writing music Essay Examples

How to write a Music Essay: Tips and Examples

Writing a paper on music is not always easy - after all, one cannot hear the music you will be discussing. So, an essay writer will have to focus on other aspects of music: the theoretical part of the music, its specific genres, its historical phases, the musical apparatus and/or even some investigation into musical works. Above all, in a music essay, it is important to set a clear path for the writer into following a certain writing style, gathering the correct data and ensuring the expected outcome for the mentor or any other person who would read it.

The theme and the opinion of the author should appear at the starting point of a music essay. Depending on the characteristics of the essay, which normally are provided by the teacher together with some other instructions, the writer can build the piece by following a descriptive approach or an argumentative one. The persuasive path is another way to go; or, even you may choose the comparing option, which will clearly show the author's attitude toward two (or more) contrasting notions of the musical theory.

The introductory part would have to expose, in a coherent manner, the main theme of the essay. It is encouraged to mark the beginning by using maybe quotes or even aphorisms, brief narratives or just some commentaries that would slowly immerse the reader in the subject of the paper.

Introduction

As an example, an introduction could start with a definition of music – theoretic or from the point of view of society. “Popularity is what differentiates music among others activities that people enjoy. It accompanies humans from the oldest times standing not only for amusement but also as a testimony of certain feelings or we could just call it a means of communication. It’s seen as a spiritual release, a learning boost or intellectual support – a form of art that takes different shapes by fulfilling the needs of whoever seeks its support.”

Body

Further on, the main part of an essay is its actual 'skeleton,' allowing to develop each idea and to back it up with proof and arguments. A simple sentence as: “Music stimulates intellectual development for some people,” immediately followed by arguments would be a great start for this type of paragraph. Each paragraph of the body will start with a so-called topic sentence - it marks the starting point and the argument on which the thesis leans on.

It is also important to remember not to stray off topic. That is, your topic sentence is the gist of the paragraph, and you should not add new or irrelevant information once you've made this 'statement.' And, of course, every topic sentence should be backed up by some factual evidence.

The evidence that supports the topic sentence should be based on some clear examples. For instance: “Music stimulates intellectual development for some people and induces a state of relief” – the latter part of this sentence already indicates that the reader is about to encounter another argument.

In this particular case, the following section of the body should talk about the how. A few questions should be answered: How does music actually stimulate the intellect? How does it help to induce a certain state of relief or relaxation? All the answers must result as a direct consequence of music listening.

Moving over to the paragraph number three, the writer should really start bringing to the surface the arguments sustaining the thesis. The next couple of phrases could stand as an example of how this part should look like.

“It is acknowledged that music is used to facilitate the process of learning for some people, so they listen to it in order to increase their (self) education capacity. One may assume that music is also a means of relaxation when education or learning becomes difficult, helping with resting or pausing. For that reason, music is at the same time helping intellectual growth and also eases the brain when things get more challenging.”

Conclusion

The final part of a paper on music, the conclusion, should reiterate the main ideas discussed in the body of the essay by expressing them differently but keeping the same meaning. This part is about the actual allegation that should persuade the reader about the purpose of the music and the positive effect it has on people. The best way to wrap music (or any other) essay is to summarize all of the arguments presented in each of the paragraphs aiming to persuade the readers into agreeing with the essay thesis. The accent should fall exactly on the last phrase of the concluding part. It is by that phrase that the author has to gain the reader's confidence. Continuing the example, this last section should resume that listening to music is in everyone’s interest, it boosts one’s capacity of retaining information and, at the same time, it relaxes the brain whenever feeling overwhelmed by the daily activities or after a long day of learning.

Only by getting the readers to understand and believe the thesis, the essay would have accomplished its purpose. So, the concluding part must really consolidate all of the above.

To sum up, this kind of music study should contain the following:

• in the introductory part, the writer should present music as seen through history and its place in the arts;
• also, adding the variety of categories in which music is found, would be a plus;
• the body of the paper contains the arguments about how music is a system of communication, its benefits for the brain and also for the body by releasing the stress;
• in the end, the writer should summarize all of the arguments in conclusion and manage to convince the reader into listening to music for their own benefit.

As you can see, writing a music essay is not as scary or challenging as it may seem at first. But, of course, it is time-consuming. If you would rather save the time, you can always hire a professional essay writer to do the job for you.