Professor Jairo Moreno

About the Professor

Professor Jairo Moreno received his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1996, and he is now an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Pennsylvania. He is mainly a Music Theorist, but has done some ethnographic work. For more biographical information: See Penn's Music Department website.

Writing Tips from the Professor

According to Professor Moreno, the most common errors students make are "blow-by-blow" descriptions of music, such as "This happened, then that happened..." These are static descriptions of music, which do not frame the piece of the music. In his teaching, Professor emphasizes that students learn the process of "selecting," taking parts of the music that support some conclusion.

Professor Moreno emphasizes that student writing exemplify "originality." Students should develop the ability of coming up with ideas and be able to "conceive of facts in different ways."

Also of importance to writing within music are metaphors. As Professor Moreno explained, since the written language is a mode of accommodating for what a piece of music expresses, writing about music and analyzing music almost entirely depends on metaphors.

Important Criteria for Student Writing

When asked to rank a list of criteria for student's writing assignments, Professor Moreno gave his three more important criteria as follows:

1. having original ideas
2. reasoning and evidence
3. demonstrating mastery of other's ideas

Professor Moreno ranked these criteria above the others listed (grammar and mechanics, following the discipline's citation practices, proper formatting, style, following the assignment instructions, and organization) because they are most important in showing "proof of strong thinking." As he explained, if you cannot "think and write" that is more of an issue than having problems with the unranked criteria, because these skills are more difficult to acquire.

Personal Writing Process

Professor Moreno's writing process involves "endless drafts." One pre-writing technique he would like to add to his writing process is outlining. This may help him adjust his writing style from a Spanish to more English style. Because English is not his native language, he has a different writing style which some English speakers find difficult to read. Professor Moreno writes more like Spanish writers and "thinks on the page," so to speak, as he writes. However, English writing is "pragmatic," concise and direct, which calls for more pre-writing to be done. Finally, if possible, Professor Moreno has other people to peer review his work.

The Professor's Writing

Professor Moreno's writing consists of books, articles, and essays mainly. He has also written some music.