Let’s take Mozart’s Symphony No. 40. One of his great last works, but how do you remember that melody? Musical mnemonics to the rescue!
Take a listen just to the first 10 seconds.
Mozart: Symphony No. 40: I Molto allegro
Now listen to it again with some words:
It’s a Bird
It’s a Plane
It’s a Mozart
Or
Give a hand
To the band
Playing Mozart
He wrote music
Both charming
and witty….
How about Eine Kleine Nachtmusik?
Listen to the first 10 seconds
Mozart: Serenarde No. 13 in G major, K. 525, Eine kleine nachtmusik: I. Allegro
Now listen to it again with some words:
Eine
Kleine
Nachtmusic das ist.
Written
By Herr
Mozart
In a mist.
How about a bit of Haydn? The second movement of his Surprise Symphony could be thought of this way:
Take a listen to the beginning;
Haydn: Symphony No. 94 in G major, „The Surprise“: II. Andante
Now listen to it again with some words:
Over-taken by a whim
(Not un-us-ual for him)
Haydn wrote a piece that’s sym-
Phonic’ly surprising!
(repeat, but more quietly)
Over-taken by a whim
(Not un-us-ual for him)
Haydn wrote a piece that’s sym-
Phonic’ly surpris…-BOOM!
Now that we’ve given you the first words – make up your own ending to these melodies. We’ve tried at least to keep the composer’s name in the work and any other information we could include – can you extend our starts?
With thanks to Josefa Heifez’s book From Bach to Verse for some of these lines.
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Nice idea. But I fear it may spoil the music for you if you remember the phrase you invented with it. Like I can’t hear Beethoven’s 5th symphony anymore after listening to PDQ Bach’s “New horizons”.