The document outlines guidelines for writing concert critiques, emphasizing acceptable concert types and necessary details to include, such as program notes and performer information. It suggests areas of focus like the music's emotional impact, the concert's ambience, and the historical context of the compositions. Additionally, it stresses the importance of being informed about the performance and the need for a minimum 800-word paper submitted via Turnitin.

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. 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

3. 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

4. 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 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.

5. ▪ 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

6. 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
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.