Welcome to Bach in March!
WELCOME TO BACH IN MARCH!
Join this month's tonebase Piano Community Challenge, Bach in March, by working on a piece by J.S. Bach. The month's activities kicks off with our welcome livestream on March 7 at 11am PT.
What will I do to participate in Bach in March?
Play a Bach piece of your choice! The aim is to practice your piece every day and post progress updates once or twice per week. You choose what piece you work on, but you commit to practicing it regularly. There will be several opportunities for you to engage your playing in the community this month: You'll have the opportunity to propose your piece for an interactive masterclass on March 31 at 11am PT with Piano Community Lead Hilda Huang, who is a leading Bach-interpreter and performer on both modern piano and harpsichord. In addition, Hilda will host a watch party dedicated to showcasing your Bach-work in late March or early April. Finally, you'll have the opportunity to share your Bach in the upcoming tonebase Community Concert, to take place in April.
BACH IN MARCH LIVESTREAM EVENTS
Hilda's Piano Community Livestream events this month will address topics pertaining to Bach in March, including repertoire, articulation, and performance practices, among others.
Below are upcoming Livestream events. Please join in the activities and participate in the chat! Discussion is at its most lively and rewarding with as many voices in the mix as possible :)
March 3, 11am PT: Baroque Performance Practice feat. Vijay Gupta and Bach's Chaconne
March 4, 11am PT: Decorating Music: How to Enrich Your Performances by Adding Detail and Variety
March 7, 11am PT: Bach in March Kickoff
March 10, 11am PT: Where to Start with Bach: Keyboard Repertoire
March 18, 11am PT: Partimentizing Bach and the harpsichord with Nico Canzona
March 20, 11am PT: Hilda Huang on Bach: Performance styles and study methods
March 26, 11am PT: tonebase Community Concert
March 31, 11am PT: Hilda Huang, Interactive Live (Zoom) Masterclass
Community Avenues for Musical Growth
Throughout the month, I'll set up forum threads with questions and topics for discussion. I want to encourage you to put yourselves out there - share everything and all that you're comfortable with! Throughout the livestreams, I'll suggest avenues for developing your musical confidence, structures for talking and writing about music, and best practices for healthy engagement with colleagues in your community.
How to start:
1. Start by practicing a Bach piece of your choice. Hilda will discuss some repertoire suggestions in a Livestream introducing Bach's keyboard repertoire. The suggested repertoire list is here, and you may consider scrolling through the archived livestream if you are interested in repertoire organized by level (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced) and genre (Suites and Movements, Preludes and Fugues, Other Works).
2. After 2-3 days, go to our BIWEEKLY UPDATES thread and make a video, audio, or text post of the Bach you've been working on. If you are comfortable with it, add a video or audio of yourself performing it. The Piano Community is wonderfully warm and supportive and will offer positive and encouraging feedback on your playing. I encourage you to post updates twice a week, though if you want to post daily though, feel free! Please respond to your colleagues as well - look for others' playing you enjoy, and write them a nice compliment, as I am sure they will return the favor :)
3. After you post an update, consider the questions on each week's discussion forum. Some of the topics will share themes with each week's livestream, and please feel free to engage or reference the livestreams in your posts. Then, repeat steps 1-2 from above and keep at it!
Choosing your repertoire:
1. Choose something you feel you can complete in three weeks.
2. Choose something that resonates with how you feel about the music of J.S. Bach.
Following the Bach Month Kickoff on March 7, each week's discussion threads will go live, where you may post your updates and reflections on the week's practice.
Can't wait to get this show on the road with you!!
Cheers,
Hilda
-
Awesome! I play Bach daily and would really love to participate this month.
-
Shaw-Jiun Wang Can't wait to hear you!!
-
-
A quick query... The post appears to indicate a link to repertoire suggestions but I don’t see any.
Thanks!
-
Parag I think she means the list will be included in the “live stream introducing Bach’s keyboard repertoire”
-
-
I am so excited!!! I've already picked up a biography to read on Bach, the one by Scheitzer. Now I have an excuse to learn the Overture in the French style - one of my most favorite pieces of Bach. Can't wait to hear what everyone will be working on!! Thanks, Hilda, and everyone at tonebase, for providing this outlet for all of us to come together in peace and love during these (apocalyptic???) times. XO
-
Brother Will Green that’s a great idea you have to read a biography of the composer of the month!
-
Brother Will Green Great choice. I really like the last movement (Echo). Looking forward to hearing your performance.
-
-
I wish I could participate in this, but these next few weeks are going to be crazy for me. Maybe I can play something short.
-
I do have Bach in my regular repertoire, but would like to add other pieces for this challenge--don't think there's such as thing as "too much Bach."
There are actually two pieces, I'd like to add. The first is the Andante from Bach's Concert in Italian style. I've learned this before, but did not memorize it, so in re-learning it, I would like to memorize it for the challenge. The second piece is the Rondeaux from Bach's Partita #2 in C minor. This would be completely new to me, although I did order the manuscript for the entire Partita late last year. It's something I think I can learn in 3 week's time and hope to be able to play with that "let-your-hair-loose" abandon
as Monica would describe it. -
For this Bach in march I will like to chalenge me with the prelude of English Suite in A minor, BWV 807. Big Challenge for me!
I start yesteday to read the partition that I print from here:
Anne Marie Mc Dermott does not show us a finger tip, so I made one, reading the right hand first.
There is 164 mesure in this piece. Almost 9 pages. I will study 1 page a day, right hand first. I will practice the Anne Marie suggestion, play 4 notes fast and 4 notes slow.
I tryed to find a pattern in this piece to be able to learn it faster, but I don't catch it wet. I have an idea, but not fix in my mind yet.
Beside this prelude I will replay the 4 two part inventions that I learned 45 years a go with my first teacher at the time, M Jean Louis Roy, who learn to play piano in Paris with the Cortot method.
Two part invention, the N 1 - N 4 - N 8 and N13. It will be easy for me, because of the muscle memory.
I still have the first book of piano music that I byed at the age of 15, when I tooked my first piano lesson with M. Roy.
P"S" : If anyone of you have suggestions to give me to help me learn the prelude that I want to learn for the BAch march challenge you are all welcome!
-
- Obsessed.
Currently learning English Suite No. 2. I started before March so I've made good progress on the Prelude. I plan to really focus on trouble spots to get it cleaned up while laying some foundations in other movements.
- Obsessed.
-
Hi Hilda Huang , wanted to check if the Bach in March Kickoff is still on the calendar for later today. There doesn't appear to be a link to the live event, although I do see it in the schedule.
-
Anthony Miyake Hi Anthony, that was on me, here is the link to the event:
https://piano-community.tonebase.co/t/x2h2vfl/kick-off-for-the-month-of-jsbach
We are streaming that one simultaneously to tonebase piano and guitar, since we are doing the same challenge on tonebase guitar as well! And most importantly, we'll have a fun watch party together!
-
Martin , thanks for sharing the link to the event.
-
-
very excited for this month of Bach! I always enjoy playing and listening to his music. Look forward to hearing all of your pieces!
I choose Goldberg variations for this challenge. I like the piece and have been listening since young. It has everything. I tried to play but never really seriously. This challenge is the calling to start. I do not know how far I would go within the challenge time, because this month I have the RCM exam, but I am gonna start from beginning:)
-
Qingzhi Best of luck with the exam :)
-
Brother Will Green thank you Brother. I am looking forward to finishing the exam, so I can play more freely
-
