Skip to content
Dibs Fall 2026 Sign in

ETHNMUS M50B

Jazz in American Culture: 1940s to Present

(Same as Global Jazz Studies M50B.) Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour. Course M50A is not requisite to M50B. Survey of development of jazz in American culture. Discussion of different compositional/performance techniques and approaches that distinguish different sub-styles of jazz from one another, as well as key historical figures that shaped development of jazz from its early years through modern jazz. Important historical social issues (segregation, Depression, World War II, Civil Rights Movement) that intersect with history of U.S. and jazz music. P/NP or letter grading.

Course statistics

Predicted GPA
3.83
n = 570 · 3 terms · ± 0.023
A range
90%
of letter grades
Taken P/NP
2%
93% of those passed
D / F / W
1.8%
incl. withdrawals

Sections in Fall 2026

Not offered in Fall 2026.

Enrollment history

Final enrollment per term, averaged across that term's sections. Four years deep, summer excluded. Per-section live curves are on each section page.

  • 16722W
  • 21225W
Enrolment by term: 22W 167, 25W 212
Peak 212 Most recent 212 in 25W 2 terms on record

Grade distribution

  • A+ 318 · 54.2%
  • A 168 · 28.6%
  • A- 25 · 4.3%
  • B+ 17 · 2.9%
  • B 18 · 3.1%
  • B- 5 · 0.9%
  • C+ 4 · 0.7%
  • C 4 · 0.7%
  • C- 1 · 0.2%
  • D+ 1 · 0.2%
  • D- 1 · 0.2%
  • F 8 · 1.4%
  • P 13 · 2.2%
  • NP 1 · 0.2%
  • I 3 · 0.5%

Grey bars are non-letter outcomes — P/NP, S/U, incompletes. They are excluded from the GPA entirely rather than scored, because counting a P as a 4.0 would be a fabrication.

By instructor

Instructor Predicted Raw n Terms A range
BOLIN, MARC TIMOTHY 3.83 3.83 570 3 90%

“Predicted” is shrunk toward the course average, which is itself shrunk toward the department — so an instructor with a handful of students sits near the course mean rather than topping the list.

By term