ART CRITICISM: FOUR STAGES OF THE CRITICAL PROCESS
Description
Analysis
Historical: Placing a piece into an historical context and comparing it to other compositions of the time, pointing out any particularly innovative ideas or techniques used.
Stylistic: Comparing two performances of the same work to note the differences in style.
Interpretation
Judgement
(adapted from Gaitskeil, Hurwitz: Children and their Art, Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, Inc. 1975, pp 462-464)
Using music as an example
Description, the first perceptual level, involves taking an initial inventory of what is heard; noting numbers and kinds of instruments, information about the composer, performer(s) and recording, and the length of composition. These descriptions are in essence the un-arguable facts about the piece of music.
Analysis also has a perceptual basis, but it takes place at a deeper level than description. Musical analysis requires most of the four critical stages, and therefore is traditionally the most difficult for students. To help them, give examples of three types of musical analysis.
Theoretical: Analyzing elements such as harmony, melody, texture, form.
The third critical stage asks the student to comment on their own personal response to the music. What emotions does it evoke? What images do they see when they listen to the music? What memories does it spark in them? This stage is the easiest for students to comment on, because it is their personal opinion.
The final stage requires students to to make a judgement of a composition, to say whether or not they like it. Judgements are then more easily substantiated after exploring the first three levels, and then students can say in more detail why they like or dislike something.
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