Ithaca College School of Music

Concert Program Style Guide

Table of Contents

1. Title Page Information 2

2. Program Header (for Ensembles) 3

3. General Rules for All Titles 4

4. Generic Titles 6

5. Distinctive Titles 7

6. Composer Names & Dates 8

7. Footer Information 9

8. Translations, Biographies, Personnel Lists, & Program Notes 10

This manual is based partly on current practice with Ithaca College recital programs, and is laid out according to the
concert program software currently in use. In creating this manual – while many style guides were consulted – a few
provided the majority of rules and guidelines for this document; they include D. Kern Holoman’s Writing about Music: A
Style Sheet (2d ed., Berkeley: U of California Press), the Univ. of California at Irvine’s guide Preparing Printed Programs,
and the Univ. of Nevada, Las Vegas Department of Music’s Concert Program Printing Guidelines.

Holoman’s Writing about Music, regarded as the reference standard by the Chicago Manual of Style, served as the
decisive source for any style variants.

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 1. Title Page Information

1.1 The title page or front cover of the concert or recital program should list the main performer or
performing group, and special guest artist(s). (Graduate conducting recitals include both the
performer’s name, as well as the ensemble.)

1.2 The format for a recital title is always as follows:

[Type of] Recital:

Performer Name, instrument/voice type
TIPS
a. instrument/voice type is lower case
Example: Use “trombone” not “Trombone”
Junior Recital:
Bruce Wayne, trombone b. “-ist” is never used with an instrument.
Use “trombone” not “trombonist”

1.3 Standard recital types are:

Junior Recital Senior Recital

Graduate Recital Graduate Lecture Recital
Graduate Conducting Recital Alumni Recital
Guest Recital Elective Recital
Joint Recital (not Elective Joint Recital)

1.4 Collaborative Artists

1.4.1 For solo recitals, such as degree recitals, the name of collaborative artists who perform in
most pieces may also appear on the title page (entered in the “Additional Performers” field).

1.4.2 If collaborative artists participate in only one or two pieces, it is best to list them following
the piece(s) they perform, rather than on the title page. (Enter after each piece title in the
“Performers/Soloists” field. The name of the soloist is not repeated.)

1.4.3 There is no decisive number of pieces that a collaborator must participate in when
determining if their name should appear on the title page or after each work. This is left to
the judgment of the principal artist (and faculty member, if a student artist); only performers
who play a significant percentage of the recital should be listed on the title page.

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 2. Program Headers (for Ensembles)
(listed as Program “Section Title” in Concert Program Software)

2.1 For Ithaca College ensemble concerts, the name of the ensemble (all caps), the conductor, and any
guest artist(s) will be added before the word “Program.”

2.2 The names of contributing graduate assistants may be added at the conductor’s discretion.

Format:

ENSEMBLE
Conductor
[Graduate Assistants, if any]
[Guest Artists, if any]

Program

Example:

ITHACA COLLEGE BANJO BRIGADE

Joseph Green, conductor
Steve Martin, guest artist

Program

2.3 Program titles may be added at the conductor’s discretion.

2.4 The venue, date, and time may be added at the bottom of the program page:

Hockett Family Recital Hall

January 5, 2013
3:00pm

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 3. General Rules for All Titles

3.1 Titles (including movement titles) are capitalized following the rules of each language:

a. English: capitalize all words except conjunctions, prepositions, and articles, unless they begin a title.

b. French: capitalize all words up to and including the first noun; everything after that is lower case (except
for proper nouns).

c. German: capitalize first word, and all nouns.

d. Italian & Spanish: capitalize first word, all else is lower case except proper nouns.

3.2 Movement Titles

3.2.1 Movements follow under the main title; those in foreign languages should be italicized.

3.2.2 Movement numbers are upper-case roman numerals (I, II, III, IV, etc., rather than i, ii, iii, iv)

3.2.3 If all movements of a work are performed in order, they do not need to be numbered;
otherwise number the movements being performed with their original numbers. If only a
few movements of many are being performed, it is possible to also add the word “Selections”
in parentheses after the title to avoid confusion.

Examples:
TIPS
Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068
V. Bourrée *Only mvts. 5 and 6 are being performed.
VI. Gigue *Upper case roman numerals
*Italics since mvts. are in foreign language

Carnaval des animaux (Selections)

Only 2 mvts. of many – “Selections” may be
IV. Tortues
XII. Fossiles used in parentheses after title

3.2.4 It is appropriate to translate movement titles that might not otherwise be understood,
particularly if they are not translated elsewhere in the program. Place translation(s) in
parentheses.
Example:
Concerto for Orchestra
I. Introduzione
II. Gioco delle Coppie (Game of Pairs)
III. Elegia

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3.3 Number abbreviations are capitalized in this way:

What’s abbreviated upper or lower case looks like example

Numbers upper No. Symphony No. 7
Opus lower op. Symphony No. 7, op. 42
Numbers within opus lower no. Etude No. 1 in F Major, op. 2, no. 1

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 4. Generic Titles

4.1 A generic title is a title that is essentially a musical form: symphony, concerto, trio, etc.; they
often include identifying opus numbers, catalog numbers, and keys.

