J.S. Bach - 2 part inventions group

Hello everyone! I've been thinking about deepening my J.S Bach skills from the ground up, and will start with the 2-part inventions. Does anyone want to join? The idea is to start a practice diary dedicated to the 2-parts inventions. My goal is to get threw all of them, but you can of course practice how many you want! It's nice to have a time limit just to be accountable, so I'm thinking 2 months. That will be 18. july - 18 september. One or two updates a week would be great to stay in the flow. Who's in? :) PS: If you're on vacation and want to join at a later date, is absolutely fine! (PS: I've played the first one a little bit, but the others will be new to me) 

66 replies

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    • Royhj
    • 3 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Hi Sindre Skarelven I  recently started with the inventions as well and will be really happy to join. 

    I played the first few bars of no. 1 and feel like i can tackle it. Will be reall happy to share progress in a common place. Hope i can keep up with your timeline...

    looking forward, not sure i want to play *all* of them, but hope to reach this "problem" :)

      • Pianist, composer and piano teacher
      • Sindre_Skarelven
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Roy Sounds great, Roy! I will create the group in the practice diary section soon! For anyone interested to join it’s important to say that this is not about practicing all of them, but to discover them together. Pick one, two or several that you want to play. Since Magdalena Stern-Baczewcka has a course on TB that features 3 inventions, those will be great picks!  

    • Andrea_Buckland
    • 3 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Great idea! Would love to join (if Mozart, Chopin and the Goldberg Variations leave enough time…) I went through all of them superficially a few years ago. Would love to go deeper. 

      • Pianist, composer and piano teacher
      • Sindre_Skarelven
      • 3 yrs ago
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      Andrea Buckland That's great, Andrea! I'm pretty sure playing these inventions will help with the Goldberg! Thinking especially of the canons and fughetta.  

      • Andrea_Buckland
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Sindre Skarelven Yes, I‘m sure! But the inventions are not quite as easy as they should be. Great music of course like everything else by Bach. Do you know the Gould recording with the 2and 3 part invention played right after one another? I think it’s a wonderful way to perform these pieces- genius playing by Gould. Looking  forward to studying with you and Juan Carlos and everyone else who likes to join in.

      • Pianist, composer and piano teacher
      • Sindre_Skarelven
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Andrea Buckland You are most definitely right, these inventions are not to be underestimated! I'm pretty sure I will have to work hard on this one, since I've played very little Bach and find his music quite difficult. I've not listened to Gold's recording, but I will. Thank you for the the tip!  

      • Have a growth mindset, no matter what!
      • Gail_Starr
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Andrea Buckland I will look for the Gould recording this evening. I'm hoping it is on YouTube?

      • Andrea_Buckland
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Gail Starr ‘em, don’t know. But they are definitely on Spotify.

      • Have a growth mindset, no matter what!
      • Gail_Starr
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Andrea Buckland I just listened to the Gould recording of the d minor that I started to work on and it is REALLY fast and very staccato.  Quite different than Magdalena, but i kind of like it.

      • Andrea_Buckland
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Gail Starr yes, I was also surprised to hear his interpretation. It might be because Gould chose to couple the 2-part inventions with the Sinfonias in this recording. And this way it gives a good contrast to the d-minor Sinfonia (which is one of my favorites actually). There  are so many different ways to perform Bach’s music convincingly. It will never stop to amaze me.

      • Andrea_Buckland
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Gail Starr I just found another beautiful recording as a nice contrast to Gould: Simone Dinnerstein also recorded all of the inventions. (Also on Spotify) Especially the d-minor and a-minor sound much more natural.

      • vbashyam
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Andrea Buckland I looked up Simone on YouTube. I really like her playing. Thanks for sharing Andrea. https://youtu.be/HbMXaZrdcNY

    • Philosophy teacher and piano lover
    • Juan_Carlos
    • 3 yrs ago
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    Great Sindre! I will try to participate, as far as possible (too many things to do this summer 😂😂...), in this wonderful project. Count on me🙂!

      • Pianist, composer and piano teacher
      • Sindre_Skarelven
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Juan Carlos Olite That's great, Juan Carlos! Yes, much to do and learn! 😂 I do think (and hope) we can handle these inventions on the side of other projects with a bit of time management. 😊

    • Mathematician & Teacher
    • Parag
    • 3 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Sindre Skarelven  this is a great idea. Thank you for organizing this. Like Juan Carlos, my summer is also a bit crazy 🤪 (house hunting etc). I have a love-hate relationship with these pieces, maybe it's time I slowly went through them.

    Do listen to recordings with two instruments playing these... Janine Jansen and Maxim Rysanov for example on two violins (they even do the sinfonias with Thorleif Thedéen!). Helps to hear the counterpoint! If you have spotify, you'll find this and many other options (2 cellos etc). Happy to share links if interested.

      • Pianist, composer and piano teacher
      • Sindre_Skarelven
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Parag Mehta That's great, Parag! Glad you want to join! I will create the group in the diary section later today. Please share the link with Janine/Maxim, I'm very interested and I'm sure we can all benefit from listening to it. 
      Hope it's going well with the house hunting! 😄

      • Mathematician & Teacher
      • Parag
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Sindre Skarelven Here's the link.

      With the crazy increase in real estate costs, it's nuts here in the Netherlands 😩

      • Pianist, composer and piano teacher
      • Sindre_Skarelven
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Parag Mehta Oh, can't be easy, hope it turns out fine! Thank you for the link, I will bring it to the new "group-thread" as well.  

      • Have a growth mindset, no matter what!
      • Gail_Starr
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Parag Mehta The house prices in Florida are INSANE!  No one can afford to buy a house now, and even the rents have increased by 1/3.  Is it the same in the Netherlands now, too?

      • Mathematician & Teacher
      • Parag
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Gail Starr Sorry for the belated reply… indeed, the interest rates are also pretty high. Looks like we might have lucked out; fingers crossed. 

    • vbashyam
    • 3 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Great idea Sindre. I just noticed this posting and the practice diary update. Like others, I have a crazy summer too (work, vacations with no piano (!) , tonebase challenges and other piano practice with my teacher). Will try to participate as much as I can. Thanks for putting this together. 

      • Pianist, composer and piano teacher
      • Sindre_Skarelven
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Vidhya Bashyam That's great, Vidhya! Glad to have you on board! The good thing about this journey is that you can fit it around your schedule. Looking forward updates :)  

    • Have a growth mindset, no matter what!
    • Gail_Starr
    • 3 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Thank you for setting this up, Sindre!  I will watch the course that Magdalena offers to learn how these pieces work.

      • Pianist, composer and piano teacher
      • Sindre_Skarelven
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Gail Starr So glad you’re joining! Yes, Magdalena’s course is very good! I’m using it too. 

      • Have a growth mindset, no matter what!
      • Gail_Starr
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Sindre Skarelven I just watched the lesson on the d minor Invention and I really like it.  I'm going to print out the lesson this evening and start it tonight.  Magdalena teaches at the same university in New York where I studied Business!

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