A favorite J.S. Bach tutorial (Little Prelude in F, BWV 927)

One of my adult students is excited about learning this treasured miniature, and it just so happened that I stumbled upon one of my you tube posted instructions that will assist both of us in our forthcoming two-way musical exchange. (After I put a piece away it's nice to know I can reference its timely…

A Piano Gym Workout in Staccato before J.S. BACH

The Piano Fitness Club was in full swing as a well-prepared adult student and I romped through C# minor scales (3 forms) and B Major Arpeggios. Shaping detached notes in piano to forte dynamic ranges was the focus of a quick-paced hour. The B-Major arpeggio, rendered in sprightly 10ths, was remediated in articulated paired sub-groups…

Practicing J.S. Bach’s Gigue from French Suite No. 5 in G, BWV 816

My "block-headed" journeys continue. They take me through landscapes of chordal outlines solidifying my learning. In J.S. Bach's A minor Invention 13 I'd recently absorbed organized clusters of notes in my palms as they moved in harmonic rhythm, while featherweight thumbs became little rulers, measuring and spacing out distances between inverted chords. Once unraveled, these…

J.S. Bach, the piano, harpsichord and early music tunings

Elaine Comparone, a well-regarded harpsichordist rendered a dance movement from J.S. Bach's French Suite No. 5 in G, (BWV 816) that I'd performed on the pianoforte. In the Loure, (written in G Major) I was immediately struck by a pitch disparity between our respective instruments. While Loure was composed in the key of G Major,…

Shame on WQXR F.M. for shining a spotlight on Kids’ dislike of Bach’s music

I can't fathom why a historically great NYC-based Classical music station like WQXR F.M. would choose to feature a big-splash juvenile ONLINE thumbs down to a J.S. Bach masterwork! http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/three-nyc-kids-give-bach-big-thumbs-down/ My published comment criticized the posting: "This is a waste of space considering that WQXR has been a fountain of great music for decades. I…

An in depth “Over”-view of J.S. Bach Little Prelude in C Minor, BWV 934

This evening I prepared a video supplement for an adult student who brought the gorgeously woven Little Prelude in C minor (BWV 934) to his first lesson. Since I had studied this work at the suggestion of another student, from faraway Greece, I had laid a firm foundation in my own layer by layer learning…

Teaching J.S. Bach Invention 1 in C (BWV 772)

With World Series updates shadowing last night's lesson, three students checked their cell phones inning by inning, but managed a deep-layer connection to Bach and Beethoven. My newest student introduced himself by reading through Bach's Invention 1 in C. As it played out, the composition is one of my favorites to teach. Its rich contrapuntal…

J.S. Bach Invention No. 13 in A minor: A Continuing Journey

Students who embark upon learning the beautifully woven Invention 13, have new awakenings about the Subject and its thread of sequences and development through three pages. And as they explore two independent, though complementary voices in counterpoint, they discover that the Subject and what pieces of it are borrowed as the music plays out, have…

Piano Instruction: Allemande from J.S. Bach French Suite no. 5 in G Major

Andras Schiff, known for playing Bach "purely" without pedal, encourages piano students to indulge J.S. as actors cultivate Shakespeare. It's our daily "bread," he insists. Regardless of his mixed metaphor, I concur that studying the works of Johann Sebastian Bach builds a solid foundation for exploring music of all historical eras. And to pore over…

Piano Instruction: Piecing out and Practicing J.S. Bach Little Prelude in F, BWV 927

One of my colleagues who filmed a tutorial on this gem, called it a "BEGINNER" composition, yet, in truth, it's not in the easy column. It demands a fluent technique and a thoughtful approach to learning that includes harmonic analysis, blocking, understanding counterpoint, making sensible decisions about articulation, and shaping phrases. Therefore, this "LITTLE" Prelude…