Professor
Pirouz Kavehpour
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2020 - Looking at the reviews posted so far this quarter, I would say they are accurate to a degree, but may be a little harsh. I did think it was a little petty that he has pasted the entirety of both of the negative bruinwalk reviews written for this quarter in emails addressed to the class, but it is what it is. Anyways, I would agree that he goes over pretty basic derivations of concepts in class and always uses the most simplistic cases that you can think of. While this seems okay at first for the first 2-3 weeks of material, it leaves you pretty unprepared to do the homework and understand the material once you get to the more complicated topics (ESPECIALLY CONTROL VOLUMES). This is also true when he goes over practice midterm/final problems; he always chooses really simplistic questions that don't really reflect the kinds of questions on the actual tests. However, I think that if you attend discussion, you'll be in a much better position to succeed in the class. The TA explains a summary of the material in a concise and easy to understand manner and explains a variety of practice problems very in-depth (honestly maybe a little too in-depth but I'm completely fine with it). The professor still does a sufficient job of at least introducing and explaining the topics so you're in a position to pick up the material quickly during discussion, which is still nice. If you do still need help, I think he's relatively helpful in office hours, and he's always willing to answer questions during class as well. As for the exams, I would say they are not too tough in terms of actual content and length, but echoing the sentiments expressed below, they could definitely have used clearer wording. I thought it was a little unfair, given that most of the time they wouldn't offer clarification even when the wording and diagrams were vague and nearly impossible to understand. Clarifying questions to the professor were often met with one word answers or passive aggressive responses, and I sometimes found myself guessing what the question was asking. Nonetheless, they were 24 hour tests, so time wasn't really an issue, although we were required to submit a video explanation of our answers, which was a little annoying but fair. Overall, the class wasn't bad; I thought the professor did an okay job of getting through the material. He never kept class longer than it needed to be (which I actually respected and appreciated a lot) and was friendly overall (although I do wish he was more open to new genres of music). You shouldn't worry too much about grades; he's actually pretty generous in the end, even if it doesn't always seem that way.
Fall 2020 - Looking at the reviews posted so far this quarter, I would say they are accurate to a degree, but may be a little harsh. I did think it was a little petty that he has pasted the entirety of both of the negative bruinwalk reviews written for this quarter in emails addressed to the class, but it is what it is. Anyways, I would agree that he goes over pretty basic derivations of concepts in class and always uses the most simplistic cases that you can think of. While this seems okay at first for the first 2-3 weeks of material, it leaves you pretty unprepared to do the homework and understand the material once you get to the more complicated topics (ESPECIALLY CONTROL VOLUMES). This is also true when he goes over practice midterm/final problems; he always chooses really simplistic questions that don't really reflect the kinds of questions on the actual tests. However, I think that if you attend discussion, you'll be in a much better position to succeed in the class. The TA explains a summary of the material in a concise and easy to understand manner and explains a variety of practice problems very in-depth (honestly maybe a little too in-depth but I'm completely fine with it). The professor still does a sufficient job of at least introducing and explaining the topics so you're in a position to pick up the material quickly during discussion, which is still nice. If you do still need help, I think he's relatively helpful in office hours, and he's always willing to answer questions during class as well. As for the exams, I would say they are not too tough in terms of actual content and length, but echoing the sentiments expressed below, they could definitely have used clearer wording. I thought it was a little unfair, given that most of the time they wouldn't offer clarification even when the wording and diagrams were vague and nearly impossible to understand. Clarifying questions to the professor were often met with one word answers or passive aggressive responses, and I sometimes found myself guessing what the question was asking. Nonetheless, they were 24 hour tests, so time wasn't really an issue, although we were required to submit a video explanation of our answers, which was a little annoying but fair. Overall, the class wasn't bad; I thought the professor did an okay job of getting through the material. He never kept class longer than it needed to be (which I actually respected and appreciated a lot) and was friendly overall (although I do wish he was more open to new genres of music). You shouldn't worry too much about grades; he's actually pretty generous in the end, even if it doesn't always seem that way.
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