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Name that tune, classical style

David Joles, Star Tribune

Montevideo High’s Corbin Groothuis, Sean Jacobson and Jordan Montgomery during the College Bowl portion of the Minnesota Music Listening Contest.

More than 60 high school students vied in a contest testing their knowledge of music by the great composers.

By AIMÉE BLANCHETTE, Star Tribune

Last update: February 17, 2009 - 11:12 PM

Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" wedged between concertos by Beethoven and Mendelssohn?

It happened during the fifth round of the Minnesota High School Listening Contest at Augsburg College in Minneapolis.

Twenty-one teams, including schools from Minnetonka, Eden Prairie and Buffalo, spent months studying for the five-round contest that tests students' knowledge of music, mostly classical. Each year there's also a modern twist -- this year, an emphasis on the blues and blues-influenced artists.

After the preliminary rounds, the two high scorers -- Harding High of St. Paul and Montevideo High in western Minnesota -- faced off in a fast-paced buzzer round reminiscent of a musical "Jeopardy."

There were questions one might expect in a music-listening contest, such as correctly identifying composers from five-second sound clips. There were some surprising queries, too.

During the championship round, Harding's Matt Howard's right hand shook as a question was read. A Montevideo player beat him to the buzzer.

"What do Franz Josef Haydn and Jimi Hendrix have in common?" asked contest coordinator Gary Zwack.

"Initials?" guessed the Montevideo team, followed by laughs from the audience.

"That is incorrect," said Zwack. "Harding?"

"They both moved to London," Howard said.

"Correct! Five points for Harding," said Zwack.

Montevideo, however, still took home the biggest trophy, as well tickets to orchestra performances, by beating Harding, 85 to 5. Team members included Corbin Groothuis, Sean Jacobson and Jordan Montgomery.

So what's their secret?

"Listen to Eric Clapton," said Groothuis, 17.

Other students at the 22-year-old contest had their own methods to prepare, but every one of them seemed to incorporate music into their everyday lives.

One student said he did abdominal crunches while listening to music. Others listened to their iPods while doing homework, and at least one student preferred to "stay up really late -- like 2 a.m." -- to pore over the contest's 110-page study guide.

An all-girl team from Eden Prairie didn't place in the contest, but noted that winning wasn't what they looked forward to anyway.

"The best part of this is meeting other people who are like us," said Eden Prairie senior Monica He. "There aren't a lot of people who want to be competitive about classical music."

The team also included Heidi Saxton and Hannah Goodno, filling in as an alternate for Jennifer Borchardt. "Some of our classmates think we're dorky," said Saxton.

But He doesn't care what others think. "I really enjoy classical music, listening to it and learning new composers and pieces," she said. "Like the Gregorian Chant ... Why would I ever listen to that otherwise? When you learn the history behind the music, you find out that it's interesting."

A team from Minnetonka scored well in the first rounds, but stumbled during round four, when they were given 15 minutes to answer 20 written questions based on material from their study guides.

Team member Gabrielle Ghreichi said participating in the contest has changed the way she listens to music and plays piano. "It helps me to play pieces more stylistically," she said.

After the contest, its organizers hope that all the students hear music in a different way.

"No matter how you scored in this contest, you have taken away something that the vast majority of young people your age have never had the opportunity to do," Zwack told students.

"If you haven't noticed that you're listening to music that you really like in a different way, I think you missed something."

Aimée Blanchette • 612-673-1715

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