Learn to Play Recorder

Lesson 42: Baroque Sonata Allegro Movement

  • Learn one Baroque sonata allegro movement end-to-end.
  • Apply paired articulation, terraced dynamics, and trills at cadences.
  • Lesson 41 — double tonguing.
  • Lesson 32 — Baroque dance forms.
  • Baroque sonata allegro structure.
  • Italian style.
  • Multi-bar phrasing.

Excerpts teach skills. Complete movements teach music.

Until now most lessons have used excerpts — short passages chosen to demonstrate a technique. From here on, the work is on whole movements. The Allegro is typically the longest, fastest, and most contrapuntally dense movement of a Baroque sonata, and learning one is a study in pacing yourself across an extended piece.

The structure to listen for

A Baroque sonata Allegro is usually in binary form: two halves, each repeated. The first half modulates from the home key to the dominant; the second returns. Inside each half, short motivic ideas are spun out through sequence and imitation. Identify the main motive in the first bar; you will hear it again, transposed, every few bars.

Method — how to learn a movement

  1. Read through once at half tempo. Identify the main motive and the modulation points.
  2. Practise each half separately. Master each before connecting them.
  3. Mark the cadence points. These are the trill opportunities.
  4. Mark the breath points. Long Baroque phrases want long breaths.
  5. Bring up to tempo in small increments. Do not jump from half-tempo to full.

See learning a piece for the general procedure. The Baroque-specific additions are the four steps above.

Drill — sequence and modulation

A four-bar phrase that repeats a sequence two steps higher. This is the Baroque Allegro's most-used building block.

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Now play these

Choose one. Spend two weeks on it. End-to-end at tempo with trills at the cadences is the goal.

Telemann: Sonata in C major, TWV 41:C5 — Allegro
The most accessible upper-intermediate Allegro in the library.
Telemann: Sonata in F major, TWV 41:F2
F major, the recorder's natural key. Pleasant under the fingers.
Telemann: Six Sonatas, TWV 40:101
From the famous set of methodical sonatas — designed for the developing player.

When you can play one full Allegro movement end-to-end at tempo with trills at the cadences, move on to Lesson 43.