music 1a - introduction to music
dan mitchell | music department | creative arts division | de anza college |

Concert Review Assignment

IMPORTANT - Please note that this page describes the Concert Review assignment. The requirements and format for the Concert Report assignment are different. Please check the sidebar for links to information about the Concert Report assignment.

Concert attendance

In order to complete this assignment you will need to attend a public concert outside of class. You must attend a concert selected from those included on the Concert List posted at this web site. Reviews of concerts that are not on this list are not accepted and will receive no credit. If you wish to attend a concert that is not on the list you must ask me whether it can be added to the list before you attend the concert. Concerts will not be added to the approved list after they take place.

Acceptable concerts include professional orchestras, soloists, and instrumental or vocal ensembles, and comparable college or community groups performing music relevant to the content of this class. (Optionally, either your concert report or your concert review - but not both unless advance permission is given - may be based on a concert of non-western music selected from events on the concert list.)

Be sure to read the Concert Info page before attending your concert. It includes important information that will help you get more out of the concert you attend and help you select a concert.

Assignment Format

The following are required on the concert review assignment and, thus, may affect your grade.

• Must be typed
• Must be double-spaced
• Must be be between 2 and 4 pages in length not including the cover sheet.
• Must use conventional size and formatting of text - e.g. 10-12 point serif or sans serif fonts with normal margins.
• Must include the original printed program and your ticket stubs from the concert. Photocopies are unacceptable. (Contact me at least 24 hours before due date if any materials are unavailable.)
• All materials (text, program, ticket stub) must be stapled together securely. Folded corners, paper clips, etc. instead of staples will not be accepted.
• Careful editing, proofreading, and spelling is expected, although minor errors may not affect your grade.

Papers that do not follow these format guidelines may be returned for resubmission, and late penalties will apply. Please note that this assignment does not follow the standard essay format that you have (hopefully!) learning about in language arts classes.

Other important elements and requirements of the assignment format and policies are described below in the "content" section - they also must be followed when you write the review and doing so (or not) also has an effect on your grade. Be sure to read this entire page carefully.

Concert Review Assignment Content

I. Cover Sheet: Include the following on a cover sheet attached to the front of your review:

• Title or other description of the event/performers you heard, along with the date and location of the performance. For example:

  San Francisco Symphony.
  8:00 p.m.; Friday, September 22
  Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco.

• Your name, assignment submission date, course. For example:

  Pat Romero
  October 31, 2006
  Music 1A MW 8:30 a.m.

II. Descriptions The main body of the concert review should include brief discussions of each piece on the concert you attend. In most cases, a single paragraph for each piece should be sufficient, although with longer, mulit-movement pieces you may wish to divide the "brief description of the music" (part 3 below) separate short paragraphs, one per movement. If you do this, do not divide the "basic information" (part 2) and "reaction" (part 4) sections by movement - only write one paragraph of these sections for the complete multi-movement piece.

Your description of each piece should include:

1. The title of the piece and the composer's name, as listed in the concert program.
    
2. Basic and brief information about the composer and/or piece from the concert program, text, or other valid source. Typically this will be comprised of a few sentences of interesting and relevant information restated in your own words.
   
   You must indicate the source of the outside information. Full footnotes are not expected on this assignment - you may identify the source in parentheses - e.g. "(program notes)" or "(text p. 86)", etc.
   
   FAILURE TO CREDIT YOUR SOURCE(S) WILL RESULT IN A GRADE REDUCTION ON THIS ASSIGNMENT OF A MINIMUM OF ONE FULL LETTER GRADE.
   
   IMPORTANT: When you quote from any outside source you must place quoted material in quotation marks and indicate where you found it - you will not receive credit for this portion of the assignment if you fail to indicate your sources.
   
   It is unacceptable to offer background information that is essentially only a direct quote from the original source. At a minimum you must paraphrase in your own words and restrict quoted material to brief illustrations set off by quotation marks.
   
   Do not quote or paraphrase material that you do not understand - I may ask you to explain what it means, and your grade will be lowered if you cannot do so.
   
   Please include only a single short paragraph containing this information for each piece, even if the piece has several movements.
   
   Sample "background information" text:

   This piece was composed in the early 1800s by French composer Hector Berlioz. It is performed by a symphony orchestra and it has five movements. The movements describe different "visions" of young artist suffering from hallucinations. (Kamien text p. XX)

3. Your brief description of the music in the piece, based on what you heard at the concert - not based on outside sources or the observations of others.
   
   Be sure to offer some information about each movement in the case of multi-movement pieces and focus primarily on objective facts about the music and omit subjective opinions. Save them for the following "reaction" section; including them here instead will lower your assignment grade. A few sentences per movement or per short piece should be about right - a bit more may be appropriate for longer pieces/movements.
   
   In the case of a multi-movement piece you may choose to provide a separate short paragraph for each movement, though this is not required. It is required that you mention all movements however.
   
   To be very clear, this "description" section consists of your observations of what you noticed in the music as you listened to it at the concert. It is unacceptable to include material quoted or derived from outside sources (e.g. - program notes, the web, reading, etc.), and doing so will result in a substantially lower grade on the review. It is also unacceptable to include the observations of other students in place of your own, and the same grade penalty will apply if you do this.
   
   Sample "description" text:

   The first movement began pretty slowly. Half way through the tempo picked up and a new, low-pitch theme featuring the brasses was introduced. In contrast, the second movement, which also featured a new theme, was very slow and quiet throughout...

4. A brief description of your reaction to the piece. Please include only a single paragraph for this information, even if the piece has several movements.
   
   Sample "reaction" text:
   

   When the piece started I thought it was going to be slow and boring, but the faster section in the first movement made it more exciting. A really great flute solo full of fast and high notes in the third movement caught my attention. I'm not sure, but I thought that some of the brasses may have been a bit out of tune in the next movement when it got very loud...

You must describe every piece performed on the concert, and each description must follow the format outlined above. Completely describe all four aspects of each piece (#1-4 above) before moving on to describe the next piece. Describe pieces in the order in which they were performed at the concert.

Partial reports will earn a lower grade - describing half of the performance or less will result in an automatically failing grade on the assignment.

III. Summary: Following your review of the individual pieces as described above, you must conclude your paper with a final "Summary" paragraph in which you offer your reactions to the experience of the concert as a whole - how did you react to the concert and why?.