This is a guide for giving useful critique on music pieces.
There are six concepts of music, which are very important in performance, composition, musicology and aural. I think for a good accurate critique, you should try to refer to some of these concepts, it'll make explaining things a bit easier.
Duration
Duration refers to the lengths of sounds and silences in music and includes aspects of:
-Beat/pulse
-Rhythm, the patterns of long and short sounds and silences in music. Can contain devices such as syncopation, repetition, augmentation etc
-Time signature/metre (the grouping of beats), beats can be grouped in any combination including 2,3,4,5,6,7 and so on. Metres can be regular or irregular and the grouping of notes depends on the underlying pulse within the metre or time signature.
-Tempo(the speed of the beat) - music may be relatively fast or slow and may become faster or slower
Pitch:
Pitch refers to the relative highness and lowness of sounds, important aspects include:
-High/low (pitches can be comparatively high or low), pitch range refers to the number of notes used as ranging from the lowest to the highest. Pitch register refers to where the range of that instrument sites in relation to others - eg voices: soprano/alto/tenor/bass
-Direction of pitch movement - up, down, same level. In the case of more then one, pitch movement can be together in unison; contrary (opposing); parallel(moving in the same direction at equidistant intervals) etc
-Melody, a horizontal succession of pitches
-Harmony, two or more pitches sounding together, unison refers to two or more melodies sounding at the same pitch or in octaves
Dynamics and expressive techniques:
Dynamics refer to volume of sound. Important aspects include:
-the relative softness and loudness of sound-levels(eg mezzo forte), gradations (eg crescendo)
-change of volume
-the emphasis on individual sounds(accenting)
-Expressive techniques refer to the musical detail that articulates a style or interpretation of a style and includes aspects such as:
-articulation patterns such as staccato, legato, tenuto
-instrumental techniques such as glissando, sul ponticello, spiccato, con sordino (mute), distortion, guitar pedal effects etc.
-stylistic indications such as trill, bends
Tone colour:
Tone colour refers to that aspect of sound that allows the listener to identify the sous source or combinations of sound sources. These include:
-sound source material, for example, wood, metal, string, skin, electronic and vocal
-method of sound production, for example, blowing, hitting, plucking, scraping and shaking
-combination of sound sources, for example, single voice, multiple voices, voices accompanied or unaccompanied by instruments.
Texture:
Texture results from the way voices and/or instruments are combined in music, including:
-the layers of sound and their function
-the roles of instruments and/or voices
And also density of sound:
-rich, full, thick, dense etc. (give reasons)
-light, airy, sparse, transparent etc. (give reasons)
-changing densities (identify the sections).
Structure:
Structure refers to the idea of design or form in music. In organising sound, the other concepts are combined in some way for a particular purpose. Structure relates to the ways in which music sounds the similar and/or different. This includes:
-phrases
-motifs
-riffs and other repetitive patterns
-techniques of call and response or question and answer
-traditional and non-traditional patterns of musical structure
-structures used in world music
-structures used in single pieces of music
-multi-movement structures, e.g. symphony.
If you got any questions/comments/concerns just post them all here, i should be able to answer them :3
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