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Music Analysis: Oral Presentations

Resources to support students for the Year 10 MUS Assessment Task on Music Analysis.

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What is an Oral Presentation?

Making a good oral presentation is an art that involves attention to the needs of your audience, careful planning, and attention to delivery. You can make an oral presentation for a number of reasons:

  • to inform 
  • to persuade
  • to educate
  • to entertain

Terminology

Colloquialism

A colloquialism is a word, phrase, or other form used in informal language. Colloquialisms include words, phrases such as "raining cats and dogs" and "dead as a doornail"; and aphorisms such as "There's more than one way to skin a cat".

Voice Register

Fallseto - talking through nose and throat. Talking in a lower voice makes your presentation carry more weight.

Timbre

The way that your voice feels. Rich smooth and warm.

Prosody

Having a question sound like a statement or a statement sound like a question. Prosody is the patterns of stress, intonation and rhythm of oral language.

Pace

How fast or slow are you talking? Using silence to place emphases a point that you have just made. The audience will stop and think as well.

Pitch

Same sentence can mean different things if you use a different pitch. 

Build your oral presentation skills

Tips and Hints

Watch "How to give a great TEDx talk" for some great tips on how to structure your talk.

Although the video is specifically geared towards delivering a TED talk, there is plenty for VCE students to take away.

  • Make sure you use a strong opening hook.
  • Order your points so they follow naturally in the sequence of your talk.
  • Craft a great closing story with a call to action.
  • Add images to help tighten transitions and augment your stories.
  • Rehearse and practice in front of real audiences for several weeks

Click here for: Strategies for an effective oral presentation

Please visit your Teacher Librarians for help preparing your 'oral'. Don't leave a practice session to the last minute.  Come early and we can endorse or improve.  Teacher Librarians can help with: 

  • Researching your topic
  • proof reading your written piece
  • practising your presentation
  • presentation design
  • moral support