Mozart K576

Every year or so I make a complete cycle through my music books, one piece after another while working on mostly on sight-reading, which has always been my weakness. I was so bad at it in college that I would memorize every piece of music as soon as possible so that I never had to depend on the sheet music.

I'm sure it is a type of dyslexia. Even after memorizing a piece and learning to play it fairly well, if I then try to play it while reading the notes, it usually becomes a tangled mess.

In any case, every year or so I come to a piece that put a final end to my music lessons: Mozart Sonata in D major, K576. I was in my final year at college, and my piano teacher asked me to pick a Mozart sonata to play for the upcoming semester. I picked K576. He said, "No, you will never be able to play that sonata. Pick another."

But that was his style of teaching--he could be very direct, known for making his students cry sometimes. But I insisted that I could learn the piece. So I went to work trying to memorize it, hours and hours of work, until I realized that he was right. After several embarrasing lessons he threatened to give me an F for the semester, so I quit.

Every year or so, I try to prove him wrong. I actually am getting better every year, at a snail's pace, so I'm not quite ready to give up. But I've already given up on K576 this year.

Whatever happened to my piano teacher? He committed suicide years ago, on a matter totally unconnected to my playing.

Mozart's K576