Tips on Writing About Music

Based on common mistakes when writing about music, the following tips were
developed by Dr. Kip Wile, a Professor of Music Theory at the Peabody Institute. These
tips can help answer many of your questions when writing about music.

Punctuation Tips
1. Capitalize all pitches. This includes pitches used when identifying both major and
minor keys. Thus "A minor" is equivalent to the analytical symbol “a:”
2. Use either "Ab" or "A-flat" and "C#" or "C-sharp." Be consistent throughout your
work.
3. Do not capitalize "major" or "minor. For example, "Bb major" and "F-sharp
minor."
4. Capitalize titles of pieces ("Sonata No. 4 in F major") but not generic names
("Beethoven's sonata is an outstanding piece of music.")
5. Don't italicize titles of pieces unless they are proper names (the Prelude
from Tristan und Isolde).
6. The names of historical eras may or may not be capitalized, although they are
more commonly capitalized. For example, "the Romantic era" is used more often
than “the romantic era." Just be consistent in your usage.
7. Periods and commas are placed within quotation marks, but colons, semicolons,
and footnotes are placed outside quotation marks. (Tovey writes that "this is
perhaps the most difficult piece Chopin ever composed." He also remarks that
“its technical challenges are immense";23 perhaps that’s why I've had to work
hard on it.)

Word Choice
1. Measures can be abbreviated as "m." = "measure" and "mm." = "measures."
("The primary theme begins at m. 27 and reaches a climax at mm. 36-47.")
2. "Cadence" is not a verb. Incorrect: "The music cadences at m. 13." Instead,
write: "There is a cadence at m. 13."
3. The lowest voice or string part is spelled "bass" (not "base").
4. Use scale degree names when referring to chords. For example, write "The piece
begins on a tonic six-four chord" (not "a I 6/4 chord”).
5. Affect is usually a verb and effect is a noun. "The climax affected the music so as
to create a big effect."
6. Numbers under 10 are usually spelled out, while those 10 and above are
usually given in numerical form. However, measure numbers are always

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 numerical. ("Starting at m. 7, the theme spans four four-measure phrases for a
total of 16 measures.")

General Writing Tips

1. Use a spell checking tool. “Rhythm.”
2. Two-word adjectives are hyphenated. "This piece was written in the nineteenth
century" (adjective noun). "It is an example of nineteenth-century music"
(adjective noun). Another example: "This is a four-measure phrase."
3. Italicize foreign words and proper titles of pieces (e.g., pianissimo, Bolero).
4. "Its" is a possessive. ("This piece reaches its highest point at m. 35.") "It's" is an
elision of "it is." ("It's the climax of the movement.”)
5. Affect is usually a verb and effect is a noun. "The climax affected the music so as
to create a big effect."
6. When "however" is used to begin an independent clause, separate it with a semi-
colon, not a comma; however, you may also wish to use it to begin a new
sentence.
7. Be sure to begin new paragraphs regularly when a new topic begins!
8. Do not write repetitively, because repeating the same words can get repetitious.

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