Barata, Antonio  

he gives out homework assignments that will boost your grade and if you can weed through his energenic lectures to find the actual music content (he tends to use lots of analogies and bizarre outbursts), you will do fine in his class.

This teacher makes music fun. His humor keeps the early morning lectures funny and interested in the material. A great class for someone needing fine art GE.

Dr. Barata is very passionate about his topic (and he presents it with more energy than I am usually able to handle at 8:00 AM!) The lectures are enjoyable, but you will certainly benifit if you have some prior music background. I had him for two classes, and he tends to reuse his jokes. even though i think he has a large range of musical taste, he re-hashes the same musical examples again and again. you will either love this guy or think he's a wacko. still, he's entertaining either way.

This man definately knows his stuff...and a hell of alot of background on his stuff. If you have any music experience, you'll find the class relatively easy. Topics range from quarter notes to relative/parallel scales. Do yourself a favor, and don't take on too much work in the composition project. Otherwise you'll find that everyone else will get a free ride: there is no group evaluation. Is Mary dead yet?

Although this teacher impressed me as quite an egoist (he managed to slip in the fact that he had a phd in almost every lecture), and he was pretty loud, I did enjoy the class. He tells a lot of groaners but some of his jokes did get a genuine chuckle, and he definitely approaches the subject matter with enthusiasm. Also, even though I already had quite a bit of music background, I did learn some new stuff in mu 101, which I didn't really expect (had to wait til the end of the quarter, but it did happen). I would reemphasize the suggestion someone made above to not take on too much in the group project. He does take into account if one person did a lot of the work as far as grades but not really enough to matter (in my case it was the difference between a B and a B+ on the project).

Dr. Barata is unbelievably energetic. Especially for having an 8:00 and 9:00 class. He uses stale humor that works, helping you understand the course material very easily. If you're taking this class as a GE, Dr. Barata is the best teacher to take. He explains musical concepts in a way that I could understand (as an engineer). However, his humor somewhat slowed down the class, and we had to cram a lot of stuff in at the end of the quarter. If you're going on to other music courses, another teacher might be better because you'll learn more and you'll learn it in a more appropriate manner. Make sure you study hard for the quizes, and do all the homework, there aren't many assignments. Also, start the composition project as soon as possible. Test/Final is incredibly easy.

This guy is dope. It's tough to laugh at him if you have a 9 am section but he's a really great guy and he works really hard. His grading is kind of weird, though. I got a 99 on the final but a B- in the class because of the papers we had to do. They're not very many points but they're worth a big percentage of the grade so work harder on them than I did. The material is pretty easy if you've ever been in a band in school or taken lessons. The final is all harmonic analysis.

He is a great teacher and explains the material very well. This class moves slowly at first but quickly picks up. The homework he assigns is fairly easy and the midterm and final are moderately easy also. He is a great lecturer, very entertaining and knowledgable of music. His frequent pianno playing definately adds to the class and makes it easier to understand some of the concepts. Definately a teacher I would reccomend :)

This guy acts like a nutcase in class... a really really cool nutcase. He's a great professor with an inate ability to teach and also to make strange jokes. Don't bother taking the class if you're not interested in music, but if you are then this class is a match fit. Keep up with the work (it's not too tough) and don't miss assignments (as I did) and you can get an A without too much difficulty.

He's like one of those genius out there who knows everything and hes super funny. ALl his joke kinda woke me up in his 8am lecture. Tests are fair and not tricky at all. There are bunch of assignments and projects but they can be done easily. THe final project was a percussion composition performance. It might sound hard but acutally pretty fun. Overall hes a great teacher and you will enjoy all his lectures with his jokes.

Dr. Barata is such a character. His lectures are filled with laughs and jokes. His class is easy if you have music experience. Our grade is based on four assignments, a music review paper, a short research paper, two quizzes, a midterm (more like a two-thirds term), a composition, and the final. The workload is rather easy. He gives generous grades for your hard work. The composition can be easy or hard, and fun or boring, depending on who is in your group. The quizzes and tests are pretty easy. In lecturing, Dr. Barata uses real-life examples to relate to music. For an 8:00 class, he is definitely someone to take. I enjoyed taking this class because of his humor. Definitely someone to take to take care of that fine arts GE.

I expected this class to be a lot easier than it was. In my opinion he doesn't explain things as well as he could and oftentimes expects students to automatically know the material since he knows it front and back. On some of the assignments he is really vague about what he wants, and then will take off points for the most minute details. There is a group composition due at the end of the quarter, and while it wasn't too hard, he was very picky when grading and listening to everyone play, when the majority of the class are not music majors. The exams aren't too bad, the final (just a midterm) was easier than the first test. Although the workload wasn't much at all, I wouldn't recommed him. Way too picky and vauge!

This guy rocks! really, he was an excellent teacher for this course. i came into this calss not knowing how to read music, and that probably helped me. the course is way too basic for people who have some music experience and generally don't do as well. Barata is a great teacher who balances lecture with stories really well. very passionate and energetic with odd and quirky stories--and he knows it "never miss a friday class, because i go nuts tose days" he says. he also has very open office hours and is willing to help individuals find their way. great teacher, good class for music beginners.

Antonio was a great teacher. He explained the material in ways that didn't require previous music experience. Although previous experience is extremely helpful. The two reports are a pain and don't expect to get more than a 90% on them. Also keep in mind that each report is worth the same amount as the homework assignments which take about 2 min. The tests were straightforward, and the final was cake. I would recommend Dr. Barata.

If I had to guess, I would say that the majority of the students evaluating Professor Barata had some kind of musical background (I've played guitar for years, but no formal training). I struggled big time trying to understand the concepts. He throws the ideas at you and hopes they sink in. Is that teaching? Maybe. But not the kind I am used to. Also, he makes you do a really dumb music composition project where you come up with your own instruments. It was insulting as a musician and a college student. I felt like a caveman, banging on pots and whatnot, because if cavemen had pots, they'd bang on them.

After taking Antonio Barata's music 101 class I had a definite mixed reaction. I enjoyed his class and his lectures were entertaining. He also introduced new concepts even for someone that had a comprehensive knowledge of music. I guess his problems arise with his grading method. Dinky homework assignments are the same percentage as extensive essays, and the final is only worth 20%. This hurt me because I missed a few assignments, then aced the final. Somehow this didn't consider into my grade, which was kind of lame.

I do not recomend Barata. I have previous music experience all through high school, yet I still recieved a B. He gives a couple of bogus assignnments then grades like it is some hard ass class. I went to his office to talk to him about a C he gave me on a home assignment in which I completed all the criteria. He could not give me adequate reasons for my grade. He gave me reasons which I could quickly and easily shoot down. We spent too much time in class talking about himself (he thinks he is smarter than he really is and brings up science and math related concpets for no reason). Honestly he could have turned the three lectures into one. He is a very stubborn guy, so take him if you want, but make sure you know music theory already since he doesn't teach anything.

Nice guy, but he was not cool when it came to teaching the class. If you have absolutely no background in music, I would not recommend the class, you may very well hate it. In fact, there were people in there who had played instruments for years but who were still getting a D average. I definitely got sick of his over enthusiastic attitude, it was just embarrassing to watch sometimes. The class consisted of projects, a group project (which is a reason by itself not to take the class), quizzes, midterms, a final, and papers. If you are looking for an easy GE, this is not the class, and this is not the professor. You will learn a lot though, if you are interested in that. The tests are medium to easy in difficulty, the projects/papers are time consuming, and overall it was just more work than I cared to put in for a pointless GE.

