Writing about Music : An Introductory Guide

Preface xi Purpose of the Fourth Edition, xi Changes in the Fourth Edition, xiii Other Resources, xiii How to Use This Book, xv Conclusion, xvi 1. Writing about Music 1 Why We Write about Music, 1 The Special Challenges of Writing about Music, 3 Inappropriate Ways to Write about Music, 4 Musicological Research and Writing, 7 2. Analysis and Research 9 Analysis, 9 Questions to Consider, 10 Examples of Works and Research Directions, 14 Carlo Gesualdo: "Moro, lasso", 14 J.S. Bach: Opening Chorus of Cantata No. 80, Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott, 15 W.A. Mozart: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in C Minor, K. 491, First Movement, 16 Giuseppe Verdi: Otello, Act I, Scene 3, 17 Franz Liszt: "Faust" Symphony, First Movement, 18 Igor Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring, Opening Sections, 20 Karlheinz Stockhausen: Gesang der J nglinge, 21 3. Getting Started: Research 24 Choosing a Topic, 24 Kinds of Topics, 26 What Research Means, 27 Gathering Materials, 28 Places to Start: Print Resources, 29 Library Catalogs, 29 Dictionaries and Encyclopedias, 30 Histories of Music, 32 Biographies, 34 Thematic Catalogs, 34 Articles, 35 Dissertations, 36 Scores and Recordings, 36 Places to Start: Electronic Resources, 37 Search Engines, 39 Databases, 40 Lexicons, 41 Online Journals, 42 JSTOR, 43 Evaluating Resources, 44 Foreign-Language Resources, 45 When to Stop: How Much Research Is Enough?, 46 4. Writing a Research Paper 47 The Outline, 47 Topic and Thesis, 47 Topic Outline Versus Sentence Outline, 48 Introduction, 48 Body, 49 Conclusion, 50 Revising the Outline, 50 Writing the Draft, 51 Musical Examples, 52 Diagrams, Graphics, and Tables, 53 Footnotes, 53 Bibiliography, 56 Revising and Editing the Draft, 58 Computers and Editing, 58 Checking Spelling and Grammar, 59 The Editing Process, 60 Printing, 62 Proofreading, 62 Keep Your File, 63 Quotation, Paraphrase, and Plagiarism, 63 Conclusion, 65 5. Questions of Format 67 Format for College Papers, 67 Paper, 68 Page Format, 68 Fonts, 69 Spacing, 69 Justification, 70 Page Numbers, 70 Format for Quotations, 71 Short Quotations, 71 Block Quotations, 72 Ellipsis and Editorial Additions, 72 Bibliography and Footnote Form: Humanities Style, 74 Books, 74 Additional Notes for Both Bibliography Entries and Footnotes, 75 Dissertations, 78 Articles in Dictionaries and Encyclopedias, 79 Notes, 79 Notes on Articles in Lexicons, 80 Articles in Periodicals, 81 Articles in Collections of Essays, 82 Scores, 82 Sound Recordings, 83 Citing Interviews, Correspondence, etc., 83 Citing Electronic Resources, 84 The Author-Date System of Citation, 87 Reference Lists (Lists of Works Cited), 87 Parenthetical Citations in the Text, 88 Format Issues Related to Writing about Music, 89 Stylistic Periods, 90 Referring to Centuries, 90 Referring to Musical Works, 90 Naming Notes and Keys, 93 Foreign Terms, 94 Musical Examples, 95 Conclusion, 96 6. Other Kinds of Writing Projects 97 The Seminar Presentation, 97 Research, 98 Organizing the Presentation, 98 Tone and Approach, 101 Concert Reports, 102 Purpose, 102 Research, 103 Writing the Report, 104 Program Notes, 105 Purpose, 105 Who Is the Audience?, 105 Research, 106 Working within Limits, 107 Special Problems, 108 Texts and Translations, 110 Conclusion, 111 Essay Examinations, 111 Purpose, 111 Preparing for Essay Examinations, 112 How to Proceed, 112 Common Errors, 113 Conclusion, 115 7. Writing Style 116 Some Basic Ideas about Writing, 116 Different Kinds of Prose, 118 Tone, 119 The Stance of the Writer, 120 Referring to Yourself, 121 Writing Effective Sentences, 122 Word Choice, 122 Word Combinations, 125 Sentence Structure, 128 Effective Paragraphs, 132 The Effective Essay, 133 Introduction, 134 Transitions, 134 Conclusion, 135 Summary, 135 8. Common Writing Problems 136 Errors in Basic Grammar and Writing, 136 Incomplete Sentences, 136 Run-on Sentences, 137 Agreement: Subject and Verb, 137 Agreement: Pronoun and Antecedent, 138 Proper Cases of Pronouns, 140 Relative Pronouns, 141 Misplaced Modifiers, 142 The Split Infinitive, 145 Mixed Metaphors, 146 Spelling Issues, 147 Using a Dictionary, 147 Forming Possessives, 148 Plurals of Borrowed Latin and Greek Words, 148 Foreign Words, 149 Medieval and Renaissance Names, 150 Some Troublesome Word Pairs, 151 Its and It's, 151 Your and You're, 151 Whose and Who's, 151 Affect and Effect, 152 Due to and Because of, 152 Fewer and Less, 152 Like and Such as, 152 Predominant and Predominate, 153 Principal and Principle, 153 Punctuation, 153 The Period, 154 The Comma, 154 The Semicolon, 156 The Colon, 157 Quotation Marks, 157 The Hyphen, 158 The Dash, 159 Parentheses, 159 Special Problems Involved in Writing about Music, 159 Technical Terms, 159 Describing Musical Events, 162 Summary, 164 Conclusion 165 Appendix: Sample Paper 167 Index 183