Score Reading and Listening Challenge 1

Here are some suggested pieces for listening. When possible, also find the score so that you can follow the written music too. This is known as score reading .

If you’ve never done this before, you might get lost in the score a few times. This is normal and you shouldn’t worry. Just go back and continue as you can. This is not a test; it’s all about the experience.

1. Beethoven: Theme and Variations in F, op. 34

What to listen for: This piece consists of 9 movements (9 parts): a theme and 8 variations. The theme is in simple duple meter, marked adagio but it changes character many times as Beethoven plays around with the meter and tempo in the variations. Listen for these changes of character of the music produced by the changes in tempo and meter.

2. Charles Ives: The Unanswered Question

What to listen for: The sustained chords, played by the strings, create a feeling of timelessness due to the extremely slow tempo.

3. Debussy: Arabesque no. 1

What to listen for: Listen to the characteristic triplets inside a simple quadruple meter, and notice the many instructions on the score related to tempo changes (these are dealt with in detail in later lessons).

4. Holst: Mars, from the Planets, op. 32

What to listen for: The rhythmic drive is overt in this piece. Listen for the quintuple meter, five-four, all throughout except for a middle section in five-two meter.

5. Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude

What to listen for: Notice the long rests in between moments of sounds at the beginning of this prelude. The silences are as important as the tones themselves to impart the intended dramatic quality of the music.