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 surprised at how much you have actually learned. Suppose it is one misspelled 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 a lot and you have exercised that part of the brain which will help you continue to learn new things in other disciplines.

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 learn exclusively). That will be your team's "Kiss of Death!" Even if the material is divided so that one member becomes the "expert" for a CD or section, each team member should be familiar with all of the pieces in the Study Guide.

MYSTERY ROUND TIPS

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.

A great source to help in the mystery round is Naxos Music Library: www.NaxosMusicLibrary.com There you will find a playlist with nearly all of the pieces in the Study Guide. Each coach and student participant will also receive a one-year membership to Naxos Music Library at no extra charge ($245/person value). NML is the most comprehensive collection of classical music available online, with over 650,000 tracks plus educational resources that can be accessed anytime, anywhere. We are confident that access to this resource will greatly enhance the MLC experience. (The NML login information is listed on the last page of your Study Guide.) 

*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 the Study Guide, then use the related links to find other possible listening examples. For example: Check out this link of a 13-year-old boy playing the first movement of Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata

When listening, pay close attention to the musical elements other than timbre! Composers and genres have distinctive fingerprints. Today it is commonplace to hear music on instruments other than those for which they were written.

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.

These resources will help if you need additional information on Study Guide material:

• For more on the basics of pitch, meter, rhythm, harmony, counterpoint, and tonality, see
David Damschroder, Foundations of Music and Musicianship.
• For more on texture, timbre, and orchestration, see Samuel Adler, Study of
Orchestration.
• For more on musical genres, music history, and style periods see Joseph Kerman and
Gary Tomlinson, Listen.
• Much of the research done for the Study Guide relied heavily upon The New Grove
Dictionary of Music and Musicians, an excellent first stop for anyone interested in
researching virtually any aspect of musical knowledge.

COACHES' TIPS

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 Study Guide.

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

-Many of my students have made flash cards for each piece, with testable title, dates, composers' names, 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 (five times for each) and say them aloud as you write.

-Have each team member write five 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, Naxos Music Library, public libraries (the Central St. Paul Library has a huge collection), and college libraries. 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 TIPS

- 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.

-Teams may always contact a board member for advice.