Description
The Russian folk song Korobeiniki is based on a poem of the same name by Nikolay Nekrasov, which was first printed in the magazine Sovremennik in 1861.
Today, it is best known as the source material for the music for the blockbuster video game Tetris. This arrangement uses the melody found in the earliest known printed manuscript of the melody, which is slightly different from the video game arrangement.
The theme and variations starts out slow with blocked chords, then speeds up a little with a melodic counterpoint in the left hand, then speeds up more with a broken chord passage in the left hand. The next variation adds sixteenth notes to the melody to make it sound even faster, and the final variation uses big pedal tones in the bass, parallel chords in both hands, and the damper pedal to huge dramatic sounds that are easier to execute than they sound. It’s a motivating winner for everyone!
Key: G minor
Mood: dark and sad at first, transforming to nimble and light, then becoming big and dramatic at the end
Pedagogy: staccato, pedal tones, theme and variations form, G minor scales, parallel chords in both hands, counterpoint between hands.
Andrea West –
This was a wonderful piece for my intermediate student. It was her summer project, and she thoroughly enjoyed learning and memorizing this piece.