Mozart question

[ada]

Just as Bach teaches students about, amongst other things, polyphonics, hand independence and crisp playing, what exactly are the benefits of teaching Mozart?

Mozart appears to suffer from a chronic lack of high regard and is somewhat tarnished by his association with precocious chubby-cheeked child prodigies.

What in your view does a student get out of stuyding Mozart?

[pianistimo]

for beginners, it might be about evenness of scalular passages, singing melodies, learning rhythms, learning tempos. 

for intermediate players, tonal values, precision in trills, contrapuntal entrances made clear, sounding 'fresh,' unpredictability within reason.

for advanced - getting in touch with the soul of playing.  or, with your soul.  mozart somehow unlocks the key to the way one used to feel as a child.  free.  it reminds me of being 8 years old and looking at the world with optomism, or unbounded sadness.  you get to feel each emotion fully.  it is cathartic like beethoven, excepting more transparent.  more melodies and less thick harmony.  you have to pretend that you haven't a care in the world - and after you play it - you don't.

[counterpoint]

Perhaps it's the misunderstanding of Mozart's music as well behaved, correct, neat, pleasing, that many parents want their kids to play Mozart.

Do normal grown-ups like to hear or play Mozart? Good question! 

[teresa_b]

This grown-up certainly loves to play AND hear Mozart! 

As for what students may get out of studying Mozart:

Clarity in articulation, along with a grace that no other composer demands.

Mozart is often accessible to a student's technique, and the passages can develop skills in fast runs, and balance between melodies and accompanying harmonies.

Experience of expressing a myriad of emotions through music--joy, sadness, wistfulness, humor, and much more

Knowledge of quintessential Classical styles and forms

Appreciation of purity of sound and how to create it, with no muddiness or hiding in big messy overpedaled chords, etc.

Sheer, unadulterated beauty!

All the best,
Teresa