The "terrible" Bach 2

I largely agree with your teacher. Bach is first in the mind and then in the hands. In my opinion, you are too focused on the notes and afraid of making mistakes; I feel this inclination in the performance. There is little to be done, to avoid errors one must study. In the left-hand trill, rather than heaviness, I sense actual technical difficulties—a struggle that results in the heaviness of the trill. In any case, I believe that performing Bach fluidly depends solely on touch. The right touch then guides you toward a good balance of parts and toward a natural unfolding of the textures, without thinking too much about which hand should be heard more or less. It is the touch that makes everything more natural. However, finding the right touch in Bach is no easy task. It can help to think of playing a harpsichord capable of dynamic nuances and capable of sustaining notes for a long time. In short, one must exploit the potential of the piano without forgetting the character of the piece, which is nonetheless clavicembalistic in nature. Paolo has repeatedly mentioned in other posts that much of Bach's production was Fur Klavier (meaning 'for keyboard instrument'), and Bach loved playing on the clavichord; let us remember, however, that the modern piano came many years after Bach's death. Bach had a first encounter with the modern piano but was not at all enthusiastic about it due to the heaviness of the keyboard and the too-dry sound. I am certain he would not have said the same about modern pianos. The wording Fur Klavier therefore suggests that Bach wrote that music with the freedom to play it on other instruments that would come later and which would possess greater expressive qualities. After this, how should Bach be played? Think of the clarity of the harpsichord with the expressive gift of the piano. Think of the natural concatenation of events. Think of the nature that surrounds you in its most difficult simplicity. This is Bach!

Simone, you made me imagine Bach sitting at a modern piano, excited like never before. ahahha

"Think about the natural chain of events" once you know the piece, it is certainly possible.

When you start studying, it is indispensable to keep an eye on the subdivision to understand when to enter, when to be silent, and to adapt the correct position of a voice that may have a different meter from another. This ensures that rhythmic problems are overcome at the expense of expression.

I'll give an example regarding the analyzed piece. In the measures where the trill is located, if I follow the logic of the singing voice, I find it difficult to control the correct distribution of the trill; I lose my points of reference. Something that clearly does not happen to me when I think about the subdivision.

This is my obstacle, I don't know if I was clear. How can this obstacle be overcome?

Trills in Bach are not the same as those in Liszt. In Liszt, trills are often ad libitum; in Bach, they must be properly prepared. I do not sense a defect in the preparation of the trill in this recording; it is clear that he has a clear idea of how he wants to execute the trill in the left hand. As I was saying, however, I sense technical difficulties—in other words, I feel the left hand is still stuck, unable to perform the trill in time. The right hand follows the tempo, but the left hand cannot keep up with that tempo, which causes fluttering. In this case, technical exercises are needed to loosen the hand well and give it speed. One hand must be at the same level as the other.

TheSimon wrote:

Trills in Bach are not the same as in Liszt. In Liszt, trills are often ad libitum; in Bach, they must be prepared properly. I do not sense a defect in the preparation of the trill in this recording; it is clear that he has a clear idea of how he wants to execute the trill in the left hand. As I was saying, however, I sense technical difficulties—in other words, I feel the left hand is still stuck, unable to perform the trill in time. The right hand follows the tempo, but the left hand cannot keep up with that tempo, and this causes fluttering. In this case, technical exercises to loosen the hand well and give it speed are needed. One hand must be at the same level as the other.

What kind of exercises do you recommend? Where can I find them?

Thanks Simone.

I also agree with Simone since the left hand is struggling and, by not keeping time, it also puts the right hand in crisis. Based on my experience, I advise you to sit at the piano and repeat those three or four difficult measures after having studied the left hand alone and having practiced the trill. At that point, play and create a micro-passage that you will study starting from two measures before and two measures after the critical point (the part where there is the trill) and repeat them. But do you know what it means to repeat? It means one, two, three, twenty, a hundred, etc., until those measures are as familiar to you as the street to your house, and if great and illustrious masters did this, you can surely do it too. Regarding the issue of dirty notes and the cleanliness of the piece, you must definitely trust your hand, setting aside the mechanical execution problem in favor of musicality—since you sing and sound it, are you singing the piece? How many interpretations of this piece do you know? These are all basic things for performance. I also advise you to memorize everything that hinders you in the piece.

