You recently went to a concert and thought one of the singers was very good. You want to tell him/her how you feel. Write a letter to the singer. In your letter: - say how you feel about his/her performance - give details of your music-related/musical activities - explain how you would like him/her to help you with your music-related/musical activities
Sample Response
Dear Laura,
I recently had the pleasure of attending your concert atin Dartmouth Hall, and I would like to express my admirationI must express my admiration for your performance. Your stage presence, vocal mastery, and ability to connect with the audience were remarkablewere truly remarkable. The way you sang each song with such passion and energy left a lasting impression on me, and I felt deeply moved by your artistry.
As , I have been involved in playing a couple of musical instruments including guitar and singing in a local high school band for the last three years. I have always aspired to refine my skills and develop a unique musical style. Watching you perform has inspired mehas further inspired me to pursue my passion with greater dedication.
Given your extensive experience and success in the industry, I would be veryimmensely grateful if you could offer some guidance on improving my technique and stage confidence. If possible, I would love to attend one of your workshopsattend a workshop or receive some advice from you on how to grow as an artist. Your insights would be invaluable in shaping my musical journey.
Thank you for your time, and I hope to hear from you soon.
Yours sincerely,
Emmi Gabriel
Why this response received Band 8.0
The letter’s strongest feature is its complete, well-developed response: it gives specific praise, explains sustained musical involvement, and makes a courteous, realistic request for guidance. Its main limitation is minor grammatical imprecision in the description of musical activities; the highest-priority improvement is to make that sentence fully parallel and specify the instruments played while preserving the polished, respectful tone.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose is immediately clear, all three bullet points are fully developed, and the respectful tone is entirely suitable for writing to a performer.
Make the requested help marginally more concrete by naming the type of workshop or advice that would be most useful.
Coherence and Cohesion
Each paragraph has a distinct communicative function and the progression from admiration to background and request is seamless.
For further refinement, link the specific performance qualities praised directly to the technique and stage-confidence guidance requested.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is flexible, precise, and natural throughout, with effective phrases such as “stage presence,” “vocal mastery,” and “musical journey.”
Replace the slightly broad “music enthusiast” with a more specific description of the writer’s role if available.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of complex structures is used accurately, with only a minor parallelism problem in the sentence about playing instruments and singing.
Write “I have played guitar and another instrument and have sung in a local high-school band” to keep the activities grammatically parallel.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You recently went to a concert and thought one of the singers was very good. You want to tell him/her how you feel. Write a letter to the singer. In your letter:
- say how you feel about his/her performance
- give details of your music-related/musical activities
- explain how you would like him/her to help you with your music-related/musical activities
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.