This guy is very funny. However, he will drift off topic a lot. I wouldn't recommend taking him unless you already have a good music background. He was so funny during class he brought me to tears. But, as a teacher, I think he is one of the worst I've had at Cal Poly so far. You may laugh during class when he is being a nutcase, but you won't when you realize how difficult his grading can be. He doesn't explain things very thoroughly. The music project at the end of the quarter is fun though.

Barata class was extremely entertaing and kept me awake early in the morning. He is definetly intelligent and knows music. I've heard people complain that without a background in music this course is impossible, but mine is pretty slim and i still did all right. The project at the end of the year is kind of intimidating, but actually pretty fun.

For an entry leval class this one was a pain in the ass. He teaches well but doesn't explain very well.

This is not an easy class, but I learned a ton and Dr. Barata did an awesome job teaching the class. He communicates the material pretty clearly and you know almost exactly what's going to be on the tests. He's the only proffesor who, at 9AM didn't make me want to crawl back into bed. In fact, this is one of the only classes I actually looked forward to going to.

If you don't know anything about music forget about this class. I did the mistake of taking it because it said Music 101, the easy music class is Music Apreciation 120, take that one!

I thought Barata's lectures were hilarious, and I thought he a did a good job of explaining how music theory came about rather than simply reciting what was said in the accompanying book. The class is demanding due to the composition portion...just read the other comments. I knew very little about music, but I put the effort in and everything turned out fine! The only complaint I have is the grading, which I found peculiar just like everyone else did; however, I'm glad I took the class and would recommend Barata for the class.

Okay, this guy is the most cracked out nerd you will ever meet. You laugh at him, not with him. He explains the material decently, but most of the points in teh course come in the last 3 weeks, so its pretty hard to tell where you stand. Music theory is either really easy for you or really hard. There isn't much hw, so its hard to tell whether or not you understand the material. If you have no interest however, don't take it- it'll bore the hell outof you.

I expected this class to be a lot easier than it was. In my opinion he doesn't explain things as well as he could and oftentimes expects students to automatically know the material since he knows it front and back. On some of the assignments he is really vague about what he wants, and then will take off points for the most minute details. There is a group composition due at the end of the quarter, and while it wasn't too hard, he was very picky when grading and listening to everyone play, when the majority of the class are not music majors. The exams aren't too bad, the final (just a midterm) was easier than the first test. Although the workload wasn't much at all, I wouldn't recommed him. Way too picky and vauge!

Barata sucks! On a professional level, he's sub par. He is incredibly vague about assignments, and then takes off a ton of points for insignificant things. His lectures are simple enough at the start of the term, but he winds up cramming too much difficult stuff in at the end of the quarter. What's most annoying is that his easy homework assignments that take a few minutes to do are worth exactly as much as the essays that take hours to do. On a personal level, he is the WORST PROFESSOR EVER. He's one of those dorks who thinks that he's incredibly funny, and won't shut up about it. You end up either cringing or laughing at him, not with him. As for the other reviewers who said he was funny, they're probably lame dorks too. He's kind of pretentious, too. Don't take this guy.

DISCLAIMER: I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST BARATA AS A PERSON, BUT AS A BEGINNING THEORY TEACHER, WATCH OUT! - This guy needs to stop attempting to be a comedian with his cracked out seizure like screams and shakes in the middle of class. I tought he was going to have a frigging aneurism. He expects and assumes that you know everything because theory and music comes so easy to him. Bottom line, don't take this guy if you don't have that much theory experience. You'll be in for a tough quarter. He is disorganized, doesn't explain things well and is a very tough grader. Homework wasn't that bad, but tests were killer. For the final, he gives you about 30 measures of music and you have to do a complete harmonic analysis for each chord-it was pretty tough. Many people, including myself, struggled in his class.

Unknowingly taking Introduction to Music Theory, when I could have indeed tested out . . . I ended up in Barata's class for a quarter, and I thank God he does not teach any of the other theory classes. With Dr. Brammier as my professor for the rest of the music theory series, my passion for theory has come back to me, that was lost by Barata's unfairness to see hard work and give deserving grades. From my perspectice, Barata's only purpose in teaching introduction to music theory, is to try and show off his skills as a composer and actually tries to compare them to Bach . . . sorry buddy, Brammier has got handles on you. If you are considering taking Introduction to Music Theory, as a lot of people do to fulfil a GE requirement, I recommend to you, that you take it with Johnson who at least has ethics as a teacher and grader. Also . . . no offense, but Barata is a Spaz and spent most of his lectures redundantly trying to prove to us that he has a wife and kids, not preparing us for his insanely hard 5 point quizes that make up a majority of your grade. Barata literally scared the hell out of me each class meeting and made me feel nervous because he could not stand still . . . and for a professor who swears to have never tried drugs . . . he sure does have an obsession with the John Lennon and Paul McCartney song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". Long story short, if you are serious about learning the theory behind music, he is not a good source to obtain those skills.

Dr. Barata is great guy who makes lots of jokes all through the lecture. They are funny in a corny sort of way. Anyway, I took the class with a little bit of a background in music theory, and it definately helped. When I took this class, there was no homework assigned and only one project: a paper. It's not bad, we had to put a lot of information in it with a small word maximum (I can't remember how long exactly--about 1.5 pages max), but it wasn't bad. We didn't do the music composition, which sounded pretty horrible, but we did have to attend a specific performance at Poly (maybe that's why we didn't do the composition). The book helped me and I recomend reading it. The chapters were just practice questions and definitions--not like the usual kind of text book. The most important thing is the weekly quizes. They are only 5 points but cummatively worth a LOT of your grade. Be sure you know all the definitions and can do the analyses you learn about during the week of each quiz. They can make or break your grade. Also, he might throw in a definition that was in the book but not discussed in lecture. Overall, a great class if you like music theory, corny jokes and old songs. He makes it fun and I looked forward to going to his class.

Barata is a funny guy who knows a lot about music. He doesnt prepare you well for his tests or quizzes and has the worst weighting system i have ever seen. He had us take 5 quizzes worth 9% of our total grade each. Thats 45% total, and these quizzes had 5 questions on each quiz. So 45% of our grade comes down to how we answered those 25 questions. Thats almost 2% of the total grade per question! They were pretty hard as well considering he didnt present the material in class well or give you any homework to prepare you for what he might ask. Then his midterm and final are long and fairly difficult, yet only worth 20% each (about 2 quizzes each). We also had to do a composition, which was a whole lot of time spent for the 15% of our grade it made up. If you arent a music major i dont recommend taking this class, especially with Barata; its not worth the headache. He is normally a fairly nice guy and he's pretty entertaining, but as a teacher he could improve.

Take another teacher for this class!! This teacher is insane! He goes off on random tangents so only a quarter of the lecture is on stuff you need to know. He has these little 5 question quizes that amount to 46% of your grade! But it is almost impossible to get anything above a B (if that) on them. I've had 8 years of musical experience and I could barely follow this guy. So I strongly suggest another teacher! I hear Dr. Johnson is much much better!

Prof Barata is very energetic teacher. even at 8AM he's there to keep you awake through the class. if you attend all the lectures then you're pretty much going to get an A in the class. All his quizzes are based off his lecture.

I don't believe in anything between when it comes to teachers. You will either want to take them or stay the hell away. Barata cracks jokes and doesn't teach. I wasn't getting anything out of the class so I just left. The group project is pure gayness. You should've seen this fag that was the self-proclaimed 'leader' of my group... Nobody likes group projects. Be smart... don't take this guy.

