NAMTA Sonatina Resources

Introduction

This web page organizes the sonatina collections I use for preparing my students to participate in the NAMTANorthwest Arkansas Music Teachers Association Sonata Sonatina Celebration.

This focuses on sonatinas, which are composed for beginner and intermediate students. I’m using the levels in the ASMTAArkansas State Music Teachers Association Repertoire Database to help describe the levels of each book. Our levels are typically well-aligned with those the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM), which also used two primary and ten numbered levels to rate the difficulty of pieces.

It’s really hard to find collections that contain quality pieces in the primary levels. This book has two three-movement sonatinas each at Primary A and B. Although I love all of the pieces, I’d warn that the Sonatina for a Dinosaur is a bit long, especially for Primary A. The Sonatina for a Wooly Worm is a better choice for its brevity.

This is the first in a six-book series of sonatinas spanning from mid-beginner through early advanced. I like this first book because it contains pieces that you can’t find elsewhere. I’ve only started using this, but I already love the Sonatina: A Tale of Four Cats by Judith Strickland.

Often, this book is the first one I use with students going into festival, since I often wait until students are at Primary B or Level 1. This collection has two three-movement sonatinas each at Level B and Level 1. The fourth sonatina in two movements is a bit more difficult at Level 2. It’s also impressionistic, a style hard to find in beginner repertoire.

This is a continuation of the Beginning Sonatinas at a slightly higher level. I like finding several high quality pieces in a single volume at an affordable price.

These three three-movement sonatinas are vary from easy Level 2 to more solid Level 2 as the book progresses. These are exciting pieces, very inexpensive, and well-loved, as you’ll find if you look for performances on YouTube. They are also on the short side, great if your student is time-pressured. Bastien wrote several other sonatina books, including the Three Mini Sonatinas at Level 1, which I use less frequently.

This is the second in a six-book series of sonatinas spanning from mid-beginner through early advanced. This book isn’t quite as unique as Book 1, but it has some pieces that I haven’t seen in other collections. It has the famous Sonatina in G Major by Thomas Attwood, but it also has another one of similar difficulty in F Major. There’s a three-movement sonatina all about bells by Peggy O’Dell.

Finally, it includes the complete Sonatina in C Major by William Duncombe. I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard this third movement elsewhere.

These three three-movement sonatinas are solid Level 2 pieces that test the emerging late beginner in good ways. These are a great bridge between beginner and intermediate sonatina repertoire. If you like these pieces, there is also a Book 2 at Level 3, which I have not yet used.

This is my favorite Level 2 sonatina, hands down. This is a flashy piece that sounds more difficult than it is. I like Vandall’s other sonatinas, a few of which I list below.

This is my go-to series for late beginner through late intermediate sonatinas, broken into three separate levels. I like Magrath’s sparse editing and leveled repertoire selection, despite not having any contemporary choices.

I don’t typically use these books, which have the added title Developing Artist Original Keyboard Classics since I prefer the Magrath series. However, it’s a solid choice with four volumes, covering the gamut of late beginner to late intermediate sonatina repertoire. The repertoire mirrors but doesn’t overlap the choices of the Magrath series.

The official title is a lot longer, much like the size of the book. It’s a huge volume containing all six Clementi Sonatinas in Opus 36, plus a lot more. It also contains the beloved Mozart Rondo in D Major, which is can be used in the NAMTA festival.

The editing is quite old school, and it reminds me of a volume from IMSLP a famous download library with many old and heavily edited editions that have comb binding.