Week 2 Thread: The Era of Haydn and Mozart! 🐴

Welcome to the Main Thread for the third week of "Mozart & Haydn - Music from the 18th Century" challenge! 


This week, we will talk about the different ways composers were trained during the 18th century and how they could achieve such high productivity through schemas and patterns

Look at a different piece by the same composer you are studying and try to compare the music to the new piece you are practicing now.

If you are ready, post a short clip of the patterns you found in your music! One of the ways we grow is through feedback and self-reflection.

Pick a piece from the suggested repertoire according to your level or share any piece written during the 18th century that you have been working on!


If you want to describe your process, feel free to use the following template.

  • Piece(s) you have been working on:
  • Things you found easy:
  • Things you found difficult:

Happy sharing 😍

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  • Here is my first attempt at playing the Haydn first movement. I've mostly focused on memorizing the piece so far, so there remains a lot of work with technical challenges and musical challenges! As you also can see in the video, there were some mistakes, and there are quite a few trouble spots I need to work out. Also need to get going with learning the other two movements! 

    Like 8
    • Sindre Skarelven Very nice performance and even memorized!

      Btw.... the landscape on the back of your video is wonderful!!

      I would have two main suggestions for this: I think it would sound a bit more fluent if you would think in longer sentences. Maybe you might remember what I suggested to Roy in last week's thread. Thinking of the music as coherent long sentences is important in such pieces.  The second suggestion is about the trills: you might want to try to lower your wrist a bit when playing them and to play them lighter. Super great job though!

      Like 2
    • Antonella Di Giulio Thank you, Antonella! Yes, totally agree with creating bigger lines! I have just worked on the memorizing bit so far, and it's still pretty fresh, but I have a vision for the bigger picture. I see what you mean with the trills, I will work on it! 
      Yes, it is quite beautiful up here :) Thanks again. 

      Like 2
    • Sindre Skarelven It is very impressive your memorization! I assume you can skip my next workshop :)

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    • Sindre Skarelven Great playing and memorizing! 

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      • Monika Tusnady
      • The Retired French Teacher
      • Monikainfrance
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Sindre Skarelven well done! There is so much happening in he Movement, so many different characters take the stage - a great choice for all of its potential to express contrasts. Also, I love it that you always memorize the pieces you play; it brings you so much closer to the music, doesn’t it?

      Like 2
    • Antonella Di Giulio Thank you! Well I rarely miss a workshop, but will also have some wifi-less vacation next week :) 

      Like 2
    • Vidhya Bashyam Thank you, Vidhya! Looking forward to hear your progress threw Galuppi! 

      Like 1
    • Monika Tusnady You are absolutely right! So much going on, and if you throw in the other two movements, with the darker second movement, and then bringing us up again in the third movement... Well, I think it is a masterpiece. 
      You are also correct on the memorization, I feel closer to the music that way. If the challenge was already over, I would play it better with the score. But in the longer run it will be more ingrained in the fingers, body and mind this way. But I completely respect playing with the score as well !!

      Like 2
      • Monika Tusnady
      • The Retired French Teacher
      • Monikainfrance
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Sindre Skarelven So many Haydn masterpieces out there. It's like the Schubert challenge all over again, isn't it, with all of us longing to learn so much more of the repertoire? Completely agree with playing both with and without the score: it's so important to revisit the composer's markings and our own ones, too, isn't it? However, I love thinking consciously about what's coming next in the music, of preparing in a way that's impossible with eyes on the score. I think Juan Carlos feels that way, too. 

      Like 3
      • Roy
      • Royhj
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Sindre Skarelven Not sure yet how one memorizes this length of a piece... hope to get there too. I really love it (seems like I don't know Haydn at all and will start digging now), thanks for sharing :)

      Like 3
    • Monika Tusnady So many masterpieces! With all this music we want to learn, I find it important to NOT rush threw them and go on to the next one. (I have to remind myself that from time to time) But a time-limit is nice. Now I'm in the phase of going deeper into the score. Yes, there are more freedom to the performance part with memorizing. 

      Like 2
    • Roy Glad you are liking the piece! If you want to start memorizing, you start with small pieces or bits of pieces that you can manage. 

      Like 3
    • Sindre Skarelven bravo, Sindre!

      Like 2
    • Andrea Buckland Thank you, Andrea! 

      Like
      • Gail Starr
      • Retired MBA
      • Gail_Starr
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Sindre Skarelven What an impressive start!  I am trying to adopt your method of memorizing as I go along.  I'm doing it in tiny bites:  Just recognizing how many sections there are, noticing the key changes and trying to give nicknames to the different parts.

      Like 3
    • Sindre Skarelven bravo! Impressive play from memory 👏

      Like 2
    • Gail Starr Thank you, Gail! That’s great! Seems like you are getting your creative juices flowing with those nicknames. I’m guessing it will help with the interpretation of the piece. 

      Like 1
    • Derek McConville Thank you, Derek! Glad to see you are posting as well! 

      Like 1
    • Sindre Skarelven that is a lot of notes to have memorised already! Congratulations! I like the lively tempo as well!

      Like 2
      • Juan Carlos Olite
      • Philosophy teacher and piano lover
      • Juan_Carlos
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Sindre Skarelven Monika Tusnady It is a very good job, Sindre, in a beautiful piece with so many details here and there. As Monika says I always like to memorize, to turn the learning process into a memorization process. Of course, you can consult the score whenever you want. But, you make an extra effort of attention, of focus in your playing, and you are more free to think about what is coming in the music. And in the end, you play the whole piece free and happy.

      Like 3
    • Juan Carlos Olite then wait for the next livestream about memorization 😇

      Like 1
      • Juan Carlos Olite
      • Philosophy teacher and piano lover
      • Juan_Carlos
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Antonella Di Giulio Of course, I will watch the livestream (may not be able live, but yes later) , I am very interested in it. Thank you so much, Antonella, for all your attention and advice.

      Like 2
    • Juan Carlos Olite Thank you, Juan Carlos! I completely agree with you. And of course, you are excellent at memorizing! Will be interesting to see Antonella's stream on memorization. Still looking forward to your video! I understand it's a lot to learn in that sonata, hope to play it myself one day too!

      Like 1
    • Angela Fogg Thank you Angela! Yes, lots of notes and a great piece! Glad you enjoy the tempo, I feel it's a pretty good tempo too. 

      Like 1
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