MUS 405 – SENIOR RECITAL
1. The performance must include representative works from the following five categories:
a) 17th or 18th-century Italian or English
b) 19th-century German
c) 19th or 20th-century French
d) 20th-century American or British
e) an aria from an opera or oratorio.
2. The student must perform in French, German, Italian, and English.
3. All literature for this program must be finalized by the voice faculty at least 4 weeks prior to the performance date. Any changes in literature must be approved by the applied teacher.
4. The length of this program must total no less than 50 minutes of memorized music.
5. A hearing will be scheduled for a student prior to the performance date at the discretion of the teacher. If there is some question on the preparation of any piece of literature, the studio teacher may require a hearing. This hearing may be a performance of the recital in full or pieces selected by the applied teacher. At the conclusion of this hearing, the faculty panel in attendance will either pass or fail the hearing. Passing indicates that the student may perform as scheduled. Failure indicates that the student may not perform the recital as scheduled and must re-schedule the recital for a later date.
6. Public performances are expected to be scheduled in the Recital Hall on any available evening.
7. The student must prepare 10 minutes of material performed without the aid of instruction. This repertory will be selected together with the voice instructor.
8. A Performance Portfolio (notebook) on the recital material is required one week prior to the performance date. Failure to submit the final performance portfolio may result in a significant lowering of the performance portfolio grade. A draft of this performance portfolio is required to be submitted to the studio teacher 3 weeks before the recital date. The portfolio must be free of errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation, and must include:
a) clean copies of scores with measures numbered
b) brief biographical information of each composer with emphasis on the selections performed or at least the genre
c) word by word translations of each selection
d) brief statements about stylistic interpretation with specific references to measures in the score
e) brief pedagogical comments which include mention of technique and interpretation with specific references to measures in the score
f) song translations for the recital program
g) comments on poetry or poet where appropriate
h) citations in MLA style, i.e. do not plagiarize.
i) phonetic transcriptions for each song using IPA
j) brief program notes for the public recital
9. The public performance and performance portfolio will be graded by the voice faculty (MUS 405). A separate grade will be given for the 2 hour applied lesson (MUS 407).
Additional Guidelines for the Preparation of the Portfolios for MUS-305 and MUS-405
1. It is strongly recommended that a practice journal be maintained during the preparation of the recitals which require a portfolio. Entries in this journal may include such things as: technical challenges, technical solutions, practice time on task, diction comments, listening comments, personal notes, etc. Maintaining these and other notes will make the construction of your portfolio much easier.
2. When making technique comments, you should reference your detailed practice journal entries. The information contained in this journal will be invaluable and readily accessible for the portfolio. Cite specific vocal challenges you encountered while studying your literature (e.g. passage, breath intake and management, the use of vocal shadings/colloring of the voice for dramatic effect, register issues, etc.) Detail what you did, or tried to do to fix any problematic areas. Were the problems solved, or partially solved If not totally solved, which part showed improvement and what was your strategy for fixing the rest? In other words, provide some detail in your discussion.
3. The length of each song discussion should be about one and one-half to two pages. This gives you enough room to write in some detail without writing a novel.
4. Please ensure that your biographical information contains the items listed below. Writing this should give you about one page or so of biographical information.
The following is to be included in your composition commentary:
a. dates and a paragraph about the composer/poet or librettist’s life;
b. a paragraph about his/her historical significance to the music you are performing or to the vocal field in general;
c. a paragraph or so on the genre presented (opera, song cycle,
song, musical theater, etc.).
