Hello blogging friends and colleagues-you are joining us in the middle of a gathering of Minnesota Music Teachers Association contest literature. Students have the opportunity to perform one of these pieces for an adjudicator, receive a critique, and the ultimate prize is a performance at Northrup auditorium on the University of Minnesota campus. At this Senior A level, there are twelve pieces from which to choose. Music is from across time periods, and hopefully, from across the globe, to provide new pieces and styles to students and teachers alike. So, after hearing the 12, make sure to stop back and tell me which pieces you would choose to learn in depth this year.
My regular blogging will be sporadic as I gather this information for my students and you. But I'm still here!
Who is the composer and where is he from? (Franz) Joseph Haydn (March 31, 1732 – May 31, 1809) was an Austrian composer. He was one of the most important, prolific and prominent composers of the classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these genres. He was also instrumental in the development of the piano trio and in the evolution of sonata form.
A life-long resident of Austria, Haydn spent much of his career as a court musician for the wealthy Hungarian aristocratic Esterházy family on their remote estate. Isolated from other composers and trends in music until the later part of his long life, he was, as he put it, "forced to become original". At the time of his death, he was one of the most celebrated composers in Europe.
What else have they written that we may already know or have heard? Student may have played other sonatas or sonatinas, short minuets or German dances.
What time period is it from? Classical
What about this piece do you like? The arpeggiated figures running down the keyboard sound fun to play.
What sounds challenging? One student complains that the classical style takes too much listening for the differences. "It all sounds similar if you're not paying attention." This is also one of the longer selections.
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