What are the features of good objective descriptions?
Effective objective description sections often have the following characteristics • They narrate the progression of the music, noting important features of how it evolves – rather than presenting an general overall summary. • They address a wide range of important aspects of the music, including dynamics, tempo, melody, instruments and voices, texture and more – rather than focusing obsessively on one or two characteristics. • They include details that are specific to the character of the piece – and not just vague generalizations that are common to many pieces. • They are based on what you hear as you listen carefully and attentively to the music – not on what you read in the text or the program notes and not on what others tell you. • They go beyond the most basic features to present aspects that characterize the piece being described. • They describe the things that are noted in the report – rather than just listing them. For example, when reporting that “the trumpet plays” they off
