Peer Review of Definitions of “Staccato”

To: Daniel Tsui, ENGL 301 Student

From: Coco Chen, ENGL 301 Student

Date: October 5, 2021

Subject: Peer Review for Definitions of Staccato

I have reviewed your definition of Staccato. Thank you for completing your task in a timely manner and for preparing a well-organized and logical definition. Although I have absolutely no background in music, reading your text has also given me a general understanding of the definition of Staccato. However, I still found some minor problems with it and would like to make a few suggestions for you to improve it.

Parenthetical Definition

I think your Parenthetical Definition is too short and covers the word “note” with multiple meanings in different professional contexts, which makes the definition not easy to understand for me. If possible I would like you to expand it a little bit and move the picture of the note to this section to help understand.

Sentence Definition

Your sentence definition is excellent, it explains Staccato and its uses to me in a clear and concise way.

Expanded Definition

In the Extended Definition section, you carry out the description in four parts:

1. the origin of Staccato,
2. the effects of Staccato,
3. the way Staccato is used, and
4. the way Staccato is presented in the score.

In the text you use segments to separate the content. Although not necessary, you can try to make the text more readable by adding subheadings.

The specificity of the musical definition makes it difficult for me, as a non-expert reader, to visualize the sound even with further reading. If you can insert a short section of sound, the interpretation can be more intuitive.

Summary

In general, your definition is very well written and it basically covers the objectives of the task. But the content could be organized in a more readable way with the help of subheadings. I hope my review will help you in writing your second draft. Please let me know if you have any questions about my review.