ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the Problem-Based Learning (PBL) – a Music Appreciation course in which students create an orchestra season for a particular audience. It explores the PBL within a general population college classroom, in which students are not only nonmusic majors, but many have never witnessed a live concert. Enrollment in the course fluctuates and is always smaller in the spring than in the fall when most students attempt to satisfy their General Education requirements. It is also typical in the large public university to lose about 20% of the students during the course of the semester. In addition to the PBL project, students are asked to attend three concerts or class presentations and write a review for each, as well as take weekly quizzes, a midterm, and a final exam. On the day of the final exam, students submitted the brochures and rationales and filled in an assessment for the project and a peer-evaluation and effort form.
