Notes on presentations

Two main rules:

1. No biography allowed! You have only 15 minutes, and you won't have time to go into any musical detail if you get bogged down in non-musical details. 
2. Avoid a bar-by-bar description, with a boring list of Roman numerals. Instead, tell us about the two or three most intriguing, memorable, or unique ideas in the movement you are describing. 

To prepare for your presentation, you will have to do a complete Roman numeral analysis, of course, as well as form, motives, rhythm, and all the rest. That's how you find what is most interesting in your piece. Then, once you have completed your analysis and found some ideas that interest you, try to figure out how to present them to your audience. Do you need some kind of PowerPoint presentation, or can you use your score with a document projector? Can you show everything you need to show on the score? Will using different colors help your presentation?

Finally, I hope you will perform part of the piece you are presenting on. If it's short, 3-5 minutes, you can probably perform the whole piece. But if it's longer, you will have to do an excerpt. As a goal, shoot for 30-40% performing, 60-70% talking. It's a very good idea to practice your presentation for one of your friends before you do it in class, to make sure you don't go over (or under) your time limit. I'll send you an email with some feedback after your presentation; if it goes well, you might consider using this as a basis for your final project.

Good luck - I'm looking forward to these!