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

Hi Dominic,

can you help me prelude and fuga BWV 855/1 ? 
my questions are prelude m 1-22 how to play the chords on on the 1& 3 beats without Bumps would you recommend to play all together or roll ? Shall I use a short pedal where half notes on sop? 
also how to create dynamic terracing on this? ( my teacher told me lower the notes getting louder) lastly, how to set the “Doctrine of affects” in this prelude? It had two different tempo is it still in a same emotion? 
how would you determine on this? 
thank you very much and I am looking forward to see next meeting.
 

Prelude 2 in c-minor: My fingers feel like they don't fit in. It's too cramped, what to do? Also how to voice such a "Mechanical" piece?

Hi Dominic, I am starting on the fugue 14 BWV 859 a4 well tempered klavier book 1. Can you give me tips on how to approach It?. Perhaps if its possible regarding the structure and harmony?. I am finding difficult to make any progress/ get through this fugue.

Many thanks

Begoña 

Hi Dominic, I'm working on the B Major Prelude and Fugue from Book 2 of the WTC. Regarding the Prelude, most pianists play it quite fast and it makes the trills in the left hand quite difficult.  They are hard enough even at a moderate tempo.  Do you have any suggestions about how to play them? See, e.g. Measure 2 and Measures 37 & 38. 

Secondly, here's a historical/stylistic question for you: this Prelude is often described as "pianistic" [e.g. in liner notes for my CD's and some of my books], and some suggest that it is evidence that Bach had the piano in mind for at least some of the pieces of the WTC.  Can you tell us why they would say that? i.e. what is it about this piece that makes it more suggestive of the piano than some of the other Preludes? Is it the Alberti bass sections? the emphasis on scales that invite the use of the thumb as a fulcrum?  something else?  all of the above?  

Thanks!

Hi Dominic, 

Got more questions on the Harpsichord Concerto.

1) What is the ideal tempos of the 3 movements?

2) How do you play those eighth notes that overlap in the photo I attached? 

3) How do you play the ornaments I circled in the photo? 

Thanks for your time and instruction! 

Hi Dominic,

I have been working on the Two Part Invention #1 in C Major.  I watched the video with Seymour Bernstein and Ben Laude and have a question:  if I play the eighth  notes detached against two sixteenth notes, I loose the harmony between the eighth and the 2nd sixteenth note.  So, what should the duration of the detached eighth note be?

Thanks,

Dora 

Thanks Dominic for the last livestream. It was super helpful. 

One more question:

For book 2 WTC prelude G major, on the repeats, how do you approach it differently? Do you change dynamic or articulation? can you give me some specific suggestions to do? 

Thanks again for your help. 

Another excellent Tonebase Lesson! I appreciate the knowledge and expertise conveyed with such passion and joy! I am delighted and encouraged by the analogies that Dominic uses: "...like a dancer that learns the steps slowly before putting the steps together...before speeding up"...so is the pianist when learning the notes...layering is important, like making a sandwich, as it were...look at the overall architecture of the piece..."Don't run before you can walk"...and many more helpful words of wisdom. Seeing your finger markings is fascinating! Thank you, Dominic!