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WRITING ABOUT MUSIC Teaching students to write critical reviews

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WRITING ABOUT MUSIC TEACHING STUDENTS TO WRITE CRITICAL REVIEWS YOUR TRAINERS Jeffrey Jamner, DMA Senior Director of School Programs, The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts Carole Mullins, NBCT Instructional Specialist Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts 2014

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STUDENT ASSEMBLY PERFORMANCE Monday, March 23 rd at 1:00 PM (Snow Date, Tuesday, March 24 th ) The Forum in Hazard, KY Featuring From the Top alumni musicians and stand-out regional music students in a performing a fun, lively, program of classical music. HCTC Greater Hazard Area Performing Arts Series presents Tickets: $3 per student Reservations: 606-487-3067 or 800-246-7521 ext. 73067 or tammy.duff@kctcs.edu

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GOALS STUDENTS WILL: Understand that music is an expressive language Talk about and write about music and musical performances using descriptive language about the music, the emotions it expresses and evokes, and the quality of the performances. Understand terminology specific to music including the ELEMENTS of music and QUALITIES of musical performances. Learn the components expected in a journalistic review of a concert. Listen actively to a classical music performance and use a worksheet for as a pre- writing aid. Write a music review for an authentic audience about a From the Top educational outreach concert. Recognize specific connections to the Kentucky Core Academic Standards, KDE Program Reviews and 21 st Century Learning Skills in Literacy.

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HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO A FIREWORKS SHOW? What WORDS would you use to describe that experience?

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WORDS DESCRIBING FIREWORKS DISPLAY Brilliant Colorful Loud Explosive Exciting Thrilling Thunderous Beautiful Fun

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HOW DID YOU FEEL DURING FIREWORKS SHOW? Thrilled Excited Scared In Awe Bored Happy

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WORDS DESCRIBING MUSIC EXAMPLE 1 15-year-old pianist Derek Wang from Needham, Massachusetts, performs Toccata in D minor, Op. 11, by Sergei Prokofiev (18911953). Music Example 1Music Example 1 http://www.fromthetop.org/show/tacoma-wa-288/ http://www.fromthetop.org/show/tacoma-wa-288/

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WORDS DESCRIBING MUSIC EXAMPLE 2 9-year old Elizabeth Aoki performs the opening of Sarasate Introduction and Tarantelle, Opus 43, accompanied by Christopher ORiley Music Example 2 Music Example 2 (play first minute only) http://youtu.be/jZjFYjr7S5c?list=PL3RZso5g88LJ3fbSUV1dxAYG62mmb_3MC http://youtu.be/jZjFYjr7S5c?list=PL3RZso5g88LJ3fbSUV1dxAYG62mmb_3MC

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SPECIALIZED MUSIC VOCABULARY virtuosoa performer with great technical ability dynamicsloudness and softness articulationconnected and disconnected notes Opus (op.)work, piece, composition -- used in titles acousticsquality of sound in a room or concert hall tonethe quality of sound from the instrument (or voice if singer). Tone can be beautiful, harsh, pale, etc.

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MORE MUSIC VOCABULARY: FOR TWO OR MORE PERFORMERS ensembleA group of performers ensemble Togetherness Click here for music example of good ensemble Click here for music example of poor ensemble solo single line, or melody line intonation playing in tune Click here for music example of good intonation: Click here for music example of poor intonation: balance relative loudness and softness within the group Click here for music example of good balance: Click here for music example of poor balance:

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A MUSIC REVIEW IS A WORK OF JOURNALISM A written music review will require students to write a Persuasive written response to a prompt created by the teacher. (It may include the students personal opinion which should be supported by evidence.) Ask students to think of the music review as a newspaper article report about the concert!

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In a persuasive essay, you select the most favorable evidence, appeal to emotions, and use style to persuade your readers. Your single purpose is to be convincing. (Kinneavy and Warriner, Elements of Writing, 1993)

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INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES: WHAT EVERY REVIEW NEEDS TO INCLUDE Who? Name of performer or performers What? What kind of music did they play? Example: a piano recital. Full titles of pieces. When? When did it take place? Where? Where did it take place? Example: at The Forum in Hazard, Kentucky. How? How did the performer play? How did the critic respond to it? How did the audience respond? What specifics can you give about the music and its performance to explain these responses (supporting evidence).

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MORE ABOUT WHAT IN THE REVIEW The critique should include the full titles of the pieces performed. For example: The pianist played Prokofiev Toccata in D minor, Opus 11. The critique should also include description of the music. This is where we apply those adjectives to describe what we hear and experience.

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MORE ABOUT HOW IN THE REVIEW How well did the performer play? Go beyond I liked it. Explain if this was a good performance or not and why? Also - what emotions or images did the musical performance inspire in the listener? For more advanced writers: You can ask them to write about the context of this concert, such as having a concert featuring From the Top young artists who play at a professional level in our part of the state, and what it means to include top young music students from the region in the performance.

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OTHER SUGGESTIONS Pre-Writing activities can also include pairing or grouping students for conversations about the music. Challenge them to go beyond I liked this piece. Ask them to talk about what they liked about it. Show them some examples of classical music reviews in newspapers such as the New York Times and analyze the components of these reviews. Show examples of student reviews. Ask them to circle Who, What, When, Where and underline How. Also, talk with them about audience etiquette, and about jotting down notes quietly for their reviews perhaps between performers. Include a scoring rubric for the students. This may be a good opportunity for music teachers and English/Language Arts teachers to collaborate on assessment of written work about music.

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LOOKING AT A REAL REVIEW

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A STRUCTURE YOUR STUDENTS CAN USE Depending on the writing level and age of your students you can make more suggestions as needed about the structure of the review: Paragraph 1 Intro (who, what, when, where) Paragraph 2 First Piece: Prokofiev Toccata Paragraph 3 Second Piece: Sarasate Introduction and Tarantelle Paragraph 4 Final Piece Paragraph 5 Closing paragraph can include audience response

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WORKSHEET EXAMPLE

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HOW DOES THIS LESSON HELP TO MEET KENTUCKY STANDARDS? Kentucky Core Academic Standards for: Arts/Humanities English/Language Arts Writing Vocabulary Language Speaking and Listening Kentucky Program Reviews: Arts/Humanities Writing A College and Career Readiness ANCHOR STANDARD is a skill that high school graduates should have in order to be ready for entry into the world of work or postsecondary education.

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http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/fromthetop/video/season-2/212.php Sonata for Trumpet and PianoKent Kennan I. With strength and vigor Kyla Moscovich, trumpet Christopher ORiley, piano String Quartet No. 3 in D MajorFelix Mendelssohn IV. Presto con brio Colburn School Honors String Quartet

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FINAL STEPS Work on revision process in writing by providing formative assessment for drafts of review. Publish reviews in school newsletter & website Create a writing contest with prizes Sharing reviews with parents Display reviews at school and share exemplary reviews with From the Top and The Kentucky Center staff. Writing for authentic audience

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FEEDBACK Please take the post-Webinar Survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WWB8SLQ https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WWB8SLQ To receive a certificate of participation in this Webinar, please contact Abbie Combs at abbie.combs@hazard.kyschools.usabbie.combs@hazard.kyschools.us

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QUESTIONS? Jeffrey Jamner jjamner@kentuckycenter.org Carole Mullins Carole.mullins@hazard.kyschools.us