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).