This actually isn't a theory class- music history and music theory are two very different things. XD It's about understanding the different eras of music and learning to recognize them. Basically, it involves a lot of listening to music and being able to tell what instruments are playing, what the form might be, major or minor, and the 'expressive content,' or what emotions it's conveying. But his point probably still applies. XD (And I'm sorry for the tl;dr, I'm a part time music teacher. XD)