I feel so frustrated every time I practice a new piece by Bach

Hi, it is a question that my students always ask.  My thought on it is to follow a general rule of thumb and play the fastest notes more connected and the slower notes more detached.  In this case the 16th notes would be more legato and the 8th notes more staccato or detached.  You can start from there and then adjust your touch accordingly, meaning looking at the phrases, interpretation, etc.  One thing to keep in mind is to remember that the WTC was written for clavichord or harpsichord.  It is very difficult to play legato in those instruments.  Legato was mostly achieved by finger overlap (holding one key slightly longer while pressing the next key to create a smooth connection), finger substitution, ornamentation, all of that was to give the illusion of connected phrasing.    

- listen to different Pianist

- try different, options and carefully listen to Your own playing. What do You like best, and why.

- Variate You playing. Try different option on similar parts of the piece.

- Listen to pieces played on a Harpsichord. Do You want to sound, like a Harpsichord, is this even possible. Maybe, a bit of imitation is possible, once in while.     

There’s a LOT more to Bach articulation than staccato and legato. I would agree with about starting with faster note values played legato and longer note values played staccato. However, in Bach’s time, composers were concerned with music imitating human speech and therefore rhetoric was the model for composition and performance (it was in the 19th century primarily, that keyboard players began to focus on “singing”. The harpsichord and clavichord are nearly impossible to play with a true legato- though some argue you can’t play true legato on modern pianos. Harpsichord players usually create the illusion of accents, legato, etc. via agogics and modern pianists should incorporate those agogics in their performance practice too. There is evidence that Bach intended some of the pieces in the WTC to be performed on the organ which CAN produce a true legato thanks to finger substitutions but those preludes and fugues are the exception not the rule. Getting back to your question , I would practice the rhythms of given phrases in a way where you can speak them. Try finding words that fit the rhythms (even if it is just nonsense) and then consider what the points of emphasis are as well as breath.  Further, consider gradations between staccato, legato, marcato, portato, etc. As long as you obey Bach’s phrasing (if and when he marks it), and work within that, you can’t really go wrong. Additionally, you may want to look at his music for violin for how it is bowed, and music for wind instruments like the oboe or recorder for when Bach allows for breathing. Some of the WTC preludes and fugues copy styles of violin, wind instrument, or vocal music. There’s an exceptional book about the WTC by David Ledbetter that is really worth looking at for more information like this.

Pianos are not made for frustration.  But for fun !!!.  Why do you people someone else's music if it makes you feel bad?  Play your music, and you will not be frustrated.  It´s a lot of fun. We all deserve to enjoy life; the piano is a great tool to feel deep emotions and have fun.

Hi Taylor,

  I totally understand the frustration / confusion behind this post.  Baroque performance practices are big questions with a lot of variation in opinion that ranges from general stylistic features (simplified) to deeply musicological ones that take into consideration contemporary instruments, dance form conventions and even the different musical treatises of musicians from the time (often talking about instruments other than keyboard).

  On the general level, most students are first taught some slight variation on the following articulation ideas:

• Steps and skips (particularly when outlining a chord) are often played more smoothly though you can choose to detach them to create variation / personal interpretation.  Leaps, especially large ones, are typically separated with a detached touch.
• Faster moving notes are often played more smoothly versus the slower moving note values which are often played more detached to make the multiple layers / voices more clear and contrasted.
• Other common places to detach are syncopations, tied notes that are long and between sequence groups.

  This is a good place to start as it is not too overwhelming and also gets you listening a bit more carefully for when this is being observed or not. As with any general guidelines, they run the danger of being considered universal truths.  They also don't mention that different levels of legato and different lengths of detached are possible. They also completely overlook the more complicated concept of agogic accents which were commonly used to help delineate structure / phrasing. 

  If you are interested in the more deep end side of Baroque performances practices you may want to consider checking out the book “Playing Bach on the Keyboard: A Practical Guide” by Richard Troeger.  It is much more in depth (but still fairly concise far as this type of resource goes) yet it is very readable / approachable.  There is also “Interpreting Bach at the Keyboard” by Paul Badura-Skoda, but this book can be quite expensive to get (though you could see about getting it via local library). 

  Hopefully that helps answer your question a bit and get you started on this huge subject with some encouragement rather than it feeling daunting. It is of course always a good idea to listen to different performers and note what different things they do that you like. In the end, no matter who you are and how carefully your choices were made, there will always be some people that love it and some that feel they would have made completely different decisions (which is a big part of why this music is still so captivating hundreds of years later).

There is so much excellent advice in this thread! Very illuminating to me. Let me offer something from the perspective of a largely untrained musician working his way through the WTC for many years: 

I start by trying to play the pieces in a way that sounds good to me. I generally have 2 main conscious objectives: letting the counterpoint be heard, and letting an extended melodic line (when featured in a piece) sing.

And all along the way, I listen to performances - I have approx. 20 plus CD sets of great pianists playing the WTC, and I also find much to learn from listening to less accomplished pianists (including fellow amateurs/students,  and even recordings of myself) working through these pieces. Often I find myself unconsciously trying to mimic the things I like best from other players, usually because they serve my 2 objectives above better than whatever i've been trying.

Taking that approach for years, with lots of trial and error, what I'm finding is that many of the principles enumerated by Derek and Timothy and Silvana have more or less emerged on their own as the best solutions for bringing out what is in the music. I would argue that that's how they arose as guidelines in the first place!

It can be very inhibiting and intimidating to try to incorporate all these principles as 'rules' to implement while learning a piece, So I say start by trying to make it sound good to yourself! Some healthy trial and error is also essential, I believe, to help you clarify your objectives and what does or does not work. Then consider all of the points raised above as providing possible solutions to a particular situation.  

Then please share your efforts with us by posting some performances! a good place to do so would be the Bach thread set up by Juan Carlos Ortiz. (I find it in the 'Practice Diary' section of the Tonebase forums).  Lots of us have posted there already.  (and yes, I'm secretly hoping I can steal some ideas from you! especially given the obvious amount of thought and effort you are putting into it).  Good luck and thanks to those posting here for some great points.

This is such a great topic. I just started to learn my first piece from WTC, G major BWV884. I am having such a hard time learning it. My progress is painfully slow. I am not even at the stage of working on articulation yet. Thank you for sharing all the tips and insight. I will for sure check out the other Bach thread. I wonder if there is any practical advises on practicing the WTC for someone just starting. I tried working on small section (1-2 bars at a time). What is the best edition for fingering? I keep changing my mind because I can't decide what is the easiest for me.