Professor Barata is a wonderful teacher and his class a joy to take. He takes a subject that could easily be pure torture and does his best to make it fun and interesting. His purely insane demeanor is sure to make you crack up laughing unless you

I really appreciate this guy's energy, but his jokes are way too lame. The material is super easy, but you're screwed if you're not careful on the quizzes which combine for an absurd amount of your grade. He doesn't seem to care about the students either. You really shouldn't take this guy.

Everybody that says this class is difficult must be "special" because this was probably the easiest four units I have taken in my college career. Lectures three days a week, and he only "actually" lectures like 15-20 minutes each class. Five quizzes (each 9%) a short paper, and two exams make up the grade. Nice guy though, and he tries to keep everybody entertained. Recommended as an easy (but still interesting) GE.

Barata's class was a lot of fun. He sometimes gets off on tangents or stories during class but it often just makes the class time more humorous. I've taken some theory before but I still learned a number of new things in class. It was truly enjoyable and Barata did an excellent job teaching.

He does try to make the class entertaining with his jokes and he does that really well. But he is way in over his head and his crazy side tends to dominate the class. He is a little bit rude towards students. Nevertheless, this class is very easy aside from the projects, which can be really overwhelming if you don't know what to do. The material itself is very easy to understand making the exams easy. Other than having the homework assignments, the book is pretty much unnecessary for this class as his lectures tell you exactly what you need to know.

Barata is one of the WORST professors I have ever had in my entire life. I have had many years of music experience and I struggled in this class. He does not explain the material clearly at all. I honestly feel like this class is music for the music major. He gives these 5 point quizzes every other week which are each worth 9% of your grade so if you do poorly on them your grade is screwed for the rest of the quarter. My advice is do everything you can to not have him as a teacher!!!!!!!

Very strange man, but what music teacher isn't? He presents the material perfectly and always keeps you awake with his strange humor. Great teacher!

If you do not have some kind of background in music this class could be hard. Many people that take the class just for the GE credit expecting an easy class are fooled. He covers a lot of material that was very interesting to me. I have been involved in music for over 8 years and i still got alot out of that class. Overall its a more difficult class than i was expecting but worth it.

Barata's grading scheme is terrible; the project due at the end of the quarter was weighed unfairly and it dropped my grade from a B to a C+. He is not an approachable person and has mood swings in the middle of class. His lectures are a little boring although he does play the piano once in a while to explain theory. I would recommend taking another professor though, if possible.

Barata had 5 quizzes worth 9% each. These were short 5 question quizzes, so getting one wrong cost 1.8% of your grade. There was also a group project requiring you to create instruments out of household objects that was 15% of your grade. This project did not require too much work though. There was one midterm and one final, and I thought that these did not take too much time.

many have comment about his energy, and I must concur. He's ready to go at full throttle right from the beginning of class. Many of his classes are early, and he still sustains that kind of energy! Many of the students writing these evaluations are just grousing, I think - maybe they didn;t do well, and are venting. He's a very nice man, in fact, a very compassionate man. He is unbelieveably patient in office hours; I know, I visited many. Again, I think some of the students contributing in here never darkened his doorway or they would not have written the things they did. Much has been said about his grading, especially his quizzes. He is very up front about the importance of the quizzes, and announces what each one will be on in the day or two preceding the quiz day. Some people have commented about hsi jokes being subpar. I think they miss the point; he is intentionally cracking lame jokes - it is a kind of humor in itself. Too bad they don;t get it. I do not agree that you have to know music before taking this class. I had NO experience, and just as he said on the first day, by just attending lectures and keeping up with things I did very well in this course. I HIGHLY recommend him. He has won lauds for his teaching, including the CLA Teaching award, and with good reason. This is a real door-opener of a course taught by an awesome human being. He is incredibly smart, capable of creating examples of music on the spot to demonstrate his points, and entertaining. He is a devout Christian, and cares deeply about students as persons, not just objects in the educational machine. One of the best instructors I have ever had at any school.

I think it's hard to take this class if you have lots of music background. However, you should not take this class if you have absolutely NO music background (or at least not this teacher). I have about 15 years of music background and often times did not pay attention in class, missed a small part of a section on a test and received a C on the only midterm in the class but made up the points (so to speak) through the final. Make sure you pay close attention to everything he says even if it doesn't seem relevant because those tiny things often times are the basis of his evil 5 point quizzes. Quizzes in the class add up to more than the final & midterm combined so watch out!

BARRATA IS THE WORST TEACHER EVER. AVOID THIS ONE. STAY AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!what a mistake to take his class. The crazy grading system described above is completely true. this man should not be teaching a 100 level class, which is meant to be for beginners with no experience. If you have no prior knoledge of music DO NOT TAKE HIM OR YOU WILL FAIL. trust me. please, for your own good. this guy thinks he is a super genius and compares himself to bach. he is a freak. anyways...... (im bitter can you tell?) i was so lost in this class and paid attention durring lectures which did not help to score well on his quizzes that supposedly "hold your feet to the fire"...i'll hold you up to the fire mr. barataa!!! bahhhh!!. his final also was also impossible, it was on harmonic analysis. what makes his class so bad is that he doesn't teach what he tests you on. it makes no sense. and there is no textbook or assigned homework to study...just lecture notes that wont help at all, because it has nothing to do with his test/quizzes.

DO NOT TAKE MU 101 IF YOU DO NOT HAVE ANY MUSIC BACKGROUND. I have a considerable amount of musical experience in my past and am struggling in the class. The guy cannot teach, and expects everyone to know theory as well as he does by the first day. I would strongly encourage you to find someone else!

Grades are based off of 5 quizzes worth 9% of your grade each; project is 15%, two tests for 20% each. Each quiz has 5 multiple-choice questions, if you get one wrong kiss 2% of your final grade away. Besides having a bad grading scale he has to be one of the worst teachers I have had in college, the material was not clearly presented to the students and there are questions on the test that were never talked about in class. (I have attended every class) He expects you to understand something the first time he presents it which is ok if there was a text to refer to but there

Do not take this class if you know nothing about music. I really don't think the professor can teach at all. The only reason I recieved an A in the class is because I had a lot of music background in high school. Musictheory.net will help you if you get screwed into taking the class. I am obviously not venting on the class, because I recieved an A, so take my advice. Not to mention the way the quizes, tests, projects are weighted. Just read other reviews. Please take a a music theory class. It is interesting material, but take the class from someone that knows how to teach.

Barata writes some of his polyratings. No joke, I've seen some of them. I remember someone talking about polyratings with him in class, and the next day, someone had written this bs about Barata that read like a freakin resume. It had all of Barata's teaching awards, etc. It was ridiculous, especially because before that, no one had written a review in months. Convenient, eh??? LOL, this guy's slightly funny, more on the annoying side, and hard as hell. When you're frustrated, slightly funny because, OMG THIS IS SO ANNOYING. lol. You've been warned. However, if you know music, it's an easy B. Still a tough A because of his history questions that you HAD TO BE IN CLASS TO KNOW ABOUT.

dr. barata was a little eccentric at times. i was very glad that i had been involved in music all my life because if i was starting from scratch, i seriously think i would have failed the class. dr. barata presented even the simplest parts of music theory in a very complicated way. his quizzes are bogus because he asks questions that you'd never expect, i studied harder for his quizzes than i did for some of my midterms!!!!! and some questions on his midterm and final were worded awkwardly, making it hard to know what he was asking. if you do end up taking his class be prepared to go to class EVERYDAY (even if you are hung over from thursday night!!) i promise it will pay off, dr. barata is the sort of teacher that lets attendance (even though he says he doesn't factor that in) become factored into your grade. i warn you, if you have no musical experience DO NOT TAKE HIS CLASS!!

