For the past couple weeks, my son has been playing his own arrangement of Haydn’s Surprise Symphony (Symphony No. 94) on the piano. He was amused to read an account that said Haydn added the dynamic of a startling thunderous chord in an otherwise quiet, flowing movement to wake up a snoring concert goer. The anecdote appealed to his inner pranskter, and it’s been entertaining for me to listen to him work out how to play the piece. I can hear him snickering every time he gets to the surprise chord. One evening he burst out laughing when the antic chord had its intended effect on our dogs, who had hitherto been peacefully snoozing in the library. My weekend ended with this scene…I found him teaching his sister how to play it on her violin: