CONCERT CRITIQUE GUIDELINES Questions for a Concert What kinds of musical concerts are NOT acceptable for this paper? High school or other children's performances/recitals, outdoor festival performances, any type of pop, rock, rap, Latin, country, or reggae, for example, are not appropriate for this paper. If you're not sure about your choice, ask me. Print out and take with you so you can be thinking of the questions as you watch the show. 1. Program Notes - most performances have a printed program with printed notes. Read this before the performance begins and save it for reference when you write your paper. 2. Head your paper with your first and last name, the name of the show and where and when you saw it. 3. List the performers and/or the name of the group and the instruments included in the concert. List all the pieces that were played (see program notes for the concert), the name of the person who composed and/or arranged each piece, and the date each work was completed (if possible). Example: The Turtle Island String Quartet includes Joe Bloe, first violin; Sarah Marah, second violin; Topsy Turvy, viola; S. Popping, cello. Their program: Still so Cheerful by Sarah Marah, composed in 2001 Getting up Late by S. Popping, composed in 1998 Saturday Night by Berry Berry, composed in 2004 What to Write About: 1. Below are some things you can write about, but the most important is the MUSIC. You don't have to write about every piece on the program. Do write about how the sounds affected you, which voices, selections, or instruments touched you most, what you learned of interest about the composer(s), the performing group, and the compositions. 2. Ambience - Every gathering of people has a feeling tone, a mood: This is the ambience. Notice the people as they come in, find their seats, see what kinds of clothes they are wearing. Look around the theatre; notice the lighting in the room, the stage area. If you have some particular feeling about how you fit in, how you feel being a part of it you might make a comment in your paper. 3. You will understand and appreciate a concert more, and write about it best if you do a little research. It's easy to research on the Internet. Type in the name of the group and a list of web sites will pop up. The same is true for many composers. If the pieces were written in another century find out what you can about the type of composition, something about the composer. 4. Music is the most illusive art form. Like the dance, music happens in real-time: It's gone as soon as you hear it, and impressions are difficult to recall. Program notes give you information that is helpful when you think back on a performance. Program notes give you information about the composers, the music, and in voice concerts you may have translations into English of the words in a song. 5. Each composer had a concept, an idea, and chose specific instruments or voices (types of singers) because of the sounds they make. Listen to ho.

1. CONCERT CRITIQUE GUIDELINES
Questions for a Concert
What kinds of musical concerts are NOT acceptable for this
paper?
High school or other children's performances/recitals, outdoor
festival performances, any type of pop, rock, rap, Latin,
country, or reggae, for example, are not appropriate for this
paper. If you're not sure about your choice, ask me.
Print out and take with you so you can be thinking of the
questions as you watch the show.
1. Program Notes - most performances have a printed program
with printed notes. Read this before the performance begins and
save it for reference when you write your paper.
2. Head your paper with your first and last name, the name of
the show and where and when you saw it.
3. List the performers and/or the name of the group and the
instruments included in the concert. List all the pieces that were
played (see program notes for the concert), the name of the
person who composed and/or arranged each piece, and the date
each work was completed (if possible).
Example:
The Turtle Island String Quartet includes Joe Bloe, first violin;
Sarah Marah, second violin; Topsy Turvy, viola; S. Popping,
cello.
Their program:
Still so Cheerful by Sarah Marah, composed in 2001
Getting up Late by S. Popping, composed in 1998
Saturday Night by Berry Berry, composed in 2004
What to Write About:

2. 1. Below are some things you can write about, but the most
important is the MUSIC. You don't have to write about every
piece on the program. Do write about how the sounds affected
you, which voices, selections, or instruments touched you most,
what you learned of interest about the composer(s), the
performing group, and the compositions.
2. Ambience - Every gathering of people has a feeling tone, a
mood: This is the ambience. Notice the people as they come in,
find their seats, see what kinds of clothes they are wearing.
Look around the theatre; notice the lighting in the room, the
stage area. If you have some particular feeling about how you
fit in, how you feel being a part of it you might make a
comment in your paper.
3. You will understand and appreciate a concert more, and write
about it best if you do a little research. It's easy to research on
the Internet. Type in the name of the group and a list of web
sites will pop up. The same is true for many composers. If the
pieces were written in another century find out what you can
about the type of composition, something about the composer.
4. Music is the most illusive art form. Like the dance, music
happens in real-time: It's gone as soon as you hear it, and
impressions are difficult to recall. Program notes give you
information that is helpful when you think back on a
performance. Program notes give you information about the
composers, the music, and in voice concerts you may have
translations into English of the words in a song.
5. Each composer had a concept, an idea, and chose specific
instruments or voices (types of singers) because of the sounds
they make. Listen to how the instruments and/or singers each
have their own kind of tone. Typically men have deeper voices
than women, but in opera the highest male voice (the tenor) has
the same range as the highest female voice (the soprano). The
difference in the way they sound is called tone, or, timbre.
6. A voice or instrument may sound brilliant, have a warm
luster, may be light or heavy, sweet or somber. Composers use
the characteristics of voices and instruments to create a sound

3. painting that disappears as soon as it is heard. What you left
with are impressions.
7. Stating the type of concert you attended is important.
· Chamber music is for three to about twenty musicians.
· A symphony orchestra will have from about 45-75 or so
musicians.
· Opera is a play set to music with acts, sets, costumes, music
composed by one person and words (the libretto) composed by
another.
· Some contemporary music includes synthesizers, computers,
and other technology.
· A vocal concert may be one vocalist and a piano. The size of
the group and the voices or instruments involved are things the
composer chose in order to display whatever sound painting was
in his/her mind.
· Some groups mix styles and instruments, fusing different
kinds of sounds and styles of music to take off in a new
direction.
· The music may be specific to one culture, such as Klezmer
music. Find out about it before you write your paper. Before or
after the concert do some research on the Internet or use your
textbook to help you understand some things about the music.
11. Generally, in a music concert, some pieces or performers
stand out more than the others. Everyone likes to hear about a
special or even spectacular performance. You can't write about
every detail of every piece and every performer, so choose what
seems most noteworthy.
12. Remember, the concert you attend must be a sit down
concert where the audience faces the staging area and is silent
during the performance. The more you know about the music,
the composers, the musicians, the more your attention will be
engaged during the performance. People fall asleep during
performances because the sound painting is streaming by and
they don't know what to listen to, to listen for: They zone out.
13. Music is extremely important in human existence. It

4. accompanies so much of life that it is a regular backdrop to our
impressions of reality. It is very different to listen to a concert
than it is to let it stream by as background. What makes the
difference is in being informed about what you are hearing.
14. Paper should be no less than 800 words. Make sure to
count.
15. Document must be uploaded through turnitin drop boxes
found in Lessons page.