I enrolled in this class because I thought it will be an easy class, but I was wrong!!! I had NO music experience, which gave me a disadvantage among many who had. His teaching really sucks. He expects everyone to already know the material. The only way I survived was to go to his office hours every time we had a quiz – HINT. Go to his office hours, it really those help. His quizzes are to narrow and short. And they’re only 5 of them and they are worth 45% of your grade so do the math. Just try avoiding taking him if you had no music experience or even a little.

If you have no music experience, don't take his class. The material is easy if you're familiar with reading music and you'll understand what he's talking about in lecture. The downside to his class is that there are only 5 quizzes and each is worth 9% of your grade. The quizzes are multiple choice, but don't let this fool you because they are very difficult. They are only about 5 questions so you have to know your stuff or else your grade will suffer. If you think it's going to be an easy GE, you're wrong.

Awful. Do not take Barata. The project he assigns is ridiculous and has absolutely nothing to do with music theory. You have to pay $13.00 to go see his performance that he puts on at the PAC. He only offers extra credit to a few people if they are part of that performance. When i asked if there would be any other opportunities for extra credit he said that extra credit is extra and is not something that students can choose to do or not to do. Half of the time spent in lecture he doesn't even talk about music theory. It is an interesting class if you like music but take it with anyone but barata.

Barata is a horrible teacher, he is more interested in talking about his own personal theories on music. I suppose it could be interesting if you want to hear a crazy man ramble, but he is a horrible teacher. He said he prides himself on believing that if you do not have any music theory he can still teach you, but this is not true. I had a music background and the whole time I thought that he was focusing on things that were easier to learn on your own rather than more complicated things. Don't take him.

barata is an absolute horrible teacher. if you do not know any basics on music do not take this class. he expects everyone to know a lot about music for a 101 class. he says he can teach you if you have no experience but that is a complete 100% lie. the tests and quizzes are jokes whatever you do dont do the same mistake as me and take this class.

Professor Barata is a nice person, however, that doesn't make up for the fact that this class was an utterly horrible mistake to take in order to satisfy the GEC3 requirement. I am an A student, and although I worked my butt off in Barata's class and got an A on the group project, this is the only class I did not receive an A in. The only reason for this that seems to make sense is the fact that quizzes are worth 45% of your grade, and there are only five of them administered throughout the quarter, each of which is only five questions long, all multiple choice. Unless you have knowledge of music theory beforehand, be forwarned, this class could be the one that really screws you.

STUDY HARD FOR QUIZES! Once you know this, you can get an A pretty easily. (I had no musical experience before this class) If I remember correctly, quizes are fridays, five questions, and each is 6% of your grade. That's a lot of points per question! His slight craziness made waking up at 8 possible for this class. Nice guy. Good lectures. A lot of bad, and occasionally a good jokes.

I have had about 12 years of musical experience, and I think that Barata's ability to teach a Music 101 class is extremely below par. I will admit he is a very entertaining professor and is full of humor and life. But, he has no talent as a professor whatsoever. He takes up so much time making jokes and weird analogies that he barely covers relevant material. He confuses students and doesn't know how to approach simple subjects. He assumes that students know all about music before taking his class. His grading system is horrible and his project is ludicrous. If you are not a music whiz and hours on your hands to devote to a nonsensical group project, then do not take Music 101 from Barata.

Worst class ever! not only was it ridiculously hard that little midget had unrealistic expectiaitions. DROP THIS CLASS IF YOU ARE IN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AWFUL TEACHER

A large amount of work, I would not recommend to those without prior music experience (although Professor Barata said they could do well), and for those with prior music experience, be prepared to study. quizzes can be challenging to score well on (after the first which is pretty basic) as usally a few questions are either slightly challenging (with multiple choices that could be legitimate) or require class attendance to know. Not recommended for an easy GE. Remember quizzes can add up quickly as they are worth, if i remember correctly, 45% of the total grade. There is a group project music performance which is worth 15% and that, if prepared for adequately, serves as a grade booster. Midterm and final require a goodly amount of studying to do well on. Also, i thought it was hard to learn the concepts from Barata's lectures alone and found this website helpful (at the bottom of the page are links to the other topics) http://www.musictheory.halifax.ns.ca/13ts.html

I wish I had given this class a chance. I already had a lot of experience in music, so, since it was an 8:00am MWF class and I was lazy and didn't want to get up early, I didn't go to a lot of classes because I thought I'd do well anyway. I was wrong, and my grade was completely my fault. This is a hard class. Don't let the "Introduction" part of the title fool you. I've been reading and playing music for most of my life, but this class delves deeper into music theory than I'd ever encountered, so if you have experience, don't automatically expect it to be easy. Barata was a good professor. He was clear and entertaining, and his tests were fair. If you aren't stupid about it like I was, getting a good grade shouldn't be too hard, but just make sure that if you do take this class, you don't slack off.

I took this class as a GE, and was a little scared to take it after having read the other reviews, but it was the only time I could take the course and get this GE done. I was surprised to find that Barata is not really like what many of the other reviewers have written. He is clear on his grading scheme. I personally think 5 quizzes worth 45% is appropriately balanced with 2 tests (one being the final exam) at 40%. Much negative has been written about the quizzes in poly ratings, but I think those people must just blow them off or not pay attention to their weight. The questions never seemed out of line to me. Also, Barata does lace his class with humor, and it made it a lot more fun for me. I found his "stories" and side comments to be informative, never off topic, but analogies to explain some topic we were on. I just had to write this, cause I found my experience in the class and with Barata SOOOOOO different than what the complainers have written in poly ratings. Barata answers student questions respectfully, and is extremely helpful one-on-one. I recommend the class and the teacher even if I only got a C.

I agree with what the person below me posted. I was nervous going into the class because of all the negative things I had heard about Barata. As long as you don't blow off the class as some easy music course, Barata is a fine professor. He tells you what topics the quizzes will cover so you know what to study, and he clearly laid out what was on each of the tests and gave us practice questions/worksheets. His is honestly not the monster he is potrayed as in the earlier posts. He knows his music theory and is super funny which helps going to the class on fridays.

Professor Barata explains the basics of music theory in a fun and understandable way. He uses jokes and analogies to explain things in a way the class can relate to. Though I do have music background, I still learned a lot, and I think anyone can get an A or B as long as you actually take the class seriously. Sometimes we, as students, forget the importance of attending lecture, paying attention, and taking good notes. Barata tells you what to study for the quizzes and tests and they're very narrow topics so you don't feel overwhelmed. The "text" (or rather, spiral-bound self-teach notebook) can be useless at times, but sometimes can explain things in a different way than the teacher that may be more understandable to you. Barata is more than willing to help out if you just take a little effort and participate in your education, and overall this was a good choice for GE area C3.

Mr. Barata is kinda a cool guy. But hes crazy also. He gives extreme examples in class that make no fucking sense. But you cant blame the guy. Music is a hard ass subject. Hardest class I've taken at cal poly yet. Do the extra credit! It got me a D. Good luck...

He WAS A HORRIBLE TEACHER!!! dOESN\'T EXPLAIN THINGS RIGHT AND YOU HAVE TO KNOW A LOT ABOUT MUSIC BEFORE YOU ENROLL IN HIS CLASS!!!

He\'s a funny guy, but he sucks at teaching. His quizzes and test are ridiculously hard, and his group project thing is a freakin\' joke. He\'s your typical PHD wielding mouthpiece fixated on displaying his intelligence for 90 percent of the lectures rather than actually teaching the material. I feel like he thinks more about what jokes he\'s gonna say rather than how he is going to educate the class. Your success means nothing to him.

While I do hold some criticism for this professor, I don\'t understand all of the extremely harsh reviews. Having a music background is a definite advantage, no matter what he says. Class attendance is mandatory, and he\'ll knock 3% off of your grade every time you don\'t show up (he gives you one freebie). The midterm and final were both very easy if you go over everything he explained in class. There is also a class project, in which he teams you up randomly with four or five other students in the class and you have to compose a music piece with instruments that you make. Believe it or not, it was quite fun, and it was a good way to meet others in the class. While it seemed like most of the groups put in a decent effort, it seemed as though everyone got their deserved \"A\" on the project, and he wasn\'t incredibly picky on the grading. I truly enjoyed the course material in the second half of the quarter, as it has completely helped with my instrumental skills (He has a cool way of learning the circle of fifths). The first half of the quarter is very slow for those who have music experience, going over notes, meter, etc. He spent a lot of time on each section, and never seemed to move too quickly. Also, he tried to throw in a lot of humor into the lecture to keep things more interesting, which definitely kept the class awake. I wasn\'t a huge fan of his random tangents that had nothing to do with the material, but I guess he must have found them somewhat relevant. The bi-weekly quizzes can absolutely destroy your grade. There are four of them, and they make up 40% of your grade. There are ten questions on each, making each question worth 1% of your grade. Some of the questions were very nit-picky, and I just wasn\'t a fan of this grading rubric. I was at a solid A for most of the quarter, and then I missed 4 questions on one of the quizzes, docking my grade which ended at a B+. The first one was very basic, but after that one, make sure to pay close attention to his lectures, as there will be a couple of curveballs in there. He is a very smart teacher, and he\'ll let everyone know of this right away. I don\'t feel as if this class is an easy \"A\", due to the quizzes, but if you give some effort, a grade of a B is definitely manageable. As a side note, I chose not to buy the book, and I am happy with that decision. A combination of his lectures, and musictheory.net was sufficient enough. Overall, I feel he was a better professor than the ratings say, and if you can make it to every lecture, I\'d recommend Barata.

Overall, I felt like he didn\'t care about the students. He is full of energy for class, but other than that fails in all respects of teaching. He also doesn\'t give any practice problems for his quizzes, which are worth a lot of your grade. I wouldn\'t recommend taking him, if you have any other option do it. Definitely do not take him if you haven\'t taken music theory before.

I have taken this teacher for 101, 311, and 312. He is a great guy and if you ever need help understanding the material, go to this office hours. His lectures at times (especially for 101) can be a little confusing. His jokes sometimes confuse students more than help, but I'd rather have a teacher trying to be funny than no humor at all. If you study and go to class, you will be fine.

I agree with most of the people below me. In a nutshell, Barata doesn't treat this class as a 101 course. Quizzes, again are worth a lot and he asks really discrete questions that you only know if you take thorough notes from lecture. I have little musical background and this class would have taken a lot of work for me to get an A. The group project is ridiculous and takes a lot of time. He is a brilliant guy but tests students at his level of intellect, which I don't think is fair to non-music majors. The pace and depth of the course make it really difficult to keep up if you're taking other time-consuming classes. Seriously, don't take this class if you're not willing to work hard. Not a fan.

I did not approve of Barata as a professor, or as a comedian, and Im not entirely sure which role he was trying to take while he lectured. He spent most of class time literally acting the part of a comedian. I did not find his jokes funny, I dont come to class for jokes, I come for the acquisition of information, and as far as teaching music theory, he could not pass the test. He also has a huge ego, which he indirectly strokes for 85% of the class time. The dude is knowledgeable, but I wish he would grow up, tame his ego, learn to teach effectively, and then spend class time conveying information. As for last year (which was when I took the class) he had not done any of those things. did anyone else in his class ever imagine Barata slicing a dudes head off and then some omniscient narrator to my life growling "Barata Wins... FATALITY" I hope Im not the only one who knows what Im talking about there.

Barada, overall a really good teacher but admittedly has some faults. One thing about Barada is that his lectures are rehearsed. This means that he pretty much has all the talking points memorized before class. The upsides to this is that the lectures are very informative, packed with detail (not all of it relevant but I found a lot of the side tidbits interesting), and the information is effectively conveyed. What I really like about Barada however is he teaches why music theory is the way it is. Beforehand I knew that a D maj. scale had a F# and C# but not why. It seemed all very arbitrary to me. Barada shows how music theory developed and now I understand why key signatures are the way they are. And he definitely knows his music theory, he is very intelligent. Now, Barada does have his downsides. I felt that his quiz questions overly emphasize superficial details. And he does have a certain ego to him as well. I do feel that a lot of the comments below are over exaggerated but also, they aren't totally unjustified. Barada has a subtle way about him that appears egostical. Hard to say exactly but just innocuous comments here and there that are said in a way that makes him out to be superior. It can get slightly annoying but isn't that bad, its probably just the way he teaches or something. Oh, and avoid him if he's in a bad mood, he gets overly irritated sometimes.

Barata's lectures are entertaining, interactive, and easy to follow. He knows what he is talking about and presents it well. I started the class with a small amount of musical knowledge, but after taking the class I have a solid understanding of music theory. He has a great sense of humor and has some pretty funny stories as well.

Barata is a really nice guy, you'll see this if you go to his office hours. However, I think the class was a bit too difficult for a 101 class. His jokes are extremely irritating because it uses up time he should be teaching. I would say he spent the time 30 percent teaching and the other 70 percent talking/ bragging/ being a comedian. I thought this class would be pretty easy for me going into because I had music experience prior, but if you are not strong on meter or intervals, it is almost impossible to pull an A. You have to teach yourself. I would recommend studying a lot, even if you think you have the information down pat he likes to ask trick questions and theres a lot of history questions on his quizzes. He teaches easy examples, but gives difficult questions on exams. And start on the project performance early, tell your group to get their shit together because it sneaks up quickly and he definitely takes all the grading seriously. But don't be afraid of him, he may be pretentious and annoying, but if you respect him (or at least pretend to) he's helpful in return.

Dr. Barata is kinda an interesting and crazy guy. He definitely knows what he's talking about, and he makes lots of analogies and jokes in the class. His jokes aren't that amazing to be honest, but they do help make the class a little less boring. I think his main problem is that he often goes too far with his analogies and they get kinda distracting sometimes. But it's not that bad if you can take the bits of important info between his jokes and analogies. There's a big group project for the class. You have to work in a group to make your intruments and music and perform. My advice is to start early and meet and practice regularly. He grades pretty easy on it. His homework and quizzes worth quite a lot. Make sure to spend some time with them and you'll earn some easy points. The midterm and final were pretty easy. Overall, Barata isn't a bad professor, but not the best either. It's easy if you have music before. If not, try taking another professor or another GE.

I liked Mr. Barata as a professor. Make sure you go to every class because I found his lectures very helpful as long as you pay attention. He definitely has the character to bring life to an early morning class, but you end up finding that he rambles on about other topics a lot. However, pay attention to every detail, especially the historical facts, because he will quiz you on them. Also, do the homework because they are an easy way to boost your grade. Make sure you don't fall behind because all of the topics combine together and are essential to doing harmonic analysis, which is basically most of the final. For the group performance project, don't let your group slack off because the performance date comes faster than you think. With that said, I found it to be very fun and enjoyable, and it is a great way to also boost your grade. Overall, just stay on pace with the course, and you will find that everything you are tested on has been covered at one point in class. At the end of the quarter, you will definitely have a strong music foundation, and with Mr. Barata, a good laugh here and there to spice up your morning.

