Not a Single False Note: Learning to Write Essays About Music Flawlessly

Every job is meant to be done perfectly. So your first aim is to find an ideal option to deal with the task. In this article, we will outline the process of writing a top-quality college essay about music, the rules of perfection, and all the extra details that aren’t obvious, but quite important if you want to get the best results. We will even give you some topics about music for an essay. Just keep on reading, and you won’t be disappointed. 

Understanding the Basics ?

What do you think of first when it comes to writing a music-related essay? Probably about describing something, just like in any other essay-writing case. And, frankly speaking, that pretty much sums up the actual process of writing about music: you do the describing, the research, make the conclusion, and that’s it — the work is done.

The devil, as always, is in the details. The music (and art in general, precisely speaking) always takes a lot of personal wit to be described and explained correctly, so it is essential to be very keen on doing such a task the right way. Be it an argumentative essay on music, or a music description essay, you should always be very keen on doing your task the right way. Let’s take a closer look at what you should begin with.

Defining the structure

The structure of an essay on music is pretty much the same as the structure of any other kind of academic essay. It is logically divided into 5 parts, which support the narration in different ways.

An absolutely essential thing, to begin with, is a detailed introduction, which explains what your essay is about, and also why the subject you have chosen is worth discussing. This part must be brief, yet easily understandable and entertaining in its every word.

Then comes the thesis part — the logical and informational basis of the whole work. The statement contained and explained here will shape the narration of the essay, guiding readers along the facts and theoretical data.

After this, there have to be a few body paragraphs and a counterpoint paragraph. Those are needed to show readers your arguments, and also an overview of counterpoints that may appear.

At last, there should be a good conclusion, that would sum up the whole research. This part is also very important, despite its falling-curtains role.

Defining the type

As you probably already know, there are two main types of academic essays. You can write an explanatory one or an argumentative essay about music — both options are equally popular and relatively easy to deal with. Yet, of course, there are some extra types when it comes to writing about music.

If you are interested in discussing a certain musical composition, then your work would be defined as a music analysis essay (or a song analysis essay). It is the most common type of a song essay, and actually the most writer-friendly way of describing music. 

You begin with listening to a music piece you’d like to write about, and then just proceed with analyzing everything you’ve heard. The lyrics of the song (if there are any lyrics at all), the melody, the rhythm — just everything to help readers understand the nature of that particular musical piece. An essay about songs, or about one particular song is probably the easiest kind of music-related essay to write. 

If you want to delve deeper into the peculiarities of the past, you can make a thorough historical analysis of the musical composition you like, unraveling all the hidden secrets of its origins. That would require some historical research, and also wise picking of music history topics, though.

Also, you can analyze not only a music piece itself but also a whole concert — thus creating a concert report. In that case, you should visit some gig yourself, to be able to describe and analyze it later. Along with musical piece argumentation, you need to add the analysis of the concert atmosphere, its overall quality, and how good (or bad) it was in comparison to other gigs in the same genre.

Additionally, you can compare the song you are writing about with similar songs, or compare the band you are describing with other similar bands, etc. Such details will surely make your essay much more entertaining to read, and also much more informative.

Doing It Right ⭐

So, to begin doing your music essay writing job productively, you just need to outline a structure of your future work, and steadily fill in all the blank spaces with facts, logic, and theory. Writing college essays about music always takes a lot of time. But you value your time, don’t you? This is why you should not underestimate the importance of music essay examples — not for copying what others did, of course, but to understand better how it’s done.

When it comes to describing a musical composition, you can do it in different ways. If you want to explain the hidden meaning and the unique process of a musical piece creation, or the unparalleled features of a whole genre, you will need a lot of historical data. Thus, you would have to begin with historical research, then proceed with describing the stages of the creation of the music you are writing about, and then you would have to logically define that particular music’s uniqueness. 

You can also divide the narration by the role of every musical instrument involved in the musical piece you are describing, research separately the melody of it, and compare that particular composition to similar ones, in order to make obvious its complexity and explain what characteristics make it truly distinctive.

If essays about songs aren’t what you want, and you need to write a concert report essay you are to have extra knowledge of what makes a gig worth visiting, and what is a complete no-go. Your work in that case will be based not only on your knowledge of music, but also on your personal experience and understanding of characteristics that define the overall quality of a musical performance: the sound quality level, the quality of lighting, the quality of performance, and also the overall level of comfort.

Some extra examples

We have even more nice things here for everyone in need of urgent advice on how to write about music. Here are some examples of music essay topics. Feel free to use them if you hesitate about how to name your paper.

• “The Music Production History”
• “The Way Classical Music Shaped Our Culture”
• “A Particular Musical Instrument’s Origin”
• “The Ways Different Music Genres Affected Each Other”
• “The Music’s Impact on the Society”

Such music topics for essays are pretty much history-related and will require a lot of historical research. However, there will be little to no comparison work, and, instead of explaining complicated things in hopes of making them understandable, you should just uncover the truth about what had already happened in the past.

