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
227 replies
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Here's what I've gotten on my fugue! I sadly won't have the prelude ready by the end of the month unless it suddenly gets a lot easier, but I will post it when I am done. The first cadence is at the end of the theme in measure two; I will post soon.
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The two Seymour Bernstein recordings of the Aria are so beautiful, exquisite. Makes my version seem so lumpy and unimaginative! What an inspiration he is! Thank you for those.
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Episode 5 of Bach BWV 992 Capriccio sopra la lontananza del fratello dilettissimo “Capriccio on the departure of a beloved brother”.
Apparently in Bach's time the postmen were horn players who would play a tune on their horn to announce the arrival of the mail. Note the modern Deutsche Post logo has a horn!
So Episode 5 is an imitation of the postman's horn, signaling the the arrival of the postman hopefully bringing news from the brother.
The last Episode 6 (and my favorite) is a fugue based on the horn imitation. It's the most challenging and I'm still working on it (hopefully will post before challenge is done). If I don't get that done here is a recording of what the fugue sounds like :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6PgVMaH1LY
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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.