Barata teaches a pretty straightforward class, although at 8am his liveliness can be a little too much... plus he likes to go off on unrelated tangents about his life. But looking past his eccentricity, pretty much everything you need to know is discussed in class. Really helps to have prior music experience, although you can still manage without it. Covered intervals, key signatures, meter... pretty much all very basic stuff. The unit on meter was a little tricky, though. 4 quizzes; do well on them, 7% each. Homework is pretty much free points. Group project was annoying but easy enough. Final was BS, one page, not cumulative, got 100%. He notices who attends class and who doesn't btw, and gets slightly irked with students who are always late.

Music 101 is probably one of the more challenging art electives, so consider that, but overall this class was straightforward enough for anyone to get a B or at least pass. Make sure you attend lectures because he definitely favors you if you do. He makes lectures interesting enough to listen to, even at 8 am. A music background will definitely make this class a lot easier, but I managed a B with very little music background. Homework is 4 assignments which were pretty easy. Quizzes on the other hand were a lot harder, there are 4 of them and make sure you do well on them. There is a group project that takes quite a bit of work, but has the potential to be a fun and rewarding experience. I would only recommend this class if you have music background or are ACTUALLY interested in learning about music theory. If you want to fill your art GE, then I would consider a different/easier course.

Professor Barata is a knowledgeable, passionate teacher who loves what he teaches. Although the class section is early in the morning (8:10 a.m. 3 days a week) he is lively and entertaining enough to keep students awake through the lecture. The one credit for the lab unit is a 20 percent of the grade final project that requires assigned groups of students to meet independently to write a score, construct instruments, and play the written piece for the class. The task is difficult, but he grades them generously. There are bi-weekly quizzes that comprise a good portion of the grade in combination with one mid-term and a final worth 20 percent each. He is helpful if you approach him during office hours with any problems. If you miss his class, he notices and takes personal offense to it. After the first few weeks the class picks up so it is important to understand the different concepts because the material is cumulative. Most of the material is genuinely interesting, but it is mixed in with some irrelevent tangents.

Barata is an excellent Music Theory professor. While at times he may seem deranged and break off into tangents (which he does quite often), he is very apt at teaching the subject matter and communicating the basics of music theory through analogies, and a slew of mnemonic devices. He is also incredibly intelligent, and knows things far beyond just the realm of music. He is, in short, that crazy sort of professor often parodied in movies. If you can stomach his humor (which occasionally merits a true laugh), and have some manner of understanding of music before taking the class, you will do quite swimmingly. In office hours, he can clarify a large majority of questions you may have, and simplifies it as best he can to make it understandable. Also, have fun with the performance project at the end of the quarter; if you actually put work into it, it becomes a quite enjoyable experience. And he never did tell us the name of the rock band he was a member of...

He's 100% adequate. But I missed nearly a lecture a week, and still came out with a B despite having no musical background, so that must count for something?

I am perplexed by negative reviews of Barata. Barata is organized, effective, and extremely helpful when asked a question or approached in office hours. What he asks of students is quite reasonable for college level. There's been complaints about quizzes, grading schemes, and even wasting time in class on tangents or side information. I simply did not experience anything like this. His jokes keep it lively, and they are contained - that is, he moves on after delivering it. His analogies and stories always have to do with the material or pont he is trying to get across. I believe thatif those complaining students thought a little more it, they would figure out how clever and appropriate his analogies and stories are. He obviously cares about his students. He always tells the class what will be on quizzes and tests, and in the case of stests, actually shows exact examples of the types of questions. I think much of the criticism of him is "sour grapes" or examples of scholastic immaturity. He is one of my favorite instructors in my experience.

he is such a horrible teacher! 80% of the time he was talking about non important things like "i can reserve seats for students because I am the art director" and he makes this show of his really a big deal, like its gonna be a full house at the Pac (which was the tiny show room downstairs with 100 people tops and it wasn't even a full house! DO NOT TAKE HIM!!!! unless you really are experience with music...HIS QUIZZES ARE RIDICULOUSLY HARD and he gets angry if you check the phone the TAKES THE CLASS WAY TO SERIOUS FOR A GE!!!! Biggest asshole of a GE teacher ive ever met

He definitely goes off on tangents, and talks a lot about himself. The lecture was always interesting and he always managed to entertain us, even if he sometimes did not fully cover all of the material. If you don't have any musical background, then the book will pretty much get you by. Its no easy class, but it was certainly fun.

From one student to another that does not have any music experience, DO NOT take this class. Barata does not teach this class as if it is a GE but rather as if it is a Music Major class. He also makes the assumption throughout the year that all of his students have music experience so he doesn't spend much time on the "basics" and rather speeds through them incredibly fast. I went to class every day and took as many notes as I could yet still felt lost many times throughout the quarter until I had to teach myself the material or get help from a friend who had music experience. To make things worse, his quizzes are insanity more so in point allocation than in the material that is on them but don't get me wrong they are both absurd. The quizzes which, I believe there were four, accounted for 35% of our total grade. The questions on the quizzes are incredibly technical and ask you to know the very extent of something that was just recently poorly explained to you. I believe I got two C's a B and a D on the quizzes after studying for each one and making flashcards. Moving on, the group project he assigns is what I found most perplexing in this class. Asking an entry level music class to get in a group and over the course of the quarter find instruments around the house or make them (for example people used bottles filled with water, different things to drum on, home made guitars) and then we have to write a piece of music that is a minimum of 2:30 and then perform it in class. Asking an entry level music class to do that is absolute insanity. That is telling me, who doesn't know how to read music, nor tell the difference between different clefs or other basic elements of music to sit down and write it. I relied so heavily on the other people in my group (who had music experience thank god) to carry me through this project and I did in fact try to write my own music but I was moving so slowly and was so useless that my group actually ended up writing my music for me when I didnt even ask them to. In regards to his testsI got a C on the midterm which wasn't as in depth as his quizzes and focused more on the basics which I assumed otherwise due to his quizzes but the midterm was fair i suppose. The final I had to ask a friend for help and after about an hour and a half I finally began to understand the material and honestly thought that I got a 100 on the final. yet the final isnt worth enough points and I still managed getting a B- in the class which most likely kept me off the deans list for that quarter. I actually dont know what I got on the final because HE DOESNT POST GRADES, which is always fun not truly knowing how you are doing in a class. One last thing, he wastes a lot of class time, if i could have managed i would have not came to class at all because he goes on tangents about irrelevant things or makes analogies that drag on for i kid you not 10 minutes at a time. meaning he spent 1/5 of the class time talking about some other random nonsense instead of getting to the point. I think I covered it all and I hope I saved a few of you from hell. Its a bummer he didnt deliver the material better because as a person I actually liked barata. Hes a funny guy who seems to have a good heart. gotta be honest on his teaching though and thats what this is really about. TLDR: Insane quizzes worth way too many points, doesn't post grades, ABSURD group project, wastes class time on pointless tangents, treats class like music major class.

Not a good teacher. Nice guy and funny lectures, but if you're looking to get an A in a GE do not take this class.

