Presenting: Music Program Notes!

I am proud to present Music Program Notes, an exciting new resource for ensemble directors, music educators, students, and anyone else with a general interest in music history!

Program notes are short paragraphs or essays providing details about a composition and its composer, and can usually be found in a program accompanying the performance of the composition. They often provide historical notes about the time period, the composer’s thoughts behind the composition, and sometimes a critic’s interpretation in order to establish a setting or capture the audience’s imagination.

Several program note resources exist today, both online and in print. These resources; however, are typically designed for one genre, one ensemble type, or contributed to by one author. Music Program Notes is a free, volunteer-powered, collaborative database of program notes for all genres and ensemble types, and anyone is welcome to contribute or use the program notes in our database for any non-commercial or educational purpose.

Music Program Notes opened silently to 7 select individuals on March 30th. In the 23 days since then, we have accumulated program notes for 68 compositions and are anticipating rapid growth now that the database is open to the public.