Music 1A: Concert Report Format

Concert Report Format

Your name
Name of group and/or soloist(s)
Date of performance

Title of the First Piece

Objective Description: This is your description of what you heard at the concert. Describe each movement of the piece; write a separate paragraph for each movement. Provide a narrative of your observations concerning such elements as melody, rhythm, dynamics, tempo, instrumentation, texture, form, etc. Describe the major musical characteristics of the piece, including the solos, tempo, dynamics, instrumentation, or themes, etc.

You must write about every piece on the concert.
You must describe all movements of each piece.
You should write a separate paragraph of objective description for each movement of multi-movement pieces.

(The objective descriptions must consist solely of your own observations about the music as performed at the concert you attended. Your paper should not include facts about the music from other sources including: program notes, the web, liner notes, other students, the text, etc. Including uncredited material from outside sources in your objective descriptions will result in consequences as described in the greensheet Policy on Copying and Cheating.)

Subjective Reaction: This brief paragraph describes your emotional response to the music. Did you like it or dislike it and, most importantly, why did you react as you did? What about the performance affected you? Express your opinion, but don't forget to explain your reasons.

Write a single short paragraph of subjective reaction for each piece on the concert even if the piece has more than one movement. Do not write a separate subjective reaction for each movement in muliple-movement pieces.

Titles of Additional Pieces

Objective Descriptions and Subjective Reactions for each additional piece on the concert follow here. Write on each piece performed. (If you attend an unusually long concert you may discuss this with the instructor before submitting your paper.)

Quality of Performance

The final Quality of Performance paragraph is the conclusion of your report. It focuses on the concert as a whole, rather than on the individual pieces. What were the notable features of the overall performance? Were there far too many wrong notes? If you know the pieces, were there some different or even incorrect interpretations? Were there distracting elements in the performance? Or was this the most inspired and inspiring performance that you have ever heard? Were you emotionally moved by the concert? Were some parts of the concert better/worse than others? Were there aspects that you found especially pleasing? Were there any surprises at the concert? Would you go again? Remember that "music criticism" is not only looking for faults, but is also recognizing the especially good things which happen during a performance.