*Yawn* FML

I don't know why I'm writing this. I'm better off sleeping. Wait no, I should revise my general knowledge. So bloody annoying. I wish the general knowledge came first in the exam, not the last. Then I wouldn't have to hold the info in my head while I play my pieces in front of the examiner and shit. My right arm hurts so bad and I'm ready to collapse onto my bed. Played piano for about 2.75 hours I think. Not including the half an hour or something this morning. Can't remember. Wasn't fully awake. Had physics and chem tutoring today, felt like I was gonna drop dead lol. Pwooh!

In fact, maybe I should revise about half of my general knowledge (music) here.

...

"Tell me about this piece and its composer (List D - Sonata in C Third Movement by Aram Khachaturian)"

Khachaturian was born in Russia, but his background was Armenian. He was greatly influenced by Armenian Folk Music, as you can see in the piece - the main theme is based on a folk melody. As a 20th Century composer, he explored many aspects of composition such as pivot notes instead of pivot chords, frequent change of time signature (such as here) and keys (for example here it modulates to bD major and here G minor), piano-key jabbing (such as here), dissonance, many different textures (for example homophonic) and flexibility of structure. For example this third movement of the Sonata in C does not have a form at all. The closest form would be rondo form, as there is a recurring theme. He wrote a ballet named "Spartacus". He could play cello in addition to piano.

"Can you name me other composers of the same period?"

Yes. Gershwin, Schoernberg, Rachmaninov, Bartok, Shoshtakovich, Prokofiev.

"Tell me about this piece and its composer (List C - Moments Musicaux by Franz Schubert)"

Schubert was an Austrian composer who lived a short life because he died of syphillus. Like many other Romantic composers, he wrote songs with flexibility of keys and expression. However, unlike other Romantic composers, he used melodies which lacked drama. He also tended to make his middle sections of pieces calmer and more relaxed, as you can see in this piece. Schubert wrote 9 symphonies but his most famous one is his last and unfinished symphony.

"Can you name me other composers of the same period?"

Yes. Lizst, Chopin, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn.

"Tell me about this piece and its composer (List B - Rondo in F by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)"

Mozart was an Austrian composer born in Salzburg. He was a piano prodigy and violin virtuoso. He started composing at the age of five and when he was 17 he worked as a Salzburg court musician. However he then travelled around and composed a lot, over 600 works in total. He wrote for every major genre, including chamber music like string quartets, operas for example Don Giovanni, symphonies, solo concerto and piano sonata. He almost single-handedly popularised the Classical piano concerto. He made use of contrapunture and his pieces contain the central traits of Classical style - clarity, balance, simple and light. He made use of chromatic harmony which was rare in the classical period.

"Can you name me other composers of the same period?"

Yes there's Haydn, Beethoven and his father Leopold Mozart.

"Tell me about Ignaz Moscheles"

He was a romantic and Bohemian composer born in Prague in the Czech Republic. His career was initially based in London, but later at Leipzig in Germany where he succeeded Mendelssohn as head of the Conservatoire. He has about 142 opus numbers. He wrote a number of symphonic works, eight piano concertos, sets of variations and fantasias on folk songs, chamber works and piano pieces.

"Although you don't have any baroque pieces, can you still tell me about the Baroque period?"

Yep. Baroque composers did not aim to express their own emotions, instead they tried to express a range of emotions. They saw emotions as a state of mind and based their tempo and rhythm on whatever emotion they wished to evoke. Some works were improvisatory, with flexible rhythms. Chromaticism was used for expressive purposes and often, only the treble and bass lines were notated. Baroque orchestras were very small compared to today and had no conductors, as back then there were only a handful of instruments. Often there is a continuo instrument such as a harpsichord playing chords, supporting the treble line.

"Can you name me some composers of the Baroque period?"

Scarlatti, Johann Sebastian Bach, Handel, Couperin, Vivaldi.

God, I should really sleep now. Goodnight. I can't wait until I can get this shit out of my head and deal with my other exams.