h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Nice article. Maybe you can save me some embarrasment with my guitar teacher by explaining what makes a sonatina. Is this just a mini-sonata or something with fewer movements but a similar range of variation and contrast or is it just a name given to a smaller composition you want to sound more weighty than it really is?
(The embarrasment would happen if I asked my teacher because I've been playing a composition of his, called by him a Sonatina, for months now and I'm sure he must have already given me the answer when I wasn't paying attention!)

Cheers
MC

Well, we used to do sonatinas in piano, and as far as I remember, they are something of mini-sonatas. They start out with a theme, then variation, then conclusion. Sometimes somewhere in the middle they go off on a totally new tangent, but it ties in at the end. Someone else might be able to elaborate, though.