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Recital program notes: what to write

Program notes give the audience something to listen for. A few sentences per piece is enough; nobody reads an essay in the dark.

Length

About 60 to 150 words per piece for a student or degree recital; up to 250 for a major work. A one-hour recital usually fits on a single booklet page or two.

What to put in

• When and why it was written: who it was for, what was happening in the composer's life.
• One thing to listen for: a theme that comes back, an unusual instrument, a dance rhythm.
• Why you chose it (optional, and good for student recitals).

What to leave out

• Bar-by-bar analysis and technical terms the audience won't know.
• Text copied from Wikipedia, liner notes or another program. Write it in your own words and check facts against a reliable source (a grove article, the score's preface, a published biography).

Example

That example, and a full page of notes, are in the choir and senior recital examples below.

Where notes go

After the program list, or on the page facing it in a booklet. In Program Fold add a "Program notes" section: leave a blank line between paragraphs, and it flows onto as many pages as it needs.

Examples you can open

Made with Program Fold from made-up programs. Each one is a real PDF: open it, print it, or copy the layout.