4.2 Generic titles are in roman font (not in boldface, or italicized); they are not put in quotation marks.

4.3 When providing a key, the words “major” and “minor” are capitalized.
Example:
Sonata in B Minor

4.4 The words “flat” or “sharp” are written in lower case, and require a hyphen.
Example:
Concerto in E-flat Minor

4.5 Popular titles, if used, follow the formal title and are put in quotation marks and parentheses.

Example:
Symphony No. 4 in A Major, op. 90 (“Italian”)

4.6 Thematic catalog numbers are abbreviated with a letter or letters indicating their author’s name.
They are followed by a period (except the BWV Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis)

Composer Catalog Author/Title Abbreviation example

Schubert Deutsch D. 628

Haydn Hoboken Hob. XXII:9
Mozart Köchel K. 191
Bach, J. S. Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis BWV 1033

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 5. Distinctive Titles

5.1 Distinctive titles are unique titles given by the composer, such as operas, songs, ballets, symphonic
poems, etc.

5.2 Distinctive titles are in italics (unless the work is song/piece from a larger titled work—see 5.3).

Examples:

Darling Nellie Gray

Rhapsody in Blue

Gnossiennes
I. Lent
II. Avec étonnement

5.3 Songs or Pieces from Larger Works

5.3.1 Titles of individual songs, arias, or instrumental pieces from larger works are in quotation
marks, in plain (roman) font – even if the title is in a foreign language.

5.3.2 Titles of larger works are preceded with the word “from” and are italicized if the title is a
distinctive one. Enter the larger title information in the movement field.

Examples:
“Where’er You Walk”
from Semele

“Non so più”
from Le nozze di Figaro

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 6. Composer Names & Dates

6.1 Use American English names for composers, full first and last name (also middle if commonly used,
like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart). Adopt the most common version, unless there’s a reason not to.

6.2 Names and dates can be found by searching the Oxford Companion to Music, in print at the library
(in Music Reference, ML100 .S37 2002), or online with Netpass login (http://goo.gl/X7t1w OR
http://www.oxfordreference.com.ezproxy.ithaca.edu:2048/views/BOOK_SEARCH.html?book=t114&subject=s18

6.3 Use these spellings for the following tricky names:

Musorgsky, not Mussorgsky Prokofiev, not Prokofieff

Rachmaninoff, not Rachmaninov Schoenberg, not Schönberg
Tchaikovsky, not Tschaikowsky

6.4 For arrangements of works, give name of the arranger under the name of the original composer (use
abbreviation “arr.”).

Example:
Partita in D minor for Keyboard, BWV 976 Johann Sebastian Bach
(1685-1750)
arr. Victoire Weasley

6.5 Composer dates should be put in parentheses: (1881-1932)

6.6 If a composer is still alive, only the birth date is used, also in parentheses: (b. 1969)

6.7 If more than one work by a composer is performed, there is no need to list dates after the first work.

6.8 Timings of works may be included, if desired. They should fall underneath composer’s dates.

Example:
Creole Belles J. Bodewalt Lampe
(1869-1929)
5’

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 7. Footer Information

7.1 Degrees should be indicated as below (in accordance with Ithaca College Editorial Standards):
B.A. in Music M.M. in Composition
B.M. in Composition M.M. in Conducting
B.M. in Jazz Studies M.M. in Performance
B.M. in Performance M.M. in Suzuki Pedagogy
B.M. in Performance and Music Education

7.2 Studio teacher names should be spelled as the faculty wish, with no prefix.

Example:
Colin Creevey is from the studio of Cuthbert Binns.

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 8. Translations, Biographies, Personnel Lists, & Program Notes

Translations

8.1 Translations are entered in the “Notes” section, and are best presented with the original language
and the English translation in facing columns.

8.2 Due credit should be given to both the original poet and the translator (use “trans.” for translator).

En vain leur courage indompté In vain their invincible courage

nous gagnait cent et cent batailles; won us countless battles,
le crime au sein de nos murailles while the traitor in our own walls
allait tuer la Liberté! was about to destroy Liberty.

– Claude Rouget de Lisle – trans. D. Kern Holoman

Biographies, Personnel Lists, & Program Order

8.3 Biographies, personnel lists, and program notes are reserved for ensemble concerts, faculty recitals,
and guest artists.

8.4 Personnel Lists

8.4.1 Section titles of personnel lists (Violin, Trombone, Soprano) will be bolded.

8.4.2 Order of personnel:

Instrumental: seating order
Choral: alphabetically, indicating section leaders (with asterisk) if desired
Jazz ensembles may include instrumentation after names, if desired: (Herschel Evans, tenor II)

8.5 As dictated by the concert program software, the current order of appearance in the program is: 1)
Biographies, 2) Personnel, and then, 3) Notes. The preferred order is: 1) Notes, 2) Personnel, and 3)
Biographies.

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