I would not recommend this class to anyone, especially if they don't have music experience. This class is a hard class if you do not have prior music experience. Barata is a good instructor and will do a mostly good job explaining the content and his office hours are a big help. But, he makes his quizzes much harder than they should be and involves trick questions. His tests are way easier than the quizzes, but the quizzes will still impact your final grade. The worst part about the class is the group project that he assigns. He grades it easily, but it is way too time consuming. Lastly, Barata is a complete character, he is very loud, funky , and makes really weird jokes bright and early at 8 AM. This is in my view a pretty honest evaluation of the class, I'd say go take photography or something.

If you haven't taken any sort of music theory class before or have no previous music education, I would not recommend taking Barata. He is an interesting personality, especially for the 8am I had him for, but he lectures the material in too difficult of a manner if you don't already know what he's talking about. I went to the Mustang Success Center to figure out what to do about failing his class, and the adviser said that they have had multiple people come to the center with the same problem. I would avoid him

Barata is a character. He's a very quirky and energetic man. He has definitely, on several occasions, made shocking loud noises that gave our whole 8am class heart attacks about once every weeks or two. When it comes course material, I don't recommend taking his class unless you know how to read music or have the time to study a lot. I did have prior theory knowledge and I got an A in the class pretty easily. However, I know people with no prior experience with music who really struggled. He is very passionate about music and really knows his stuff but he likes to go off topic a lot and talk about his background (it is interesting to listen to though). Another thing is he has this project where you build your own music instrument out of ordinary things and then in groups of 4-6 you create a 2 min 30 second composition and perform it to the class. DO NOT PUT THIS OFF. I strongly recommend composing it early on in the quarter and practicing it for the last month. On the bright side he graded really nicely for that because my group's was a complete mess and he still gave us a B+ on that part. Aside from that, his quizzes aren't too difficult but he does try to stump you so even with prior knowledge I needed to study for most of the quizzes. Also DO NOT PURCHASE THE BOOK. You can find it online for free and you only use like 4 pages from it. I wasted $110 on the book and found this out shortly after.

I'm a music major and I still couldn't get through this class. His lectures are absolutely abysmal.

This has been said in every comment above, but once again a reiteration- DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS IF YOU HAVE NO MUSIC EXPERIENCE!! Barata was very enthusiastic about his job, and seemed to come into every class with a smile and the urge to teach, but this class was still extremely hard. This class is completely geared towards people with music experience, and the class moves very fast. Barata is very helpful if you go in for office hours, but I would recommend utilizing the music departments office hours that are inside of the music building, as the TA's were much more helpful in explaining information clearly and concisely. If you are looking to take an easy C1 GE, look online, and not on campus.

This is a really good class to get you started with composition. We were tasked with creating a composition and having it performed at the end of the quarter. However, the class was more of a workshop, since nothing was really taught. I don't actually know what the point of attending any of the classes was. Barata is a wacky guy and entertaining to listen to but hardly a teacher. Do not take this class with hopes of learning anything it is just a venue to create a composition on your own and have it performed. Now, if that was it this class wouldn't have been too bad, but throw in a little twist at the end and this class became the most dissapointing class I've ever had. While the focus of the class seemed to be on our compositions, since this is a composition class, 60% of our grades were based on homework assignments. This little fact seemed to have slipped by me and most others in the class. The assignments themselves were extremely easy and really had nothing at all to do with composition. I don't think anyone thought for a second that these would affect their grades. But in the end barata stuck to his grading polocies and most people, including myself, attended class very irregularly resulting in about a 2-3 letter grade drop. So in conclusion, if you want an extremely easy A take this class, do the homework assignments, make an a-tonal piece of crap of a composition and you'll get an A. If you're really lazy you can even forget about the composition altogether and probably still end up with a B- or C+. If you want to learn about composition and get a decent grade at the same time stay far far far away from this class.

The class was broken up this way: Quizzes - 40% HW - 40% Final Project - 20% Here's what I spent my time on: Quizzes - 0% HW - 20% Final Project - 80% We didn't have any quizzes. The final project also took much more time than the homework did. I did every homework assignment but one (there were 1-2 per week), attended every class but one (most people skipped a lot), and spent a lot of time on my final project, yet I got a B. Every class period, but one or two were lectures. They were very interesting for the most part and made time go by quickly. A lot of the homework really wasn't worth my time and he didn't even really look at it. You'll get 100% on it or 0%. This is a good class for inspiring you to compose and giving you ideas for more far out techniques. I realize that people go into this class with many different backgrounds and levels of knowledge, but there really wasn't much about actually composing, the actual techniques and what not. He spent a lot of time with metaphors and explaining to people that he didn't mean to talk trash about the theory program and certain genres of music. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this class unless you're rich or are really interested in composing and will take Theory II because that fills up the same slot as this class.

Had him in 1988 and he also teased us that he might disclose his famous rock band past..but never did. Must be his fantasy since he has been doing the same over twenty years. And why can't his famous music credits be found on the Internet by now? Anyhow he was very entertaining and I learned a lot in his music appreciation class and sure he has only gotten better.

Ridiculously difficult and unlike any other theory course. Better off waiting a year to take this class, which is supposed to have a lot of potential! (Worst professor in the department?)

Dr. Barata is a dedicated teacher. He has a quick sense of humor, and is always in a good mood. He makes class entertaining to say the least. He expects high-quality work without browbeating students. He is very approachable and compassionate in office hours. His test and quizzes are not easy...heaven knows I did not do so well...but they certainly were fair and appropriate to the level of the class. He makes extensive use of analogies in his lectures to help bridge between material and the areas of interest or understanding of his students. He has won the teaching award for his college. It is very obvious that he is versed in many subjects, and finds it easy to find comparisons. I did only fair in the class, but mostly because of me, not him.

Good lord someone please switch this guys regular to decaf! Professor Barata is hands down the most energetic professor I have yet to encounter at Cal Poly. For a class that goes from 8-9:30 in the morning there is no better professor. Though he goes through the material really fast he certainly knows his stuff. Pretty much any question you have he can answer right on the spot. The only drawback to this class is that there's only one test and it's the final. Watch out for this bad boy cause as Barata tells the class "this test will take you down". He's very serious about you learning the material.

The topic material is really interesting, and Greg really presents it well. 60 percent of your grade is based on group projects, and 40 percent is based on one huge, killer final at the end of the quarter. I don't know why he feels the need to make the final a lot harder than it needs to be, but just as long as you do well on your projects, you should be fine. Make sure you've also got a steady 3 hour chunk of time every week for your recording studio group labs. I, personally, wouldn't take him again. He was too demanding for what the course called for. Some of us are only taking this course as an upper-division elective. We all don't need to be super sound engineers at the end of the 10 weeks.

I have never had such a terrible teacher. He is so obsessed with himself and his vast knowledge, but somewhere along the line it doesnt make it to the students because his rambles are so frequent and long, you lose sight of what information is important. I also still have no fucking clue how to work with music editing software, and thats the whole point of the class!!!

Alright, you will learn circuit fundamentals, soundwave physics, psychoacoustics, and music history. What you won't learn is how to make the projects to his liking. This is required for music majors, but is a tech elective for EE and maybe GENE, LAES. Business people take this too. I mention this because first task is to MASTER THE EQUIPMENT/SOFTWARE. There is a huge disconnect between the lecture and 'activity' parts. You will receive no help in studio, so ask around always. Projects aren't too bad and I would even recommend trying to take MU 312 to do projects (take this class C/NC). The pop quizzes and final for the lecture portion, unless you've memorized the Latin and text and math involved with frequencies, will bring your grade down a lot. StudioOne is the antiquated software by the way. He is probably reading this.

