On written and spoken program notes

The program notes speak before I play the first note. In that case, they might as well be informative and engaging and provide anyone who needs it a perspective from which to understand what they are about to hear. That is the notes’ job. MY job is to discern my audience beforehand and compose meaningful notes for them. Am I playing for an AGO convention or a bridge club? Am I playing for professional choral conductors or high school flutists? Am I playing in New York City or in Abbeville, Alabama? Am I playing for a Sunday School class or a Montreat conference? Is my audience familiar with the organ, or do they just like music? Or do they just like that particular air-conditioned church? Are they expecting BWV 565 and the Widor Toccata, or are they open to wider horizons?

Knowledge casts out fear. The more the audience understands, the more they enjoy. Even the organists in the audience can enjoy a familiar piece more if my program notes point out my own approach to the piece. The ultimate acid test lies in how well the notes did: the ultimate satisfaction comes when someone tells me that they heard what the program notes were pointing out. I’d call that a “HIT.”

Concerning spoken program notes, I:

1) Speak to say or demonstrate something that can’t be made clear in writing.
2) Speak to thank the audience and the hosts.
3) Do not say anything already covered in the program notes.
4) Do not say anything obviously covered by the music itself.
5) Do not speak at all if the acoustics won’t support it or if the sound technician can’t be trusted to turn the mic off while the organ is playing.
6) Do not speak before playing the first note. This one is my favorite, and it brings me to my formulas for recital programming, discussed in the blog post linked below. Meanwhile, be sure to visit some digestible program notes on the Program Notes tab of this site. Bon appétit!

More on recitals: Programming