November
100-day Challenge
Keep working on your practice charts. You can still do this challenge.
Start at any time! Download this chart or make your own.
Students who have completed the 100-day practice chart
Composer of the month
Muzio Clementi
1752-1832
Sonata op.12 no.1 played by Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli.
Etude #9 from Gradus ad Parnassum, a collection of exercises he wrote to teach piano students.
Anke Chen, age 5, playing Clementi’s Piano Sonatina in D Major Op 36 No 6
Symphony No. 3 in G Major
Capriccio in A major op. 34 n. 3 played by Manuela Giardina on a replica of a fortepiano from 1780.
Monferrina in D minor, Op 49, n. 6, played by Marina Rodríguez Brià on a piano from 1843.
The Early Piano
The oldest piano still in existence at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
A brief history of the first pianos.
2020 Composition Contest Winners
Congratulations to everyone who participated. Your pieces were great! Hundreds of students sent in compositions about the Arctic and Antarctica with music about penguins, polar bears, walruses, and other animals as well as pieces about the polar landscapes and oceans! As always, it was difficult to pick just a few, but we are pleased to announce the 2020 winners.
Winning Pieces will be printed in upcoming issues.
10 and younger
1st Place:
A Polar Bear’s Lullaby
by Beverly Horton, age 10
Teacher: Terry Doremus
2nd Place:
The Arctic Fox
by Maggie Miller, age 10
Teacher: Jessica Olson
3rd Place (tie):
Arctic Waves
by Jillian Williams, age 9
Teacher: Jessica Olson
3rd Place (tie):
Tundra
by Harry Graves, age 10
Teacher: Alison Siener Brown
Honorable Mention:
Jumping Arctic Foxes
by David Beamer, age 9
Teacher: Barbara Azevedo
Honorable Mention:
Cold and Beautiful
by Marissa DiChiaro, age 10
Teacher: Mark Raimondi
11 and older
1st Place:
Lullaby of the Northern Lights
by Colleen Leacock, age 16
Teacher: Lydia McCool
2nd Place:
The Penguin Strut!
by Elisa Lipkin, age 17
Teacher: Diana Wan
3rd Place (tie):
Snowfall
by Audrey Schultz, age 11
Teacher: Maggie Casey
3rd Place (tie):
The Groovy Walrus
by Ella Miller, age 13
Teacher Jessica Olson
Honorable Mention:
Waltz of the Polar Bears
by Eli Minasian, age 14
Teacher: Reese Ancheta
Honorable Mention:
Guided by the Northern Lights
by Marina Prikis, age 17
Teacher: Nancy Osborne
Honorable Mention:
A Sled Dog’s Day Off
by Shawn An, age 18
Teacher: Diane W. Higgins