Writing About Music: An Introductory Guide

by Richard J. Wingell, Wingell, Richard Wingell, Richard

Helping users write clear, convincing, persuasive prose on musical topics, this practical guide focuses on general writing issues as well as special challenges of writing about music—with clear, step-by-step explanations of the process of writing a paper. Updated to reflect the latest research methodology, resources, and technology, it continues to offer strong coverage on research, organization, drafting and editing—and includes a thorough section on basic writing skills. Contains complete chapters on writing about music, analysis and research, getting started, writing a research paper (from choosing a topic through outlining, writing the draft, editing and revising), questions of format, other kinds of writing projects (i.e., seminar presentations, concert reports, program notes), writing styles, and common writing problem. Covers the latest musicological research and new resources for researching both print and electronic publications. Discusses writing papers on a PC, and provides a sample paper in the appendix that illustrates matters of format and discusses the events in the musical work. For writers.

Genres: Music, Reference, Writing

171 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1989

Reviews

[Marianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

The definitive book for writing about music. An extremely useful guide to writing academically within the field. The book covers some simple/general writing and English rules, but the real meat of this book lies in the music-specific portions. This book helpfully covers:
- How to cite scores, music journals, and discographies
- Introduces how to approach the research portion (covers the importance of the New Grove!)
- Gives a good outline of how to write in Chicago-format, the accepted citation format for music and the arts
- Discusses how to write about music specifically, in a way that sounds informed and knowledgable, using the appropriate lingo of the field
- Tips and tricks for writing beyond a research essay/analysis paper - e.g. lecture-recitals, program notes, aural analysis papers.

There are a handful of small negatives - a couple of facts in the book are either incorrect or outdated (the New Grove section that includes information about the 2nd edition seems to be wrong - I believe there's some edition-related confusion about volumes and their contents). In addition, some sections of this book read as a little excessive. The parts that cover basic grammar feel out-of-place among this generally academically advanced book...either way, they hardly detract from the book's usefulness.

Highly reccomend to anyone writing about music - it's a must-have for reference use! Also, I wanted to mention that appreciate how slim this book it is; makes it easy to transport find what you're looking for! :)

4.5 stars out of 5