Audiences for music writers include professional musicians, music historians, and researchers, teachers, and students. They read scholarly or teaching journals to learn about new analyses or interpretations of musical compositions and about methods that other musicians, researchers, or teachers are using.
Other audiences may include members of the general public, who read reviews of performances in newspapers or on websites to help them decide whether to attend concerts. Serious concertgoers read reviews after they attend a performance as a way of helping them think more about their experience at the concert. Audiences attending performances read the printed programs to learn about the biographies of composers and the histories of pieces they will hear.
Some readers are in businesses, government agencies, or nonprofit organizations that fund musicians and arts groups. They read grant proposals written by researchers, musicians, teachers, and even students who are seeking funds to support their study or practice of music.
Readers in the field of music want to know the writer’s opinion, but they expect the writing to contain more than just statements of personal taste. If the piece of writing is a music review, readers want the writer to evaluate the performance with specific details and examples to justify the writer’s opinion. Because the discipline of music is a diverse field with a very long history, understanding one composer or work or performer requires making connections to others in the field. All readers expect writers about music to make references to other composers, styles, or musicians.
Checklist for assessing the writing situation
Approaching assignments in the disciplines