Writing reviews

I finally finished my review of the "Triple Concerto" concert. It takes me hours and hours to write reviews. I wish I could do it faster, but maybe that will come with time. I should have a lot of practice this winter/spring season, with seven or eight concert reviews to write.

I started writing reviews 3 or 4 years ago because the previous arts reviewer for the local newspaper did not feel qualified to do so, and the professional musicians did not want to critique their colleagues. I fell into that middle ground of enjoying music as an amateur musician, though I do not have a musical education, besides flute and cello lessons, and enjoying writing.

I said "no," the first time I was asked to write a review, saying I was not qualified, but the person on the other end said that my cello teacher thought I would do a great job. How can you argue with that?

So, I e-mailed my sister, who is not only a professor of music, but also teaches English, including how to write a review. She gave me a lot of excellent advice, and suggested I get a recording of the music to be played to become familiar with it before the performance, do some background research, talk to people, etc. For that first concert, I actually bought a Music Minus One recording of the solo violin piece and studied the score, listened to the CD, and read the very detailed and interesting performance notes. I bought CDs for all the other pieces of music being performed and researched them, too. It turned out to be a very expensive concert, even though I got the tickets for free. I invited a friend to join me for the concert. She does have a music degree, and she teaches music at the elementary school level. She had a lot of insights, including some nonmusical observations, such as the fact that a violist was chewing gum throughout the concert.

So, many reviews later, I am now the arts and entertainment editor for the local paper. I no longer buy CDs for each performance, but I do listen to online performances, such as the Triple Concerto, and I do as much background reading as I can to better understand context of the piece. And I talk to friends who attended. (It was great to talk to Carol about this last concert!) I view reviews as an enjoyable part of my own self-administered music education. There is nothing like going to lots of concerts, and writing about them, to teach music appreciation.