Viva Voce and Portfolio: Documenting and Defending the Major Work
Purpose of the viva and portfolio
The viva voce and portfolio make your process visible and defensible. The portfolio typically holds evidence such as drafts, scores, recordings, rehearsal logs, research notes, annotated sources, and a process diary or journal; the viva tests whether you can articulate and justify the decisions that evidence records. Assessors look for ownership, reflective insight, consistency between documentation and product, and command of the vocabulary of your chosen elective.
Concepts to name precisely
Prepare to discuss rationale (why this topic, repertoire or concept), planning and timelines, problem identification and resolution, revision (what changed and why), influences and models, evaluation of the final outcome, and future directions. Know your own documentation well enough to cite a specific entry, date or draft. In performance and composition vivas, expect questions on interpretive or compositional alternatives you rejected.
Traps that appear in questions
- A portfolio that is a scrapbook rather than evidence of decisions; undated, unannotated material is weak.
- Retrospective invention - claiming a tidy process the documents contradict. Consistency is checked.
- Answering "why?" with "because it sounds better" and no musical reasoning.
- Defensiveness: when challenged, candidates argue instead of engaging with the alternative and justifying their choice.
- Talking only about the final product and neglecting the iterative process the viva is designed to explore.
Rule of thumb
Use the evidence-anchor habit: every claim in the viva should be attachable to a document, a draft, a recording or a dated decision. If you cannot point to evidence, phrase it as reflection rather than fact.
Worked example
Asked why a section was rewritten, answer with the anchor: "Draft two, dated May, shows the original key scheme; the recording session revealed the transition felt abrupt, so I inserted a two-bar pivot chord and re-notated the entry - the revised score is in the portfolio at that entry." This demonstrates process, reflection and consistency simultaneously.
Preparation routine
Rehearse aloud for a listener who does not know your work; anticipate three challenge questions and prepare evidence-based answers; keep a one-page summary of key decisions and their justifications.