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 ...