Our local music teacher’s association has their yearly evaluations in the spring, and in my years of teaching, I have never taught a Theme and Variation. Not once. The quest was well-defined. First, find pieces that have at least 2 variations and include ALL variations. Second, convince some students to enter this category. Most classical selections did not fit the bill due to the high number of variations and my procrastination.
I posted some inquiries on FB groups, glanced through old programs from our state festival, talked with teachers who commonly teach this form, and searched on every music site I could think of. Here is my list.
I left off the list any out of print selections for obvious reasons.
And if you’re wondering, I did convince 2 poor souls to memorize a piece in 4 weeks. The winners were Timothy Brown’s Allegretto Variations and Dennis Alexander’s Variations in D Major, but there are many excellent choices.