Studying with the textbook will probably only help you understand around 20 - 30% for a test/quiz. I wonder if I had brought him a close to final draft of the sound design projects if he would have given some advice to make it to his liking. Would have probably improved my project grade.

Sound Design files for the studio part might be here. Get out while you can.cola.calpoly.edu/music/classes/

Admittedly, I love this subject, so I'm a little biased. Still, Barata is an amazingly experienced and knowledgeable resource for any student who isn't just marking time in a class or expecting some preconceived notion of "what should be covered." The material in this class is appropriate to its description. This is a survey course, a survey of different music technologies and the fundamentals of sound and audio that support them. Barata is entertaining in class, but I have to disagree with those who have reviewed him for this (and other classes) as being distracting or off-topic. His analogies and stories are always directly related to the subject at hand. I think the complainers elsewhere in these reviews are just a little dull, and don't get how clever this guy is as a teacher. Both in front of class and perhaps even more so outside of class, he is a very helpful, obviously compassionate, and genuinely in his love of the subject and care for students. He expects self-motivation; he does not baby students; he grades fairly. Every project is carefully crafted to build specific experiences and skills in the student. Projects are typically in groups which helps pool strengths.

With one week remaining in the course, Barata asked the class what we would like to study for the remainder of the quarter. The options were room acoustics, microphone placements, and \"stories from his own career\". When nobody raised their hand for the final option, Barata mumbled, \"interesting how people don\'t notice the prophet in their own lands...\", a phrase used in the Bible to refer to Jesus Christ. Welcome to the tedious world of Antonio Barata. Barata is a smart guy, and really does know his sound design. Unfortunately, he spends 90% of the course telling you this, instead of actually teaching the material. Both MU311 and MU312 are structured around a number of group projects and a final. The final contains a significant amount of information he never mentions in class - luckily, there is a (fantastic) textbook to help you study in 312; in 311, however, you\'re on your own. His projects, while generally quite interesting and relevant to the topics, require the students to learn all of the tools and techniques necessary to complete them on their own time. This includes difficult skills such as learning how to use Pro Tools (which could alone constitute an entire class), learning how to apply EQ and compression, etc. Barata\'s classes are truly \"learning by doing\" to the extreme, as there really is minimal instruction. He frequently gets distracted during lecture telling obnoxious stories from his \"rock days\", and infuses his lectures with jokes that could only be found funny by the kind of small children you just want to kick. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sound Design Sequence Note: Barata claims to teach 4 courses on Sound Design: Technologies (MU311), Recording (MU312), Sequencing (MU411), and Composition & Production (MU412). Unfortunately, the second 2 classes in the sequence are simply sham classes, and for the majority of students have little or nothing to do with composition, production, or sequencing of sound design. Instead, students in MU411 and MU412 spend the quarter designing and producing every aspect of Barata\'s drama production \"RSVP\" (including footing the lavish bill for the production) - if that sounds good to you, then by all means take the classes, but beware that they are falsely advertised as sound design classes.

This is a review of the MU 311/312 series and not so much of Barata, although the course series is really barata's brain child anyway. If your goals going into this series is to learn how to produce music, you are better served teaching it to yourself using the textbook assigned for MU 312 ("Audio in Media" by Stanley Alten), as well as the wealth of info on blogs websites, and youtube, than by signing up for 311/312. During lecture, he discusses a couple of relevant points, but they are shrouded in slightly relevant globs of information like the latin names for the inner ear, Ohms law, the physics of a soundwave, lengthy anecdotes, and a great deal of history. This information isnt useless, its just probably not what you thought you were gonna get when you signed up for "Sound Technologies". During lab, you are thrown into a studio with a bunch of fancy equipment, but never are you shown how to use any of it. The reason my groups did well was because I had taught myself most of the stuff through reading blogs, websites, watching youtube, and talking to musicians.

Do yourself a favor, do not take this course with Baratta, he will simply get in the way of you learning about sound design and recording. I am extremely disappointed with this teacher. He fails his students entirely. I am three weeks into MU 312 with Baratta and am seriously considering withdrawing from the class and therefore giving up my Music Minor. I got an A in MU 311, was disappointed with him, and I should have known better than to take another class with him. He does not value his students time and either does not care or does not understand that he wastes every single lecture away with rambling anecdotes and metaphors about food. In the first three weeks of this class, he has brought up pornography four times, claimed to "enjoy real women over virtual women" and stated "dont get me wrong i love partying and women's butts" as he was condemning the music industry for its sinful ways. In short, he does not use the time and resources at all. There is a studio with SEVEN WORKSTATIONS and also a MASTER WORK STATION WITH A LARGE DISPLAY screen, set up perfectly for tutorials from an instructor for large amounts of students. But Baratta never enters the studio to show his students how to apply an EQ, nor does he even tell you how to use any of the software in class. He only rambles about history, physics, and food metaphors. He assigns six projects but NEVER offers a single word of advice, one second of training, or anything near instruction on how to complete these projects. I gave him a second chance when taking this course, but was quickly let down. As a musician and a student, I think he fails his role in every way. I do not write out of anger but simply out of sadness.

In my three years at Cal Poly Professor Barata has been my worst professor by a great margin. I originally took his Music Theory class and wasn't very impressed but I was a first quarter Freshman at the time and wasn't sure how to evaluate a professor as I had little comparison. Now, after giving him a second chance in a smaller class setting I am positive that he is a sub-par professor, one of the worse at the school. His lectures are not always entirely pointless but he often makes long, extended metaphors that can last as long as 30 minutes and come up several times over the class. Class seems pointless and it is exactly that. He didn't touch half of the topics on the syllabus because he spent so long talking about silly, irrelevant things like his new 7 string bass and making jokes that he thought would improve the class, instead making attending class a chore. The lab portion of this class has a few fun assignments but he never teaches how to use the lab or how to do any of his projects. I was lucky in having excellent lab partners who made some of the class enjoyable and I learned a great deal from them. Without them I might not have been able to finish the labs as the only time Professor Barata spent in the lab was taking 30 minutes to show us how to turn everything on. It took the class 30 minutes one day of class to determine how we would be split into groups to attend this lab time because the lab was too small and we never used these groups to enter the lab again. The final is 40% of your grade and WILL hurt. Despite having the highest score in the class going in (he had a list of everyone's name and their grades open for anyone to see on the last week of class, a morally questionable practice violating privacy in major ways) thanks to my strong group mates and our vigorous work on the projects, I got a low B in the class. Avoid Professor Barata if you can. While "ego" is a word often associated with Professors I have learned to mostly look past it; sometimes good professors earn a mid-sized ego. However, Professor Barata does not earn this ego at all. If you must take this class be at class every day. He takes it personally, despite what he says, if you do not show up and his final will ask tiny things from every lecture, the few facts that he has time to squeeze in between his poor, long jokes and his pointless metaphors about nothing. I wish I had not taken this class as it was a waste of my time and money. I did not learn anything useful to my life at all. I want this part of my life back.

Barata is pretty eccentric, but he's a pretty cool guy. He makes a lot of terrible jokes in class, which can get old after a while, but he presents the material well. I think all the people that take MU 101 or something like that expect the class to be a total joke, and when they find out they actually have to do work, they get freaked out. Don't bite off more than you can chew, or at least if you do, please, choke on your food so that you can't spew it out at Barata.

This is the first C I have recieved in my entire life. I hope that says something to all of you out there watching their GPA. Do not take him--this class was a nightmare!