“Writing about Music” is a class designed to improve the writing abilities of upper level undergraduates and graduate students in the UCI music department. Although the subject matter of the students’ writing assignments will be music, the focus of the assignments will always be the clear expression of information and ideas through writing.

In addition to two polished papers of a minimum of 2,000 words each, the class will involve the weekly production of short pieces that represent the various forms of writing (research papers, program notes, reviews, press releases, radio scripts, etc.) that might reasonably be expected from a well-educated musician. Some of these short pieces will be read aloud by the authors and discussed in class; all of them will be returned to the authors with line-by-line comments from the instructor. Whether long or short, the students’ exercises in writing will be scrutinized not just for grammar, technical style, and the accurate use of vocabulary but also for logic and appropriate literary style. 

• Two papers, 2,000 words minimum each, on instructor-approved topics of the students' choice. The first paper will be a formal research paper and the second paper will be an essay. The topic of each paper must be submitted as an abstract; upon approval of the abstracts, the complete papers will then be submitted in both draft and polished forms. (30 percent each)
• Short writing exercises -- assigned on a week-to-week basis -- that represent a wide variety of forms of writing about music. (30 percent)
• Participation in class discussions and in-class writing exercises. (10 percent)
• NOTE: While it is assumed that students will enter the class equipped with a wide range of writing skills, it will be expected that every student strive to improve on her or her skills; indeed, grading will be based largely on improvement.

Course outline: