General Information

Select a concert to watch online and to review from the Great Performances series of recorded concerts from the Public Broadcasting System. Your instructor will provide you with a list of “approved” concerts at the appropriate time in the semester since PBS’s online offerings change periodically. Not all performances in the Great Performances Series are suitable for this assignment so it is imperative that you not make your selection without information from your instructor.

Instructor permission is required if you wish to watch and write about a concert not on the instructor’s approved list; a request to watch an alternate performance must be made no later than one week before the assignment’s due date.

For this assignment, you must select one of the following five approved online concerts from the Great Performances series of the Public Broadcasting Service:

1. Star-Spangled Spectacular

2. Great Performances 40th Anniversary Celebration

3. Dudamel Conducts LA Phil in John Williams Celebration

4. Boston Symphony Orchestra: Andris Nelsons’ Concert

5. American Voices With Renee Fleming

The link to find these performances is as follows: http://video.pbs.org/program/great-performances/episodes/?page=1

Writing Format and Instructions

1. Section One: Note the performer’s or ensemble’s name, the date, location, time (if known) and performance medium (such as piano recital, orchestra concert, opera). Some concerts can have multiple performers, so please name each one.

2. Section Two: Make a table with three columns listing the music compositions in the order they were performed. Be sure to list any encores that might have been played. (Note that, depending on which concert is selected, the number of compositions performed could vary from several to a dozen or more.)

Column 1 should be the title of the composition.

Column 2 should be the composer’s first and last names. In parenthesis write his birth year (year only) and death year (year only). If you cannot find a contemporary composer’s birth and date years by doing an internet search, indicate that in parenthesis under the name. Note that the person performing the music is usually not the same as the composer; the composer is the person who wrote the music itself. The performer is the person who actually sings or plays the music.

Column 3 should be the style period for the composition. Style periods should correspond to the dates when the compositions were composed. For this class the style periods are as follows: Medieval (400-1450), Renaissance (1450 – 1600), Baroque (1600 – 1750), Classical (1750-1820), Romantic (1820-1900) , and Contemporary (1900-today).

Example:

Composition Title

Composer (year of birth – year of death)

Style Period

Die Forelle

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

Romantic

Quando miro quell bel ciglio

W. A. Mozart (1756-1791)

Classical

Go ‘Way from My Window

John Jacob Niles (1892-1980)

Contemporary

Continue until you have listed all compositions

3. Section Three: Write a description of each work performed; include each work’s mood, tempo, dynamic level (how loud or soft), and length. Make a new paragraph for each work.

4. Section Four: Describe the concert environment.

Include the following:

1. A description of the physical layout of the performance hall or venue. Be sure to include the audience seating or standing in relation to the performers.

2. The clothing of the performers. Describe what people are wearing. If the men and women have slightly different clothing, note that information.

3. The clothing and behavior of the audience members (if visible in the video).

5. Section Five: Write a paragraph describing your general reaction to the concert. Include information about your own experience going to concerts and whether you were comfortable listening to your selected concert. Would you have liked to have been a member of the audience instead of being a “virtual” viewer? What was your reaction to the music performed?