Week 1 - The Opening Pattern and Finding the Melody
Hey everyone! 🎹
The Prelude and Fugue in C minor Track is live, and for the next four weeks we're all learning BWV 847 together, in the same place, at the same time. It's the second pair in Book I of the Well-Tempered Clavier.
Open the Track here: Prelude and Fugue in C minor Track
This week's suggested focus: Sections 1–4 (Introduction & Fundamentals through bar 24 of the Prelude): the C minor warmups and custom exercises, the opening pattern (bars 1–4), finding the melody hidden inside the figuration, and building your dynamic map. Go at your own pace, the weekly threads are here to keep us together, not to rush you.
Start by telling us where you're coming from: brand new to the piece, halfway there, or coming back to it? Then post whatever your practice throws up: a clip, a question, a small win, a left hand that won't settle. No clip required. And check in on each other's posts too, we're doing this as a group.
You're among the very first players through this Track, so one question for the week: where did something click for you, and where did it trip you up?
Dates: October 5 – October 30. On Tuesday October 27, 11am PT, Dominic goes live for a deep dive into the piece and your questions, so post them in the weekly threads as you go. We wrap up with a Watch Party on Monday November 2, 11am PT featuring recorded submissions from this challenge: the Prelude, the Fugue, a single section or the whole thing. 🎥
163 replies
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Did anyone listen to how Glenn Gould played the BWV 847? Quite an interesting tempo but played beautifully. The tempo is slower than that of a lot of other pianists such as Daniel Barenboim or Hélène Grimaud.
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Yes I noticed that too. And others on Youtube play it rather moderately. Ms. Grimaud is very impressive, the fastest I've heard so far, maybe Richter also is fast. I find it best to try to imitate their musicality, and not their speed (after all we've just worked on this for two weeks) :-).