Students' understanding of musical style periods was assessed at Liberty Baptist College. The investigation was prompted by evidence suggesting that non-music majors who complete a music appreciation course understand a broad overview of music history better than music majors who complete music history courses. Compared to the music history classes, the music appreciation classes tend to more closely follow the Gestalt theory of learning, which involves learning whole concepts rather than individual facts. To determine whether music majors or non-music majors better understood a broad overview of various style periods, a test consisting of 25 multiple-choice items was developed and validated. The test was administered to 37 non-majors after they completed their music appreciation course and to all music majors after they completed the music history courses. It was found that non-music majors understood the broad overview of the style periods better than music majors. The college had been encouraged to require music majors to take a Gestalt-based (overview) course before taking the standard music history courses. The overview musical style periods test is appended. (SW)