Week 3 - Into the Fugue: Three Voices at Once

Brandy I'm also trying to figure out how to add a video.  Good work!

Vicki Here's the how to I found that works: 

How to Upload Video:

1. Go to YouTube Studio.

2. Click Create → Upload videos.

3. Select the video file you recorded.

4. Give it a title, such as Bach – Prelude and Fugue in C Minor | Tonebase Challenge.

5. Under Visibility, choose Unlisted (not Private).

6. Finish uploading and wait for YouTube to process the video.

7. Copy the video's share link.

8. Return to Tonebase, click Add Video, and paste that link into the field shown.

9. Click OK, and your video should appear embedded in your forum post.

Brandy Thank you Brandy.  I've seen some posted via Youtube and some posted directly too.  Appreciated! :-)

Brandy Are you using the dynamic mapping Brandy? Section 4 'Dynamic Map' of the Track video.  I posted the Dynamic map below.  If you practice from that only for awhile, it can attune one's ear to the different gradations of dynamics on the melody notes, from the highest E flat (bar 5 of the full score), to the lowest E flat (bar 21 of the full score).  That might make it more musical as you say. Fantastic work on the full consolidation of the piece!  👋  

Brandy just saw the note above. I have been using this same procedure for a few months. Use an iPad or a microphone ( blue Yeti ) then  steps to 2 - 9 works well.  I  take the YT url link and paste the link in the post. Good to know that Add Video also works. The sound is a bit better with the mic. Recording on an iphone is not very good. 

Peter William i tried on my phone and it sounded tinny (samsung).  So an iPad is better then as per your explanation.? Tx 

Vicki yes very tinny sound ( iphone ), ipad is better. A blue Yeti is definitely better than both but will cost $100 or so. 

Brandy you play very well.! :-)

Peter William yes she does! And has speed too!

Vicki TB level 8+  .The Henle, wrist circles, and maintaining a tempo of nearly 110 bpm to the quarter note and entirely memorized - All clues to the level. :-) 

Peter William You are a veritable piano-Sherlock Holmes! :-) 

Brandy Great work so far Brandy! The harmonies and the sequences suggest a general dynamic plan at the start - it looks like it was discussed as Vicki linked an image that shows it laid out very nicely (the general practice is that we drive toward dominant functions, resolve gently toward tonic functions and ‘follow the sequence” — so a descending sequence starts strong and softens a little with each statement). Andras Schiff does some fun voicing in the measures 14-19 area if you are looking for ways to give a little variety to the repeating texture. 
 

You have great energy and confidence in your playing! It is common for the hands to de-sync a bit when learning this prelude as one hand transitions through the harmonic changes a little faster than the other.  I think you may be experiencing this a little as you have an agogic delay at times on the downbeat. You may want to try moving your wrists out toward finger 5 instead of lifting the wrist up and ‘lunging’ to it, as this can cause the drag as one spends energy on the lunge and then more on getting out of the key that was lunged into. Just an observation that will also give you finer dynamic control in the parts you mentioned!

You may also find it easier to phrase the opening if you go a hair slower at start. This also helps to differentiate it more from the presto.

Just some ideas - very impressive work so far! Thank you for sharing and I hope you continue to share your progress.

Vicki LOL!!! Scotland Yard is not calling. No pianists on staff.. LOL!

Peter William glad you enjoyed the humor. 😊😊

Thank you all for the wonderful feedback! Dustin Anderson I especially appreciate your thoughtful response. I shall definitely give Andras Schiff a listen and work on my wrist movement at a slower tempo. 

Brandy You are very welcome. Anytime!

Michael Lodico Excellent evenness.  And the melody stands out.  I don't have 'advice', just a discussion answer for you.   I hear many recordings with the inner supportive voices as legato, nothing wrong with that.  Dominic  mentions less energy (softer) on these to  contrast with  the melody notes.  Another concert pianist's tutorial mentioned playing the inner voices 'melodically', as the inner motive has meaning.  Gould plays everything staccato.  The choice is ours.   I think the slower we practice this piece, the more 'mechanical' it sounds to us and your pace is the slower one. At the 110-120 BPM it sounds more exciting (I think)    Have you heard this slower tempo version on Youtube - Prelude & Fugue in C Minor, BWV 847: I. Prelude.    Tatiana Nikolayeva.   Your question made me think.  Hopefully there will be more comments on your question. PS  Oh and then we can add Evan Skinner's advice of a slight slight delay on the downbeats which Dominic demonstrates in our track.  Another suggestion for interest.

Michael Lodico Wonderful work on this! For me, the part of the track on "energy conservation" (at the end of Section 3) really helped in both improving speed as well as keeping the inner voices from sounding equally dominant with the downbeats. My coach tells me all the time about hierarchy of the beats and thinking that way really helps.

I also agree with Vicki that the speed of the piece seems to mitigate the "mechanical" sound of it. I have a love hate relationship with this prelude. It is my least favorite because of this repeating driving pattern, yet that's why it is also good for me because it pushes my technique practice, lol. Keep up the good work! 

Michael Lodico Hi Michael! Good job so far. You are indeed quite steady! I think the reason you find it sounds mechanical is that you are essentially articulating every note the same way and with almost equal weight. The melody tones stand out a bit but that is more the nature of the compound melody writing that Bach employs here (the melody notes are detached as an interval above the otherwise flowing inner line, all written as a single line but implying polyphony). To me, your articulated touch on all the notes is what is equalizing the layers.

The inner voices are typically played legato because they are step-wise, because legato differentiates them from the other voice that is essentially single notes with long periods of detachment, and because it is easier to play them softly since they are a secondary layer. It also allows a more flowing sound and in the Baroque period, 4/4 time with sixteenths implies a flowing manner and tempo. 

It is true that Gould plays everything detached but Gould is not really a good model of informed stylistic choices for Baroque music. He was certainly a brilliant performer and extremely detail oriented (I quite enjoy the concertos!) but he was no musicologist and was not really concerned with giving a stylistically aware performance. His playing is internally logical for his own aesthetic. How much this matters is up to the individual but since the music was written with a Baroque aesthetic in mind, not Gould's, the writing and polyphony will often seem more natural if you consider the music in terms of stylistic elements. This aspect of Glenn Gould is a common point of discussion in the field of music / piano and you can find many performers and musicologists that both admire him as a musical thinker but critique him as a stylistic performer. 

If you really enjoy the detached touch sound, you will have to really work hard to make the inner voices lighter to differentiate your layers which will likely require a slower tempo since you will want more control over the sound of the detachment. For me, this is one reason I don't really like Gould's take on this particular work; he plays more slowly but still renders the compound melody as though it is a single line, so the implied polyphony feels absent. 

I hope that gives you something to consider - i could perhaps comment more if I could see you physically playing it but it is ultimately about the sound so hopefully you can experiment with some of the above and start to find the more organic, layered element in the music that you seem to be looking for based on your comment.

Thanks for sharing and I hope to hear it again as you continue to work on it as you are definitely well on your way!

Edit: Just meant to add that you can also use agogic displacement to give the piece more expressive definition but be careful not to overcompensate with it. Agogic displacement (slight delay) should be used sparingly and for rhetorical purpose (to show an important moment, color, formal element etc.) otherwise you just end up sounding like you are out of sync every measure!