TIPS

Winning is not the point of this contest. Learning something new is.
Please keep in mind, because this is designed as a fierce competition and "...there can be only ONE..." winner, there will be some really tough questions your team will need to address. Even if you do not do particularly well in the competition, you might be suprised at how much you have actually learned. Suppose it is one mispelled composer that bumps your team out of the running. As disappointing as it might feel in the moment, it is not the end of the world. Or suppose you spent a great deal of time learning everything -- even the obscure information on the Romantic era, but none of the questions you expected were asked. So what?! You have still learned alot and you have exercised that part of the brain which will help you continue to learn new things in other disciplines and as you begin your careers.

Nevertheless, Below are tips to help you succeed in competition.

The study guides are designed with the expectation that each student will read and listen to the entire guide. DON'T Make the mistake of dividing up the study guides by CDs!! (i.e. by giving one CD to each student to specialize) That will be your team's "Kiss of Death!" Rather everyone should be familiar with the Era chapters (Early-Contemporary). If time constraints require that you split anything up, each member could specialize in one of the 3 features.

The stress here is having the students exercise the skill of applied knowledge. You will notice that the study guide tends to be "front loaded" with vital information and clues for listening and contextualizing music. In other words all students should constantly refer to information found especially in those first 3 chapters (Early Music, Baroque, Classical) in order to make complete sense of the later chapters and features.

For this reason, each example is given "comparison/contrast" pieces from other eras and chapters for students to compare and contrast stylistic traits. It is assumed that the students will also read up on the features of that era, genre, and composer. It might be a good strategy here to create a "mind-map" linking compositions. [it'd be a simple, but pretty cool project to create a partially randomized mind-map computer program to aid with studying.]

MYSTERY ROUND TIPS

It's not the answers that are difficult...Its just asking the right question. -Tom Baker as "Dr. Who"

In this day and age where information is so readily available there is no excuse for not succeeding. If you cannot find something, perhaps it is because you haven't learned HOW to look. Therefore, the tips below are designed to help you out. If you do not spend time working on mystery examples, the best score you can hope for is 80 (assuming you get a perfect score in all of the other rounds).

Pay attention to music mentioned in the Study Guide! For instance if the Vivaldi example in the study guide is a Guitar Concerto, but the author mentions that some of Vivaldi's more famous works are: Gloria, and Four Seasons...There is a 90%+ chance that a selection from one of those works WILL be used as a mystery example.

Likewise, if the author mentions an album produced by a composer, (i.e. "Word of Mouth" by Jaco Pastorius on which Crisis was the first track) you would do VERY well to look up that album and see what other works were on it such as Jaco's version of J.S. Bach's Chromatic Fantasy.

A great source to help in the mystery round are the free samples of music offered online. Check out the websites of the major book and media retailers, do a music search for a composer in the study guide. It should bring a number of recordings with about 10-30 seconds worth of samples from each track. That should be plenty to get you used to the composer.

*YOUTUBE - YOUTUBE - YOUTUBE - This is probably the single best source for learning and viewing public domain musical performances. A good strategy is to begin by searching for a piece in your study guide (as well as the pieces mentioned in the notes), then use the related links to find other possible listening examples. You will find a variety of performances by players at different levels (not to mention a diversity of audio and video quality) but as good musicians you ought to be able to hear past that.

For example: Check out this link on Vivaldi's Lute Concerto in D

or this 13 year old boy playing the 1st movement of Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata

When listening, pay close attention to the musical elements OTHER THAN Timbre! Composers & Genres have distinctive fingerprints. Today it is commonplace to hear music on instruments other than those for which they were written. Also, since the 20th century and invention of audio recordings, our ears have grown accostomed equal temperment based on "a440hz."(not to mention the way modern recordings have poisoned us with the expectation of musical "perfection.")

- Even better than listening is SINGING. Listening is a passive activity its kind of like "copying" on a test - it takes longer for the information to sink in. By singing however you will retain the music much easier (and much more quickly) in memory. Plus once you memorize it, you can begin to re-orchestrate it in your head(for those of you who dislike the harpsichord!), speed it up and slow it down etc. In effect you should be able to make the music sound better in your head than the actual performance you hear. *This is a great practice tool for band and orchestra players. I require ALL of my bass students to sing their music before they even pick up their instrument. That way they demonstrate that they actually know and can feel the music in their soul rather than relying on the instrument to "tell them what to play."

Sources for general information about composers and pieces can be found on the Web, Composers Datebook, various online radio stations, orchestra programs.

The guide assumes that you have access to the general texts like Listen, the Grout/Palisca/Burkholder, Norton Anthology of Music, Stolba, etc. (all still standard texts in college and university). These are also good sources for "mystery round" exercises.

- Old LPs of classical music that contains many of the very same composers as our contest. Plus they have GREAT (but dated) liner notes. You might also be this fortunate. Good clean vinyl and analog tape is still a more "accurate" representation of live music than any of the digitally sampled music on CDs and esp. the reduced quality of MP3.

The Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians is good for everything; The Oxford Dictionary and Harvard Dictionary of Music are also good sources for reading up on general issues regarding genres.

=-=

There are as many “formulas for success” as there are coaches, but the tips on this list might
make your job a bit easier. Some coaches spend many hours with their teams, drilling
information and listening to the CDs, while some very successful students do all their studying
on their own time. (This tends to work better with highly motivated kids who have experienced at least one year of the contest!) However you decide to organize your time, the suggestions below have worked for many past teams.

-Be organized. I use a three-ring binder to hold the study guide and my practice tests, along
with the myriad other papers involved with a high school activity. Many of my students use a
folder for their practice aids, and carry it inside the front cover of their guide.

-The more you listen, the more you know! Your CDs should be your student’s constant
companions. (Yours, too!)

-Many of my students have made flash cards for each piece, with testable title, dates, composers name, country, genre, instrumentation, etc., and used them to quiz themselves and their teammates. I also type a data sheet with all the “boxed” information from the guides (composer, dates, title, genre, etc.). This is the first information that should get memorized, as it will show up most often in the contest.

- Actively write out the terms and their various definitions on a sheet of paper (5 times for each) and say them aloud as you write.

-Have each team member write 5 multiple choice questions on pieces they are NOT assigned,
then quiz the other two team members.

-Make a recording of sample musical examples and test your teams.

-Play "drop the needle" with the study guide CDs

-Listen to as much mystery music as possible. Listen to classical radio stations, use recordings
available at school, many public libraries have small classical music collections (or the Central Saint Paul Library has a HUGE collection), use a college library if one is near you. Have each student listen to at least two mystery pieces by composers they have been assigned and note how they are similar to the pieces in the contest.

Contest Tip - When the opening statements are being made, write down the composers and titles on one of the blank sheets of paper provided at the contest. Then, all you have to do is point to the answer for your "writer" to put it on the answer sheet. REMEMBER, you cannot bring a crib sheet in with you but you can write it down from memory.

-Strategize as a team. Who can write quickest and most legibly? Who can hear languages the
fastest? Who is the best speller? Assign tasks for the contest.

-Drill on spelling early and often.

-Set up a practice test using the forms at the back of your study guide. Record musical
samples, and time the students.

-Coaches may always contact a board member for advice. Names are in the front of the study guide.