Exam Help

[jamie_liszt]

I am going for my Amus exam soon (Australia AMEB exams) and am playing the following pieces.

Beethoven Piano Sonata op 14 no 1
Bach prelude and fugue bk 1 no 16 g minor
Tchaikovsky October
Ravel La Vallee De cloche (spelling) no.5 from mirrors

Ok my question is about the general knowledge section of the exam. What do you guys think I should study in relation to my pieces, apart from stuff like modulations and word meanings. Has anyone got any websites i can read important information about my chosen pieces?

Anyone have any recordings?

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks

[hyrst]

I hope you aren't doing the exam in the next week or so, because that is leaving it rather late.  You can expect 20 minutes of general knowledge questioning.

I don't have the information for you, but you can purchase documentation from Ross Hamilton rah@netspace.net.au.

You need to research:
Music periods and typical characteristics - and how your pieces compare
Composer biographies, contemporaries, significant works (including those besides piano)
Significant events and influences in the composers' lives
Development of the piano and how this affects your pieces and the composers
Form, keys, language terms, relationship to other works
Well-tempering, what it means, why works were written

That's all I can think of right now, but the more depth and breadth the better.  You are no longer being examined on specific pieces, but on your understanding of the pieces within historical and other contexts.  Good luck.