The pedagogical possibilities that were opened by multimedia are truly limited only by the developer's imagination. For the music instructor who teaches non-majors in music, students who have had little or no preparation in music, it is like a dream come true. Instantaneous musical examples of exceptional quality related to "moving" graphics make it easy and effective to supplement any verbally presented idea. Here is the long awaited tool to address the perennial problem of making the non-verbal characteristic of music accessible in a meaningful manner.

I designed this program so it can be used either as an interactive teaching tool by a lecturer or for self-study for non-music majors.

The program makes it possible to use specific commercially available CDs as the source for the music and have the user interact with the analysis of the music through a Macintosh computer with a CD-ROM drive.

The program analyzes in broad strokes formal aspects of the following four concertos:

The analyses concentrate on formal aspects because a comprehension of items related to form, both conceptually and aurally does not require knowledge in music theory. Further, musical forms are seen as abstract prototypes of whole classes of compositions. This attribute makes form an invaluable didactic agent.

The approach presented here stresses the development of form listening skills. By developing skills for perceiving aurally the form of a composition, the learner will be dealing with an important aspect of aesthetics which is concerned with the sensuous comprehension of a work of art. Aesthetics teaches us what it is we hear in a composition. There is no disagreement that one of the elements of a composition is its form.

The program enables the lecturer to relate instantaneously any element of a computer generated form-chart with the matching musical excerpt. In other words, the program makes use of ostensive definitions or, the program emphasizes "intimacy with immediate content" (Prall).

Thus, the program lets the learner hear the exact excerpt under discussion. Because of the program's random access capability, the instructor can discuss any part in any order. To facilitate continuous orientation, the computer graphics are designed to provide a complete overview of the entire movement and to highlight a particular form-chart item in real-time sync with the music.

The program enables an instructor to demonstrate, for example, thematic relationships within the movements, common compositional techniques, links between the Baroque concerto (ritornello) and the modified sonata-form of the Classic period, the relationships between the tuttis and the solos and some orchestrational considerations.

When used as a self-study program, the student can learn to hear how these compositions were "put together." Because the program also includes background information on the geneses of the works and includes historical and biographical synopses related to the time-frame of the compositions, the student can review and/or supplement the lectures.

Because typically analyses are directed at a professional and knowledgeable audience, they are bound to be sophisticated and technical. However, my analyses are for the musically non-literate and therefore are much less detailed and more global in their orientation. Since I do not expect the student to have any knowledge of theory, the discussions have been adjusted to an appropriate level.

Nevertheless, this tool is precise and powerful enough to present coherent and valid elucidation on a wide range of analytical issues and observations. For example, a case in point is the ambiguous form of the second movement of Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major K. 467. Proposed solutions for this movement range from sonata form to no form. Or as one writer had it "But it proves after analysis to be in sonata form, though such is the continuity of mood that the formal landmarks are hardly noticeable" (Radcliffe). Girdlestone, on the other hand thought that ". . . Its form is unique. . . . Yet it is not a fantasia." Another writer expressed the problem as ". . . We could describe the form logically as a sonata--but that is not the way it sounds" (Rosen). The Anatomy of Four Late Mozart Piano Concertos presents its points in "the way it sounds," i.e., in concrete, aural form. This differs significantly from the abstract analyses derived from a "reading" of the score. Here the user can make-up his/her own mind by employing what I call conceptual listening.

I agree completely with Prall that analysis does not detract anything from the listening experience and that all analyses provide only a partial viewpoint of any work of art. When I use the Anatomy of Four Late Mozart Piano Concerto as a tool for developing analytical listening skills I do recognize significant additions to my listening experience.

Girdlestone, C. Mozart and his Piano Concertos.

Prall, D.W. Aesthetic Analysis.

Radcliffe, P. Mozart Piano Concertos in BBC Music Guides.

Rosen, C. The Classical Style.