What is This?

The day begins as each of my programs begins, now that I do not inform the listeners in advance of what they are going to hear: fascination with one sound at a time. What is it? Who wrote it? When? What key is it in?

Listen. Pay attention, one sound at a time. Listen the way my young students were taught to listen to one another's sight-reading, with specific questions in mind: Is it a song, a dance, or a "puzzle piece"(one that makes its own rules)? If a puzzle piece, then specifics come into play having to do with short and long-term memory, with beats or absence of same, with agreeable as opposed to problematic sounds.

When did printed programs become de rigueur? When did sonatas begin to be identified by their key - not a bad question since so many of them are crafted to keep that questionable.

More power to the listener!