Music 3261 – Fall 2018 Concert Report # 2 – Due March 9, 2019
NOTE… this is different than concert report #1, so read carefully.
You must attend and report on a “classical” music concert (meaning not popular music of the 20th or 21st centuries, and avoid world music for now, please… look for the kind of music that we hear in our noon concerts and in class). Yes doing one of the Noon concerts is also OK. Reports are to be typewritten with a 12-point “Times” font, 1” margins, double spaced, and approximately 5 pages total in body length as per Step 1, 2, 3, below (plus extras such as a title page, concert program attached, etc. Please read below). Reports must contain the following information:
• A title page with the usual info…course#, your name, report title, etc. • A copy of the program attached to the report (so I can see the date of the concert and which works were performed.) • STEP 1 – Research (and write 1½-2 pages on what you found in your research) material that gives background on one or more composers or genres that you encountered at the concert. This means you have to try to find out what will be on the program. Please try to prepare STEP 1 in such a way that you come to the concert with expectations based on your research (I can tell you that the booklets you find with many CDs sometimes have really good information. So going to the U of L library and listening to a work before hand, while reading the booklet, is a good strategy.) For this part of the assignment, do not simply cut and paste from the internet. Be sure that the writing is your own synthesis of information gleaned from other sources. Try to look for information that will help you with your listening. For example, information on a composer’s musical “style” or influences might be more helpful than mere biographical information. • STEP 2: ANALYSIS – Go to the concert and take notes that will allow you to write an “SPI” (Sensual, Perceptual, Imaginal) analytic section (About 2 to 3 pages in length) where you use the three “levels of listening” to contextualize what you HEARD at the concert. Use appropriate musical terminology in greater depth than for concert report # 1, especially on LINKING cause and effect relationships between the Sensual &Perceptual and Perceptual & Imaginal levels of listening. • Step 3 – A descriptive section where you discuss how doing the research before the concert specifically affected your concert experience (not more than 1 page). Refer to the 3 levels of listening and give specific details as possible. This is a reflective part of the assignment. There is a “culture” to most activities, including concerts. Your description should take into account that you, as an informed and careful listener (now, after attending Music 3261 classes and doing your own research), are becoming part of that culture. If it doesn’t affect your experience then you may reflect on why that might be, in spite of your advanced preparations. • Bibliography listing – you don’t need an extensive bibliography… 3 to 4 listings are good – however, if you CITE your sources, you need to acknowledge that. Be sure most of your sources are academically reasonable and credible. • Concert Reports are to be well organized and clear. Grammar and spelling count, as does the correct use of technical terms learned in the class. Write in a manner that meets typical academic and grammatical conventions. Organize your thoughts.
In general, it is better to deal with parts of several pieces on the concert, not just one composition. But, if you feel one composition provides you depth and variety of material for discussion, you may choose to focus your efforts on the one piece. This assignment is about depth of listening analysis …not volume of material covered.
