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OVERVIEW
Chapter13 introduces a variety of issues specific to writing
about music, with a focus on the ways in which students can
learn to support a discussion of their reaction to a piece with
ele ments of musical analy sis.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. To use specific musical vocabulary to describe individ-
ual ele ments of a piece of music
2. To develop strategies for listening to and analyzing a new
and unknown musical work
3. To develop a personal voice for writing about reactions
to music
LECTURE SUGGESTIONS
1. Play the first movement of Spring from Vivaldi’s Four
Seasons and ask students to take notes on what they hear.
Encourage them to be as specific as pos si ble about their
observations, but do not give prescriptive guidelines for
listening. After this first hearing, review the list of sug-
gestions for considering “the big picture” as discussed
on pages58–59 of Chapter13. Play the movement a sec–
ond time and ask students to refine their notes to address
as many ele ments of music as pos si ble. Depending on the
size of the class, ask the students to share their observa-
tions with the class as a whole or in small groups. If time
allows, play the movement a final time after the conclu–
sion of class discussion.
OUTLINE
I. Music: Nonverbal Art
A. Does not easily translate into words
B. Aaron Copland’s three planes of listening
1. sensuous: music washes over the listener
2. expressive: emotional power at forefront
3. musical: delve into the inner workings of music
C. Analy sis of music
1. materials of music vocabulary
2. applying terms and concepts
a. determine genre and performing forces
b. place within a historical period
c. note prominent moments, “signposts”
d. identify orga nizational features
e. overall sound: consonant or dissonant, major
or minor?
f. describe the musical conversation
g. describe overall mood: objectively and
subjectively
h. research the work, consider ideas of others
3. finer details of analy sis:
a. melodic motion
b. rhythm and meter, tempo
c. texture
II. Finding Your Voice and Framing Your Ideas
A. Focus perspective, don’t be comprehensive
1. achieve balance: descriptive analy sis, personal
reaction
2. constructing your argument
a. compare with something you know
b. evaluative statement to start
c. argue against general description of a genre
d. description or analy sis that leads to a conclusion
B. Active, engaged listening takes time
CHAPTERfi13 Putting Music into Words
36 | Chapterfi13
naked outburst combining force and speed while
eschewing preamble. The choice of a middle to low
register is crucial here as well— too low becomes too
ponderous, too high becomes too shrill.”
2. Choose a piece of music that is very familiar to you and
write two or three paragraphs in which you analyze the
TEACHING CHALLENGES
The pro cess of writing about music in a concrete, vocabulary-
driven way can be especially challenging for students with-
out previous musical training or those for whom En glish is
SUPPLEMENTAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
Wingell, RichardJ. Writing about Music: An Introductory Guide.
2nded. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1997. Intended
ASSIGNMENT SUGGESTIONS
1. Compare the following writings about Beethoven’s Sym–
phony No.5. How would you describe the voice of each
How do their descriptions influence your perceptions of
this piece?
rushes like an ingenious rhapsody past many a man,
but the soul of each thoughtful listener is as suredly
stirred, deeply and intimately, by a feeling that is
none other than that unutterable portentous longing,
and until the final chord— indeed, even in the
moments that follow it—he will be powerless to step
out of that wondrous spirit realm where grief and joy
and RuthA. Solie [New York and London: Norton,
1998], pp.153–54)
b. “A good part of the effect, the presence, of the open-
ing utterance may be expressible in terms of metric
or tonal ambiguity, but its force is bound up in its
scoring, dynamics, rhythm, and contour. Loud,
Part 2: The Middle Ages and Re nais sance