Concert Review Assignment

Concert Review Assignment

Acceptable concerts include professional orchestras, soloists, jazz, Broadway musicals 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.)

Acceptable concerts include the following:

• Symphony orchestras • Concert bands and wind ensembles • Chamber Music (string quartets, brass and woodwind quintets, etc.) • Solo recitals (piano, voice, etc.) • Choral concerts • Early music concerts • Non-western music • Some jazz concerts • Opera• Broadway Musicals• Flamenco• Ballet• Tango

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 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 printed program from the concert and/or your ticket stubs. 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 are expected, although minor errors will not affect your grade.

Papers that do not follow these format guidelines may be returned for resubmission, and late penalties will apply.

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:

New World Symphony Orchestra

1258 Lincoln Road

Saturday, June 5, 2013

Lincoln Road Theater, Miami Beach

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

Pat Romero
October 31, 2013
Humanities 1020 MWF 8:05 a.m.

II. Descriptions The main body of the concert review should include brief discussions of three of the pieces in the concert you attend. In most cases, a single paragraph for each piece should be sufficient, although you may wish to break descriptions of longer pieces into separate short paragraphs, one per movement.

Your description of each piece (song) should include:

• The title of the piece and the composer’s name if possible, as listed in the concert program.• A brief description of your reaction to the piece. For example:

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 these 3 pieces which were performed in the concert. Partial reports will earn a lower grade.

III. Summary: Following your review of the individual pieces and described above, you should conclude your paper with a final “Summary” paragraph in which you offer your reaction to the experience of the concert as a whole.