Week 2 - The Fantasy, the Adagio, and the Full Prelude
Hey everyone! 🎹
Welcome to Week 2 of the Bach C minor Challenge. What a first week: almost 100 replies in the Week 1 thread, and a great fingering debate. Thank you all for diving in and cheering each other on.
This week we finish the Prelude.
This week's suggested focus: Sections 5–7 (Prelude, bars 25 to the end)
- Section 5, The Fantasy (bars 25–33): the recitative character, hand crossings, navigating the jumps, and "crunching" practice to lock in the hand groupings.
- Section 6, The Coda: understanding the mordents, the Adagio flourish in bar 34 (play it like a soliloquy), and dynamics for the Allegro ending.
- Section 7, Prelude Consolidation: put it all together in a full Prelude playthrough.
Open the Track here: https://app.tonebase.co/piano/tracks/bach-prelude-and-fugue-in-c-minor-bwv-847
Still on the opening pattern or the melody from Week 1? Perfect, that's what these threads are for. Go at your own pace.
Share a clip, a rough take, a question, or a fingering you changed (no clip required). Leave a kind word or a tip on someone else's post too. We're doing this together.
Question for the week: the Prelude shifts from relentless motor rhythm into something free and improvised. How are you handling the change of character at bar 25 and the Adagio in bar 34?
Coming up:
- Tuesday, Oct 27, 11am PT: Deep Dive on the C minor Prelude and Fugue, live with me. Post your questions in these threads as you go!
- Monday, Nov 2, 11am PT: Watch Party featuring your recorded submissions 🎥
6 replies
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I'm so glad to have this opportunity to participate in these guided practice sessions. I've been struggling to learn to this piece, to be able to perform it, record and put it online. I feel like giving a "v" for victory for getting this far. Thanks so much to Dominic for the wonderful teaching, suggestions and encouragement.
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Bravo - bravo. A V for victory for sure. 💐And on a Steinway as well.. swoon. Don't these tracks give us so much insight and confidence... (as well as others' inputs and comments). Looking forward to the 'Deep Dive' webinar next week by Dominic.
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Beautiful playing ! wow.!
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Some improvements have taken place in my playing of the Prelude. I commented last week that I was using, at Bar 7 of the Prelude, my RH 5 and 1 (rather than 3) and then 2 on F# and then 1 5 1 for the repeat - G D G to avoid the stretch from 3 to 5 but I am now finding that this is less problematic, although still a bit risky. This is one of the bars where I am still not settled on my preferred fingering. It’s very reassuring that most of my fingerings from decades ago are those used in the Guided Track.
I wrote last week also that I stick to the format of sticks down means LH and sticks up means RH at Bars 25-27, as the notes fit under my hand, so I didn't see any advantage in putting the hands on top of each other.
I have changed my mind a little on this point, after seeing Evan Shinners talk about the use of what I see as a form of anacrusis in the Presto section, e.g., at Bar 28 – D, C, D to E flat. This motif appears several times in ‘the Fantasy’ – e.g., the first entry is in the middle of Bar 25, F, E natural to B natural. I have started using the RH for these motifs, while keeping the LH for most of the intermittent phrases, albeit I continue with the RH through the whole of the last phrase. I think This helps my voicings of these parts by separating the hands.
There are three bars of relief in the form of a 'cadenza' at Bars 25-27, which are a welcome change from the driving momentum of the first twenty-four bars, albeit the relief is cut short by the even faster fingerings required for the six bars of the Presto section.
I have still not settled on my RH fingering for the Presto so I am keeping this hands apart until its more secure. Each time I put the hands back together I revert to my older clumsier fingerings.
I have not yet finished the Guided Track for the Prelude as I wanted to start the Fugue for Week 3 of this Challenge. I have brought this Prelude back into my practice pieces and will do so with the Fugue when I have completed the Guided Track on it.