What are program notes and what are the benefits of writing them? This week’s post will give you all of this information and more, so read on!
what are program notes?
Imagine you are attending a live classical music concert. You receive your program and flip through as the orchestra is turning up. While you wait, you read some information on each musical piece regarding the composers, the inspiration behind the work, and the music itself. These are program notes!
The practice of researching the music one is studying and writing about it to inform the audience has been around for ages. Some dedicated program note enthusiasts even go on to become professional writers dealing with music history and analysis. Though this might seem a bit advanced for younger students, it is something intermediate to advanced young musicians stand to benefit from greatly. The backgrounds and histories of the pieces being prepared can influence musical interpretation, style, and even technique in some cases. Learning about the history behind a work and the significance it may have held to the composers or to the time period during which it was written is an essential part of studying a piece of music.
As a music educator, it is very important to do your research on the pieces you are choosing for your students to learn. Make sure you select works from all sorts of varying time periods, and include pieces by all sorts of different composers. When a student sees him or herself represented by a composer or performer, it can build so much confidence. Representation is important!
Now, on to the process of writing these aforementioned notes!
So, how does one write program notes?
These can be as simple or complex as a student is ready for. I’ll lay out the basic form for writing these notes—feel free to change and add on as you see fit!
Most beginner notes can be about a paragraph in length. There is no need to write an entire essay, especially when considering how these notes might look in a paper program. Notes can include any of the following bullet points:
Title of the work (usually in bold) and composer name. These are required, but the rest is up to interpretation.
A brief history of the work. Maybe a sentence or two about when the composer wrote the piece such as the year, date it was published, how it fits into that composer’s catalogue, even perhaps the significance this work may have had to the composer. Was this her first work for solo piano? Did this song have a special importance to him as a songwriter? These topics can lead to great discussions in lessons—feel free to write these notes along with your younger students as well. This could be the context of a lesson!
Musical details about what the audience can expect as listeners. What musical devices make this piece unique? Are there any particularly beautiful moments? What might surprise the audience? For beginning writers, this would be a great section to utilize music vocabulary terms, especially tempo and dynamic words.
Any final thoughts! What does the performer enjoy most about this piece? Is it special to him or her in some way? What have they learned as a result of studying this work? This would be an excellent place for a dedication or something along those lines as well.
Of course, writing detailed program notes for every piece studied in lessons might seem like too much, and that’s perfectly valid. These notes could also simply serve as discussion topics for introducing a new piece in a lesson—they don’t necessarily have to be written down at all. However, I’d encourage teachers (particularly if you have rather advanced students) to try these techniques out and see what happens. Who knows, you might just be teaching the world’s next great musicologist!
—Charissa Garrigus, Instructor at Vibe Music Academy
