How to Sound Like MOZART

What makes Mozart sound like Mozart? And how might he have arranged "Happy Birthday?" on the piano, as a sonata?

➡ Thank you for supporting me on Patreon!

Instagram @nahresol
Twitter @nahresol
Facebook @practicenotes

(Affiliate links that contribute to my channel)

Check out my playlists to better navigate videos on my channel, and thank you for subscribing :)

As always, thank you so much for watching, and thank you to all of you that leave comments.

[lupitt]

Not only a very skikful pianist but a complete musician, open-minded, curious, intelligent and creative. Best regards 🙏

[konst]

i think your videos contribute a lot to classical musicians starting to improvise again.

[antoniaezac]

beautifully done, as usual! You fooled me in the opening test and I thought the only genuine Mozart piece was number 3, which You wrote!! Proves you got it right 110%.
I also eliminated number 2 for exactly the reason you said—it sounded "too baroque" for Mozart😁

[openendedthinking]

The last movement of his Jupiter symphony is one of his most impressive works contrapuntally

[infnloopmusic]

Brilliant composition and analysis! I especially appreciate the 'maybe' moments because it really brings detail to the thought process of this insightful composition rather than just the result.

[barnabydixon]

Super informative, really to the point.

…And Happy birthday to you too 🎉

[bigmonkey]

The transformative power you show in such a short composition is incredible

[galegreyson]

(Totally disregarding age) I feel like a middle-schooler trying to take a college-level course. Yet, I absolutely love this analysis, presentation, and the “drinking from a firehose” music theory. And, of course, I adore Mozart’s music as well. Dear Professor, you have beginners in your audience who are learning by immersion. These videos are thrilling! (I will not confess how many times I paused and/or backed up the video to take notes). I wish I had learned this language earlier in life. You are a wonderful instructor. Thank you! Also, for being kindergarten literate in music, I recognized immediately that the second piece was the original Mozart…perhaps because I have listened to Mozart so much.

[Margilio]

For an uneducated fan of classical music this is like one of those Bob Ross videos where he starts painting and then suddenly magic happens and you see the final outcome and it inspires you to create something, great work!

[orangefoxable]

Having seen most of, if not all, of you're "How To Sound like" Series I enjoyed this one the most!
The way you show your process in a very articulate yet fun way is very entertaining and helpful at the same time, I'm excited to see what you'll create next :)

[mistersteve]

It's so amazing how insightful these kind of videos are. Really interesting how the composers thought about writing music.
Keep up the great work Nahre! 😁

[brent]

That was very insightful! I've always been a fan of your arrangements (I love the Liszt and Bach ones). But since this series is about getting each composer's various trademark styles (or clichės?), in this case, 1st movements of Mozart sonatas, I do have a few things in mind about this particular one, and do correct me if I get some things wrong (and please pardon my English):

1. For second themes, Mozart very often goes to the dominant key for sonatas written in major, and the relative major for sonatas written in minor. The relative minor 2nd theme sounded like a different composer, like an early Beethoven or maybe Haydn.

2. Mozart's textures are usually very thin and transparent. His melodies are normally very straightforward except for transitions between themes where the scales or arpeggios are usually found, unless if the theme is based upon scales or arpeggios. Those are not normally sprinkled around it.

3. Mozart often has symmetrical phrasing of 4 or 8 bars per melody. When he deviates from that, like 3, 5 or 6 bar phrases, it's usually very intentional, and those intentions are usually very clear that they almost never sound jarring.

4. He usually has very clear cadential endings. Themes almost always close off neatly, with exposition endings almost sounding like the actual end of the piece.

Your Mozartian Star Sprangled Banner at the 3 excerpts game was a lot closer to Mozart than the end product for Happy Birthday that it actually fooled me lol.

[ghintz]

Omg I just assumed you already covered Mozart in this series. Love these birthday composer videos as a pianist who is woefully undereducated in terms of theory.

[lulcy]

These videos are soooo well made and I love everything about the style of your content, not to mention your piano playing and composition that makes these videos as wonderful as they are!!

[DirtyIceCubes]

This is brilliant. The last movement had more hints of later composers—perhaps Schubert?—than Mozart. It sounded a little more ruminative and Impressionistic than classical.

[bradenjarosz]

Watching you talk about character in his pieces really helps me understand how to approach playing his music with better interpretations, thanks!

[dzinypinydoroviny]

You've done a very good job! It's great how you don't just make general asumptions about how composers sound but you go into depth studying the key elements of their music.

[nomusician]

I love this series! It's fascinating how you manage to capture the essence of all the composers.

[chickennuggies]

your videos have such a high quality youre my favorite piano channel even if i personally dont know that much about classical music and piano stuff

[guitboxgeek]

Absolutely brilliant! I learned so much with all the work you put into the musical hints. Thank you!