Beginner's Guide: Sonata Form, featuring Mozart K545 

@Sophia Dao You could be right. But definitely by Brahms' generation it was pretty uncommon.

Annelé Retief I don't. I got cringed away when the video started... but the video in itself was nice.

She knows her stuff. But she's had WAY too much coffee! She does NOT take single breath.

Simp

@@johngruber2996 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0jXTBAGv9ZQ.html

Ikr 🤩

I know this comment has been here for 2 years, but I have exactly the same question. How can I train my ear to develop this skill?

I’ll try to reply as best as I can. I have some kind of relative-perfect pitch thing and it helps me recognize changes. Sometimes, it’s difficult for even people like me to recognize the exact key that changed into. But you can certainly feel the change. It has a different feeling. It will come with time and practice.

I know this is an old comment, but I came across it and figured someone else might too, so I'll try to give a simple/basic theory-based answer. I have a terrible ear, so this is something I struggle to hear when listening to a piece. It all comes down to analyzing the chords. There's a difference between, for example, an accidental in the melody of a piece, versus one or more subsequent *chords* that do not belong in the key denoted in the key signature. The former *might* just be there to sound nice in the melody, but the latter *might* be a signal that we have modulated to a new key. For example, if the piece is in C major, but there's a phrase or section of chords or measures where the F natural is consistently raised to an F#, this is a pretty good hint that we might have modulated to G major, because the key has one #. Of course, it could instead be E minor too, but G major is more likely, since we started in C major. But it all depends on how those notes and chords are used.

If it goes from major to minor it is easy because it goes dark. If it goes from a major to another major, the pitch is how you notice, because its usually a fifth above. Now, you can never know exactly which key you're in unless you have a very trained ear.

paul warren that's awesome

lindross felagund I love Claudio Arrau!

...

imagine being this pedantic. did you understand what she meant?

Yes, they are melodic embellishments however it is worth noting that, in a minor key, there is no leading tone so the chromatic sharpening of the 7th is very common and is so essential that it is incorporated into the harmony of a minor key to create clear dominant functioning chords in that key. Looking for chromatically altered notes is not always advisable if you're looking for modulation as many melodies are chromatic but don't change the grounding of the key. In this case, it is barely a modulation as it doesn't sound stable at all.

+GraphiteProjekt Thank you for taking the time to answer my question.

I personally prefer natural minor. So my preferred C minor cadence would be: Cm, Fm, Cm, Gm, Gm7, Cm

In bar 22 and 23, there is no modulation to A minor. Mozart is in the process of modulating to G, dominant of C; in order to do so in classical music you have to go through a PAC (Perfect Authentic Cadence). Mozart is simply delaying the PAC by going in 2 steps. First step in bar 20 and 21 we have an imperfect cadence by using V of V (D), dominant of G but in first inversion; The effect of the following A chord can be viewed as a deceptive cadence , as one could expect a C chord in bar 22 after the initiation of the cadential movement; the expected C chord is replaced by a 6th degree chord (A). Then starting with this bar 22 we go through the final cadence (II-V-I in the scale of G or VI-II-V in the scale of C), the VIth degree being also the IInd degree of the scale of G, then V of V (Dominant of G) in 6/4 position, 7th (bar 25), a little delay again going back and forth between G and D and then final dominant 7th second part of bar 27 and conclusion in bar 28 with a final fall of an octave, typical of many termination in classical music. The definition of harmonic minor is with the leading tone. What does not have a leading tone is the natural Aeolian mode (Natural A) and the Dorian mode (mode of D) which was considered the true minor mode in baroque music. Mozart is using this dorian mode a couple of times in this piece. And to answer your question, D sharp and G sharp are short appogiaturas from below, which customary are half step away. Looking at the sharps and flats will be deceptive unless you first understand the structure of the piece and the compositional practice of classical XVIIIth century musicians.

Because it's the key that they start in (and usually finish in, too).

Hi. The first movement of every sonata is in sonata form. The other movements usually have different forms. For ex. the third mov is in Rondo form. :)

@@edgbarra Thank you!

@@edgbarra and can you tell me what is form of second movement?

Symphonies are significantly longer than sonatas. Symphonies hold 4 movements, each 10 or more movements. Concertos are very close to the length of symphonies and both of said forms rely mostly on motif rather than themes.

andante movements are often just slower sonatas, in minor.

Leshka Pianist It is the second movement within the Sonata - Allegro form that is slow- Andante:)

I have heard 2 different perspectives on that movement. One is that it is similar to sonata form but not quite sonata form because there is no true development section. Another is that it is in rondo form and thus the sonata has 2 rondos. I agree with the latter of the 2 perspectives.

I'd say maybe a little bit faster. Practice makes perfect. It really is not as hard as it sounds.