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- Music inquiry
- How to do music inquiry
- Creative responses to music
Visual presentations
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Poster - If the poster is meant to be a stand-alone presentation rather than part of a talk, make sure it includes enough explanation.
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Graph, Chart, or Illustration - There are many different ways to arrange information visually, for example, as branching trees or flow charts, on time lines, bar graphs, or pie charts, or within overlapping ovals or concentric circles. Try to choose a way to arrange the information so that it shows something interesting, in a way that can be understood quickly and easily. Make sure to include a "key" with enough explanation so that it is easy to figure out what the graph or chart shows. Do not simply recreate someone else's chart. Choose a different way to illustrate the information; or, if you find a particular chart very useful, consider how you might expand or add to it to make it even more informative.
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Artwork - Some musical concepts may lend themselves to expression as a visual artwork, for example, a painting evoking the music's timbre, or a drawing evoking the form of a piece, or a sculpture evoking its texture. Since the main purpose of the artwork is educational, include an oral or written explanation of how the artwork demonstrates the musical concept you are studying.
Written presentations
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Report - After learning about a musical concept (or genre, style, or historical era) see if you can write your own summary of the ideas. In order to avoid the temptation to simply quote what you read (which does not force you to think about it and really understand it), use your report to explain how what you read is related to something that you are doing as a musician or a piece of music that you have been listening to. For example, after reading about Baroque music, choose a piece you have been practicing or listening to, and explain why you would or would not call it Baroque.
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Poem or epigram - This is another way to avoid simply quoting other people while demonstrating that you understand what they mean. Can you think of a creative way to explain the idea or give the information, for example using a poetic metaphor to compare the musical idea to something more familiar, or inventing a short, rhyming epigram that helps you remember what you need to know?
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Journal entry - If you are committed to a long journey of discovery, for example to try to understand a foreign music tradition, consider creating a learning journal, in which you will keep track of what you have learned, what you are guessing at, where you have found useful information, what you have listened to, and what your new questions are as your education progresses.
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Story or Narrative - This might be a non-fiction narrative, for example telling the story of your struggle to understand the new information, or it might be a fictional story that illustrates how the information might be useful in a "real-life" situation.
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Review - In a review, you apply the information you are learning by listening for relevant examples in a piece of music. Choose a performance or recording of one piece of music, listen to it carefully, and then write a review of it that focuses on the concept that you are learning. Your review can be positive or negative, or have elements of both; the aim is to discuss how the concept was present (or not) in the recording or performance. For example, three reviewers might attend the same performance of a piece, and one might write about the form of the piece, another about the textures of the music, and another about the conducting.
Source:
OpenStax, Music inquiry. OpenStax CNX. Mar 18, 2013 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11455/1.4
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