Tag Archives: criticism

Students clustered around a book, working something out

Put your back into it

I’ve been having tremendous fun this term teaching a course on the history of music criticism at City Lit. We’ve only had four sessions so far, but we’ve already covered some pretty major points for discussion including what should/shouldn’t fall within a reviewer’s domain; whether ad hominem arguments are allowed

Top notch?

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Great Composer, over the course of their life, and however Great a Composer they are considered to be, is likely to write something that is actually not so very Great at all. Something a bit under par. Something you might even be

Write right?

Last Tuesday, I was delighted to be in attendance at the event Music into Words organised by Cross-Eyed Pianist blogger, Frances Wilson. The event was intended to give participants an opportunity to discuss writing about music in all its forms, and a panel of authors had the opportunity to talk

Critical thinking

This week, I did some more terrifying than… hang on, thinking of terrifying things I’ve done before… My worst job interview? Yup. Running off a mountain attached to a parachute? Yup, definitely more terrifying than that. A PhD viva? Yes. More terrifying than that too. What was this thing, then,