (but still put in a little effort) :)
December 06, 2011
Bettendorf, Carl
Fundamentals of Western Music V1002 and [MUSI V2315] Ear Training II
Carl is hilarious. Such a cooky, entertaining guy. He's a really chill professor and doesn't assume an air of superiority, even though he is a fantastic composer. For Ear Training, I can't imagine anyone better. He's very clear about the work and is pretty generous on quizzes and listening examples. For fundamentals, same deal, though the class was a little boring, but that's just because the class itself is a bit boring. Carl did a good job of keeping his energy up, though.
Ear training: almost nothing. sometimes some written homework where you'll have to write a couple melodies, but usually just sight singing melodies.
Fundamentals: annoying homeworks, but they weren't too bad. just busy work, not too long though, and it wouldn't be due every single class. the quizzes were pretty easy as long as you know the material. i didn't have to study because i had already learned the material in high school music theory, so perhaps my opinion is skewed. nonetheless carl is great
January 20, 2011
Bettendorf, Carl
[MUSI V2315] Ear Training II
Having Carl as a teacher has been one of the most rewarding experiences Columbia has given me thus far. In his class you will assuredly learn as much about life (a lot about Carl's life, which is highly entertaining) as you will about ear training. I was always impressed that even with all the hysterical anecdotes and conversations, we did get through every exercise we needed to in every class.
In addition to all the life stories, Carl also sometimes throws in interesting background information regarding other compositions or his own work which is always cool to hear about.
Take the class with Carl. Take any class with Carl if you get a chance. Its worth it!
Classes are short and fly by, quizzes about every other week, but there are no surprises. Do the little bits of reviewing or HW that he asks you, if you have trouble with something make the extra effort to do it well, and you'll do fine.
Victor is a great guy--not, however, the best ear training instructor. While he knows the course material himself, he's kind of confused on how to teach it. When the students find standards too difficult, he lowers the standards. A fun class, but not a terribly instructive one.
Almost nothing. A midterm and a final you can't really study for.
Don't expect any ear-training class taught by Eric Sewell to be a slack-off class. Also, don't expect to learn anything. Eric's style of "teaching" involves a very short, vague explanation of the material, or no explanation at all. Most of the class was spent doing very difficult rhythmic and harmonic dictations (I don't even know what level those dictations were intended for), which were graded and counted towards a questionable percentage of our final grade. I say questionable because he actually sent out a radically different grading rubric the week before our final exam, saying that it was changed due to "administrative constraints." This caused a lot of frustration in our class, since many people failed these daily in-class tests.
Finally, Eric had some issues playing rhythms accurately, including a dictation on our midterm. When students brought this issue up, his only answer was "I'm doing my best." That was as far as his efforts to look into, or correct the problem went.
In conclusion, don't take this class unless you are looking for a way to do penance for some horrible crime.
No unexcused absences allowed. Any learning that you might want to do to move on to ET III, you'll have to do on your own.
May 14, 2002
Tzotzkova, Victoria
[MUSI V2315] Ear Training II
Please keep in mind that this review is more than 5 years old.
Really great instructor. Gives every student individual help throughout class, and makes herself very available outside class for extra help. Really friendly and nice as well, so class isn't awkward, as some small 50 minute classes can be. And she really kicked some major ass getting the 10 of us to sing at 9:00am - i don't know how she did it, but she did!
2 short tests; light, light homework (like 30 minutes a week MAX)
December 31, 1999
Murail, Francoise
[MUSI V2315] Ear Training II
Please keep in mind that this review is more than 5 years old.
Francoise is a very lively professor. She has a passion for what she teaches, as well as music, itself. This class seems very time-crunched (this is not Francoise's fault at all) since it meets for only 50 minutes, twice a week. It is definitely a difficult class if you do not have perfect pitch, and do not have a lot of experience with LISTENING exersizes (melodic dictations). All in all, Francoise's a great teacher. she'll definitely try and help you out as much as she is able to do so. If you are taking an ear training sequence, you'll probably get Francoise, anyway, since she is the only ET IV and V teacher.
Almost nothing at all, unless you would like to practice the material on your own, to improve your ET skills. One midterm and one final, which she is VERY lenient on. Final grades are extremely generous, as well.
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