Bach is Difficult! A Live Q&A for Curious Pianists

There is a small ornament I would like to play in the Bb Major Prelude from book 2 of the WTC .  It's a simple little 3 note shake which I believe would be described as an inverted mordant on the first G in triplet appearing at Beat 3 of Measure 2 (circled in RED in the attached PDF).

I can execute it fairly easily when simply playing it by itself in 1 hand, but in the context of playing the piece with both hands, my RH hand seems to lock up on this ornament. I have to push through the lock-up and it results in a *hitch* in performing the ornament.

For the life of me, I can’t figure out what I am doing differently with my hand when I play the preceding notes.  I suspect that the culprit may be the little Turn I do on the Eb in the soprano, beat 4 of Measure 1 (circled in green), but I cannot ascertain what it would be doing to my hand to cause it to lock up when I arrive at this problematical ornament.

I've also uploaded a short video illustrating my hand position when playing the ornament (a) alone, and (b) in context of the other notes.

Any feedback would be most welcome! 

P.S. These sessions are really great and I always learn so much from Dominic's advice to myself and the other pianists.

I posted my questions in another thread but will copy it here. 

I have a general question about tempo. In the past, I tend to rush through a piece and try to play at a fast tempo before I am ready. I started practicing at a very slow tempo so I will get all the rhythm and note correctly. I watch your other livestream where you talk about practicing close to your goal tempo with very short section, like 1-2 bars at a time. When I try to do the fast tempo, that is when I realize some of the fingering would not work. Now I have to go back and re-learn the new fingering. And it sounds worse than before and I feel like I am not making much progress. I cannot even get through a few bars at a time.  

Question:

1. What practice tempo do you recommend in the early stage of learning a piece? Do you go back and forth with slow, moderate and fast every time you practice?

2. This is my first WTC prelude and fugue (WTC book 2 G major). What tempo do you recommend? I heard some insanely fast tempo and there is no way to get even close. 

I’m learning The Italian Concerto and would like some advice about how to add dynamics to the fast movements. What type of dynamical range is appropriate and how to achieve different articulations with different types of touch and the best techniques to use.

Hello Dominic, firstly, I traded in my Schimmel upright, which I loved, for a Grotrian-Steinweg grand, which arrives on the Isle of Wight tomorrow morning! They're called Grotrian in the States after the legal case taken by Steinway and Sons that the Steinweg name was too close to Steinway. The closeness in the name is because Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg started the Steinweg company in Germany in 1835, and sold it on when he moved to the States with most of his large family, and anglicised his name to Henry Steinway.  He left the piano factory in Germany to his eldest son, C F Theodor Steinweg.  The connection between Grotrian and Steinweg was there from the start, as the first piano built by Steinweg was a square piano, designed by and built for Friedrick Grotrian. The subsequent development of the respective companies is quite complex but an interesting read, if anyone is interested in how the respective Steinway and Grotrian-Steinweg came to be.     

Secondly, I have changed my position on melodic minor scales. My previous position was that there was little point practising them (a lot) as the upwards scale just requires a simple change from major to minor third, and on the way down it's the same as the relative major, except it starts on the 6th note of the scale, so the same fingering applies as the relative major scale.

However, I then realised that the position above works for flute because the fingerings don't change as it's a single-line instrument, but the melodic scale on the piano requires different fingerings in different directions.  Therefore, I have incorporated melodic minors into my scales practice, via the formula pattern (Sara Davis Buecher), which I think you have called 'the Grand form'.  They are quite steady presently due to the sections of contrary motion, i.e., playing the two different sets of 6ths and 7ths at the same time.

Enough!

Thirdly, in relation to the current livestream topic, my questions are about fingering in Bach. Please see the attached pdf.  My question is about Measure 16, where I am using 1 and 3 in succession at the start of the bar. I can't think of any other way to do this.  Any suggestions? My second question is theoretical as it relates to (not) using the thumb in Bach, which I understand was how early music was played. My attempts to play without using my thumb means I have to keep making breaks, which is similar to my solution for the first two 'chords' of bar 16. Has anyone ever tried to replicate the older fingering techniques and would they produce a more authentic sound quality?           

Tips on concerto no. 1 measure 8-11 please