Listening Challenge 1: Is it a March or a Waltz?

Here’s a list of 10 compositions by a variety of composers. Your task is to listen to the sound clips at courses.schoolofcomposition.com and write whether the piece is a March or a Waltz.

Marches are in duple meters , most typically in two-four and sometimes two-two. Waltzes are in triple meters , normally in three-four but sometimes also in three-two and three-eight. Whether you get them right or wrong is not so important. The purpose of this task is to get you to listen to the difference between duple and triple meters.

Hint: Marches have a duple ‘one – two – one – two’ effect that corresponds to marching: ‘left – right – left - right’. Waltzes have a triple ‘one – two – three –one – two – three’ effect that is common in music that accompanies dancing. Waltzes have an ‘oom – pah – pah – oom – pah - pah’ effect.

For each of the composers’ names, note down whether the clip is a March or a Waltz:

1. Strauss
2. Schubert
3. Chopin
4. Beethoven
5. Tchaikovsky
6. Tchaikovsky
7. Strauss Junior
8. Offenbach
9. Debussy
10. Sibelius