{"id":824,"date":"2019-04-23T07:19:56","date_gmt":"2019-04-23T11:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/robertkelleyphd.com\/home\/?page_id=824"},"modified":"2022-08-24T15:46:37","modified_gmt":"2022-08-24T19:46:37","slug":"how-to-critique-music","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/robertkelleyphd.com\/home\/teaching\/keyboard\/how-to-critique-music\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Critique Music: Guide to Criticizing a Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Guide to Critiquing a Performance:<\/h1>\n<h2>For Improving Your own Playing or Giving Commentary to Others<\/h2>\n<hr \/>\n<p><i>Note: This is an aesthetic idealization of music criticism. In reality, one must always temper criticism with tact, positive reinforcement, and selective criticism (choosing one or two main concerns rather than a deluge of perjorative comments).<\/i><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Objective Criteria<\/h3>\n<p>These are based on the material in the score<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Correct pitches<\/li>\n<li>Correct rhythms (and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.robertkelleyphd.com\/home\/rhythm.htm\">clarity of meter<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>Correct articulation<\/li>\n<li>Correct dynamics<\/li>\n<li>Correct voicing (bringing out the most important voices)<\/li>\n<li>Proper harmonic pedaling, and following pedal marks (for piano performances)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Matters of Taste\/Interpretation<\/h3>\n<p>These should be used to enhance the substance of the material in the score<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Appropriate tempo and effective timing (however, often the composer gives an exact metronome marking)<\/li>\n<li>Range of dynamics (depending on style of music)<\/li>\n<li>Tone (dark\/bright, timbral shifts, etc.)<\/li>\n<li>Amount of pedal and use of soft pedal (for piano)<\/li>\n<li>Prominence of melody and shading (the objective and subjective aspects of voicing)<\/li>\n<li>General articulation issues and very particular articulation differences (articulation, too, is not always objective)<\/li>\n<li>General style (less subjective is whether the style is appropriate for the period)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Technique for Providing Constructive Criticism<\/h3>\n<p>When I&#8217;m asked to critique a colleague&#8217;s (or student&#8217;s) performance or when I&#8217;m critiquing a recording of my own playing, my technique is to sit with the colleague&#8217;s (or my) score and listen. I mark mistakes and suggestions in the score:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Circle wrong notes and rhythms (and mark rests by circling them or drawing a vertical line where the cutoff should be)<\/li>\n<li>Mark all memory mistakes (with a big &#8220;M&#8221;)<\/li>\n<li>Write in tenuto marks and accents when the rhythmic clarity is lacking<\/li>\n<li>Circle dynamics that aren&#8217;t followed and write in dynamic suggestions (which are a matter of taste, of course)<\/li>\n<li>Add slurs or other articulation marks in the score when the style or touch needs rethinking.<\/li>\n<li>Circle the most important voices when they aren&#8217;t brought out<\/li>\n<li>Draw lines under the music to indicate proper pedaling (when not followed)<\/li>\n<li>Mark spots where the timing is awkward (and\/or make suggestions). Mark tempo fluctuations with:\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0&#8212;&#8212;&gt; (means accel. or &#8220;You are DRAGGING!&#8221;)<\/li>\n<li>&lt;&#8212;&#8212;\u00a0 (means &#8220;You are RUSHING!&#8221;)<\/li>\n<li>~~~~~ (a squiggly horizontal line indicates a (usually slight) ritardando)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Circle dynamic markings in the score that are too subtle in the performance (or &#8220;X&#8221; them out when they are too jarring).<\/li>\n<li>Cross out notes that are too loud or need to be in the background (with &#8220;X&#8221;s).<\/li>\n<li>Make suggestions about style, articulation, timing, etc. in the margins<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>After the Performance<\/h3>\n<p>I do this for each performance that I hear of the piece. In order to help my colleague (or student) determine which performance certain marks I made came from, I either write in a different color each time, or I pick a distinctive symbol (X, O, *, +, etc.) to put in the margin next to the system where a mark has been made. For this reason, some students like to make a photocopy of the score for scribbling on so that their expensive original score doesn&#8217;t become a multicolored mess.<\/p>\n<p>I may say some things to the performer after he\/she is done about the one or two most important issues that I think need addressing. If the performer then has questions about the specific stuff I marked in the score, they can ask me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Guide to Critiquing a Performance: For Improving Your own Playing or Giving Commentary to Others Note: This is an aesthetic idealization of music criticism. In reality, one must always temper criticism with tact, positive reinforcement, and selective criticism (choosing one or two main concerns rather than a deluge of perjorative comments). Objective Criteria These are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":51,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-824","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to Critique Music: Guide to Criticizing a Performance &#8211;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn the best way to provide comments and constructive criticism to a colleague or how to critique your own performance.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/robertkelleyphd.com\/home\/teaching\/keyboard\/how-to-critique-music\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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