WEEK 3 Practice Updates, and a harmony micro-challenge: Cadences
Dear Pianists,
We've made it to week three of Bach in March!! Some of us started sooner and others of us started later with our pieces and it's all good - progress is persistent and always available. I look forward to seeing your practice videos below if you're interested in sharing those.
A brief reminder to sign up for the interactive masterclass with me on March 31st, and a note that the community concert has been rescheduled for April 1. The Bach in March watch party will take place in early april - be on the lookout for a message from me. I'll write you if I'd like to play your video!
The Repertoire for the interactive masterclass will involve on piece from each of the following categories: A Little prelude / invention / sinfonia, a prelude and fugue, a dance suite movement, and a Goldberg variation.
Many have asked about the Goldbergs this month, and I encourage you to check out our ongoing Goldberg variations challenge. It's never too late to start, and I always suggest committing to a variation that feels within your technical capability. How do you assess whether something is right for your level? See how far you can sight read into it, at an even rhythm and slow tempo. Do you feel like your fingers can find the right notes, where your ears seek them out? Do your hands feel strong enough to play the piece? Can you already hear the piece in your head before you begin playing?
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Nico's livestream on Friday March 18 inspired me to share an idea I had with you! In pretty much all of Bach's music, cadences play an essential structural role in organizing his music.
- Where's the first cadence or a shadow of a cadence you come across in your piece?
- What about the end of the first section, or the first phrase?
If you haven't been able to make as much progress on your challenge piece, no worries: here's something much smaller, a micro-challenge!
Pick up that first cadence in your chosen piece, and play it as a chord progression! If you can, make a recording of that chord progression and compare it with you playing the piece up until that first cadence. How do they sound? Alike or Unlike? What do you take away?
I'll be back soon with an example, to help you better understand how to do this.
Hilda
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Uploading my week 3 practice video of Bach's Partita #2 in C minor Rondeaux. Still needs some polish, but I think for me to do that would require I memorize it. There's too many jumps and finger reaches for me to play cleanly while reading the score.
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Anthony Miyake thanks for posting this movement. Sounds nice. I never heard it or played it. But I felt that, some of pieces, sounds nicer with a rather slower tempo. Not a must to aim for a top speed.
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CK , thanks, CK. I appreciate it. Of the recordings I've listened to, Andras Schiff had the slowest tempo and Martha Argerich the fastest. Both are beautiful, but you're right that Schiff's slower playing gave it an added feel of elegance and grace. Can't say the same for my playing, but I try.
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Anthony Miyake to me, can’t used Martha as gold standard or comparison. Her played no doubt was excellent but rather extreme side for me.
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Anthony Miyake Very nice work. It really sounds very spirited and clear. I'm enjoying listening to it very much.
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GerryM , thank you! I appreciate it.
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Hi Hilda and everyone in this wonderful "Bach in March"! Here I share with you my second video (applying some teachings of how to make it by Martin): French Suite in C minor BWV 813, a beautiful music which I love. I hope to make one more video with some of the Goldberg's Variations...
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Juan Carlos Olite wow very beautiful. Really love your playing.
I think the allemande is a bit too on time, maybe you could consider adding some rubato and clearer phrasing for it?
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Juan Carlos Olite Love this! Such crisp playing!
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Juan Carlos Olite Wonderful as always but I still don't understand how you are able to memorize so much music.
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Juan Carlos Olite , wonderful as always. Amazing you played two entire Bach French Suites for the Bach month challenge.
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Juan Carlos Olite Beautiful playing. I haven’t listened to this French Suite before. Thanks for sharing!
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Juan Carlos Olite Fantastic playing of this wonderful music!
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Juan Carlos Olite what a treat it is to hear/watch you perform! Simply amazing… as always!
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Juan Carlos Olite very musical, and nice clarity and articulation, as I have come to expect from you… and nice video production :-)
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Juan Carlos Olite I can only repeat what has been said above: spectacularly attentive and detail-oriented playing. When I hear you play, I feel an immediacy, a feeling that I am hearing what you are, and I just love that.
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Monika Tusnady Juan Carlos Olite I'm totally with you, Monika - sounds so immediate and clear. I love this kind of touch for Bach, and it's close to how I might play it myself. Congratulations also on playing from two suites for this month! Have you played any of the other french suites?
One thing I might mention you could experiment with is playing with the voicing of the counterpoint in the allemande. The counterpoint is not "classical" - it's not like there are always two continuous voices in the right hand, for instance. But, for the notes that are separate in voices, what happens if you try to distinguish them? What might you learn about the melodic line this way?
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Hilda Huang O Hilda, only the most observant and tactful educators teach through an excellent line of questioning like you do. I really appreciate both your knowledge and your pedagogic style.
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khoi Thank you very much, Khoi! I have to work hard on the phrasing of the Allemande, of course.
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Tammy Thank you very much, Tammy!
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Brett Gilbert Thank you so much, Brett! It is the same process, learn and memorize at the same time, by phrases, sections... I find it a very active way of learning. Perhaps, changing the habit is difficult at first, as always happens with new habits...
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Anthony Miyake Thank you very much, Anthony. I had already played some of the dances before and I have intensified the study in this Bach challenge.
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Vidhya Bashyam Thank you very much, Vidhya! It is a beautiful piece, I love the Sarabande specially.
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Andrea Buckland Thank you very much, Andrea!
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Parag Mehta Thank you so much, Parag!
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Charlie Gesualdo Thank you very much, Charlie! I have tried to implement some of the indications that Martin showed in his live sessions about videos.
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