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Hello,
I was invited to play at a "classical breakfast" that my local piano dealer is hosting in a couple of weeks. It's a simple menu that includes eggs, chile, and other "classical" foods that you can order and eat and converse while a student plays on a very nice Yamaha 7 foot grand. The style for this particular breakfast is baroque music, and I need some ideas on what I could play. I'm 13 and I've been playing for about a year. Some pieces that I'm working on right now are Avalanche by Heller, Prelude in G Major BWV 884 by Bach, Anna Magdelana's notebook by Bach. Does anyone have any suggestions for some nice baroque pieces that I could learn soon? I'm on summer break and I practice a ton, so time isn't really an object for me. I need to perform for at least 30 minutes to qualify. Thanks!

The shorter and easier Scarlatti Sonatas:
K32, K34, K40
There are others, but cannot remember the K numbers now.
Scarlatti is always entertaining and if you do the repeats, that helps filling the time

Purcell's suites have some easy short movements that sound nice and don't have too many ornaments. For example the prelude from
Z660, minuet Z649, march Z647, minuet Z50.

The Rameau Menuet en Rondeau and Händel Sarabande are easy and familiar to many people and people usually like to hear pieces they recognice.

I think it's highly impractical/difficult to learn 30 minutes of music on short notice. For a student of only one year there is not a vast selection of pieces way below one's level that one could choose and learn quickly(not that that would be a good pedagogical choice). In addition, how many lessons could you have with your teacher in just a few weeks in order to get his input?

I would ask if you can play for a much shorter amount of time(what could possibly be there reason that one has to play for 30 minutes?). Then spend most of your time practicing any Baroque pieces already in your repertoire. Maybe learn one short work of a couple minutes length that's new.

It's utterly unrealistc to expect/ask a student with one year's experience to play for 30 minutes even given much more than a few weeks time to prepare.

Some of the dances from Bach's Partita No.1 in B flat, BWV 825 aren't difficult - have a look at them. I presume you've played the Aria from the Goldberg Variations, which is also in the Anna Magdalena Notebook.

Then there's Bach's Prelude & Fugue No.1 in C from the WTC, BWV 846: everybody likes that Prelude, but very few know the fugue...

Scarlatti sonatas must be high on your list: there's the lovely 'Pastorale' in D minor, Kk9, the pensive B minor, Kk87, the guitar-like E major, Kk380, another popular E major, Kk531....that's probably more than enough to fill 1/2 hour (especially if you do all repeats ).

I think almost all of those seem far too difficult given the OP's present repertory level, length of study, and time to prepare.

+1

Do you know a flutist, or some other instrumentalist, who might want to play with you? Perhaps someone with a bit more experience than you have. Then you could take the keyboard part normally played on harpsichord. Some of those continuo parts might be manageable, especially in largo movements which would be great background at a breakfast.

BTW, I don't think Telemann or Boismortier would regard Chile as "classic" breakfast food ...

Seems quite heavy to me too. Maybe possible if one is a really good sight-reader and not really trying to play everything up to fast tempo from memory. Do all the repeats and taking a bit longer between pieces...

But still, most short easy pieces barely last a minute or two, so that's quite a lot of pieces...

The OP, even if an excellent sight reader for his time of study, doesn't have the luxury of being able to choose pieces way below his level to sight read during a performance. So I don't think there are any appropriate pieces for him to sight read at a performance.

The dealer revealed his lack of understanding about what even a highly talented student with one year's study can do by asking for 30 minutes of music, but I can't imagine there's any good reason why the dealer can't allow a performance lasting a much shorter amount of time.

Thank you all very much for your suggestions! I'm happy to know that I'm not the only one who thinks 30 minutes a a lot of music to prepare in just 3 weeks, but then again, that why i came here! to my people! The Scarlatti Sonantas look very doable, and with the repeats, they should be able to fill my time up. I do sight read, and I'm allowed to use music and the event, so I think I'll be alright. Thanks again!

Hi Collin,

What kind of a concert is this? If you are the "featured artist", then people will expect you to play a full 30-minute solo program while they sit and listen, and watch you. You'll be the focus of attention.

If you are just "background music", something people will listen to while they eat their breakfast and chat quietly, then you don't have to play a full 30 minutes. You can put together a program of 15 minutes, and then repeat it. Most musicians who play parties, for example, do something like this.

15 minutes at this level is about 5 or 6, slow- to medium-tempo pieces if they're about 2 pages with no repeats.

No, I'm not the featured artist. From my knowledge, there are going to be many performers and we are simply playing in the background or this "party". Thank you very much for your repeat suggestion, re there any pieces you could suggest off the top of your head? I don't have a very good repertoire right now, but I'm work on it! Thank you!

There are other composers of the Spanish baroque school who wrote music similar to Scarlatti, but easier to play. Matteo Albeniz' Sonata is one of them. You could also look through the works of Rameau and the Couperins for music which you could handle. Speaking of Handel...

Also, there are the sons of Bach, who wrote some interesting music.

You can always repeat your selections. Since people will be eating and talking, it won't matter if you repeat some of your pieces because they won't be listening attentively the entire time.

My thoughts exactly!

Prelude In C from WTC (as someone suggested) is nice and easy. You could play it through twice, that should take about 4 minutes, now you'd just need another 11 mins.

Good luck!

Just to clarify, I didn't mean that he would actually play them cold (really sight read), but if he can follow a score reasonably well while playing, he doesn't have to memorize all the pieces, so practice time is reduced.

I personally couldn't play with a score, because (partly due to my sight issues) I cannot read well enough to securely play anything that is not completely memorized.

Also in Baroque you don't have to play everything quite as fast as people usually do. No metronome markings by the composer

Don't forget the Handel Largo from Xerxes. It's an easy read, it's pretty and popular.

You could also look at Handel's Air from Water Music. It's repetitive and very playable.

Henry Purcell also wrote some easy minuets and airs. As everyone else has been saying, you can take lots of repeats and vary the dynamic level/articulation on each repetition to make it last longer and not seem too repetitive.