A Short Guide to Writing About Music

Preface.


Acknowledgments.


1. Writing about Music.


Words about Music: Why?



Choosing an Audience.



Kinds of Writing.



Criticism.



The Author's Opinion: Clarity and Restraint.



2. Writing about Music by and for Those Who Cannot (Necessarily) Read It.


What You Can and Cannot Do.



The Reaction Paper.



The Concert Review.



Popular and World Musics.



3. Writing Music Analysis.


Analysis and Its Uses.



Analytical Content vs. Play-by-Play.



4. Three Kinds of Practical Writing.


Program and Liner Notes.



Summaries and Abstracts.



The Press Release.



5. Opinion and the Writing of an Effective Essay.


Presentation and Tone.



The Writing Process: From Outline to Final Draft.



Hints on Beginning.



Collegial Editing: Essays as Peer Review Exercises.



6. Research in Music.


The Purposes of Research.



Choice of Topic.



Kinds of Written Sources.



Use of Sources.



Citing Your Sources.



Turning Research Into Writing.



Whose Ideas?



7. A Sample Research Paper in Music.


“Similar Processes, Different Results: Development in the Piano Works of György Ligeti”, by Tim Sullivan.



Commentary on the Student Paper.



8. Style in Writing.


The Meaning of “Style”.



Academic Style Traits.



Fashioning Clear Sentences.



Punctuation.



Accuracy in Wording.



Toward a Personal Style.



9. The Final Manuscript.


General Format.



Musical Examples and Captions.



Citations.



Sample Citations.



Index.