• “The Ways Different Music Genres Affect People’s Behavior”
• “The Scales and Tones of a Particular Music Genre”
• “The Reasons Why a Particular Music Genre Becomes Popular” 
• “Exploring the Unique Features of a Particular Musical Instrument” 

These essay topics about music will require a lot of time for the detailed analysis of facts, unquestionable logic-based arguments, and some historical data. A deep understanding of the topic would be a great help: for example, it is much easier to explain why exactly the violins are unique when you play them on a regular basis.

• “Copyrights Protection In The Music Industry”
• “Benefits And Flaws Of Music Education”
• “The Ways A Particular Music Genre Affects Human Health”

These essay topics on music will require a lot of well-structured argumentation, based on scientifically proven data and obvious facts. The narration should also be comparison-based to brighten the details and make the necessary information stand out. An obvious good thing about such topics is that you won’t need any personal experience with musical instruments (or even with music at all).

Some extra tips

To make your essay writing work more productive and time-efficient, you just need to know about things that aren’t very obvious, yet amazingly affect the eventual result. The devil is in the details, remember? Let’s take a look at what will save your precious time and will also simplify everything dramatically.

First of all, always think straight when choosing the topic of your essay. Some people would recommend you choose the one you like best emotionally, others will offer you to take the most simple-sounding idea. Some people would even recommend you take the topic that sounds like the most difficult one since they sometimes tend to appear much easier to deal with. 

And yet, the only good way is to pick a topic that sounds simple, then recall everything you know about the subject to understand how difficult it might appear to be, then look for additional information online, and only after this make your choice. That will greatly save your time later.

When the title is chosen, it is just the right time to find a similar-themed work online to use as an example. It’s pretty simple: if it was done successfully by someone else, you can use it as a blueprint for your own future success. You shouldn’t copy the whole work, but some details can easily be borrowed.

Remember to always stick to the structure of your work, no matter how entertaining the process of writing may be. You don’t need to write as many words as possible — when there are enough words said about one thing, it’s time to discuss the next one. Everything should also be kept simple enough so readers won’t get bored. 

Avoid using too many sophisticated sentences and rare words: these things would work against you, especially when the reader is your teacher, or a university tutor, who has more than enough similar essays to read in no time.

From the first letter to the last

There’s another thing you need to remember: do not underestimate the value of the introduction, and the conclusion of your paper. Though seemingly unimportant at first glance, both the first part of your text and the last one sometimes can define the success of the whole essay. There are no unnecessary things when you have such an interesting task to do.

A music essay introduction is what makes the first impression of how professionally the whole work is done. What is also visible in this part is the level of respect the author has for the readers. If the introduction is too short it basically means that the author doesn’t care to tell what their essay is about. If it is too long, the readers feel like their time is not valued properly. This is why you should make the introduction well-balanced — informative, yet relatively brief. About a dozen sentences will do the job just fine.

A conclusion should be balanced as well as the introduction. Too many words are not needed there, but it doesn’t mean that one long sentence will be enough. Again, about a dozen well-structured and informative sentences will make a good conclusion.

A Friendly Reminder ?

There are things that should always be done when your text seems to be complete. They might not be very obvious, but that’s the problem — if you ignore them your whole work may be judged negatively, and that’s what you should avoid at all costs. Let’s take a closer look at them.

Сheck the grammar. You can do it yourself, but, to make the process less time-consuming, it is recommended to use online services. Instead of re-reading every sentence again and again in search of grammar flaws, you would need to just copy the whole text and upload it into the proofreading AI: the result will be available in a few seconds. 

Avoid borrowings in your text. Adding information from other works is actually kind of an inevitable thing since every essay requires at least some quotes from scientifically approved sources, and yet the total share of those borrowings should not exceed the percent allowed by your educational institution. To keep the right balance there are AI services online that are able to check everything in a few seconds.

Add the sources list. The longer the sources list is, the more credible your work looks. Specify every book, every magazine, and every trustworthy online page that you have used to fill your essay with scientifically proven information.

Conclusion ☀️

Writing essays on music is always a very entertaining thing to do since it’s obviously easier to write about things you constantly encounter in your life, than about some obscure scientific realities that can not be explained with simple words. But quality and dedication always matter also, especially when it comes to academic work writing. The success of your essay completely depends on the amount of effort it was based on. Every error may turn out to be devastatingly harmful, and every good argument may literally save the day for you and your future career. 

This is why we wrote this friendly guide — to let you know how to make your task easier and the work process much more productive. With the right amount of right attitude and zeal, you will get the results you really need. That’s an obvious fact. Just don’t forget to carefully plan your job before doing it and thoroughly check everything when the paper is finished. Good luck!