The last thing that might help you is not allowing yourself to dirty the piece right from the start, while you are still studying it without rushing to play it fast (a bad habit we all have). And think in terms of broader harmonic arcs within the piece without fragmenting it into small episodes, even if the piece can sometimes have that type of structure....I mean looking at the mountain without separating trees, snow, rocks, etc.....truly nothing else comes to mind...I hope I have been of help. Bye and happy practicing.

I agree with what Simone says, who found "the right Bach touch"!!!!!!!!!

The technical problem with the left hand is something you need to resolve; in the meantime, in practice we can use a little trick used in trills with 1-2 or 2-3, which seems to be exactly the case for your fingering. In these cases, we can use the Tausig fingering for trills, which consists of alternating the second and third following this fingering: 1-3-1-2-1-3-1-2... etc. This fingering, by repeating it a few times to make it natural, greatly facilitates the execution of trills. However, I always prefer classical fingerings. There are several exercises for trills, more or less accessible; it depends on your level. I will point out only a few to you.

From Pozzoli - Studies of medium difficulty: numbers 11 (not strictly for trills but loosens the fingers of the right and left hands well), 12, 13, 17

From Cramer - 60 Selected Studies: 15.

From Czerny - The Art of Finger Dexterity op. 740: 48 - 41 (For the left hand) - 8

These are exercises of good level and great musicality (at least most of them), always because one seeks to finalize the study of technique within music. If they seem too arduous, you can start with simpler things. I will point some out to you if you need them...

eh mi sa che non sono stato chiaro! avevo preso come spunto l'esecuzione di myhobbyispiano e ne ho approfittato per parlare di un mio problema, che non era di carattere tecnico ma ad una mia incapacità di gestire quella situazione(quando prendo come tempo la semiminima con il punto).Sarà che quella parte non l' ho preparata adeguatamente. Ciaoo

I also studied it at least two months ago. Let's start with the trills.

I play them poorly, but they are improving; since I am currently obsessed with Bach, I always dedicate a lot of time to perfecting them by doing this: when I get tired of playing a piece/exercise, I smoke a cigarette and start trilling as soon as I feel my arm getting stiff; I stop and resume trilling by rotating the wrist and keeping the fingers almost rigid, and after the arm has loosened up, I resume trilling by articulating the fingers.

For me, it is very necessary to do and redo the first two lines of Partita No. 1 trilling with 2323; I had problems making the 4 heard.

I forgot that I preferred trilling with 23 for both right and left hands, so in Invention 4 *left-hand trill*, I arrive with the 3 on E and start trilling, waiting an eighth note. To arrive with the 3, I begin the preparatory scale with the 3 on A and a thumb passage on C, i.e., C1 D4.

A tip from a budding colleague: the measures from 39 to 43 were difficult for me, so when the theme returned, it was a mental relief; I believe it is the same for you, and therefore when the theme restarts, we tend to play it faster. We must correct this mental bug.

Ps my favorite trillers are Gould, who gives a sense of tension by varying volume and cadence, and Perahia, who is more aristocratic, light, and homogeneous. When I practice trilling, I try to do so by alternating these two ways of interpreting the trill in Bach.

PS 2 A great gem from pianoexpert for trilling with 53 in video tutorial 5

PS 3 if you start practicing trilling, dedicate some trills to it even by pressing a black key; the execution is different and therefore always useful.

PS 4 trills on an octave leap should be played 323232 and not 3232

Sometimes thinking of the trill as "Legato" helps......and anyway, a bit of wrist rotation comes in handy.

I tried wrist rotation (never used before). With my right hand it feels quite natural, but with my left 😠 I sound like a broken blender...... 😃

Ah Ah AH. ...One must consider that the skills of the right and left hands will never be the same. I say the same as the muscular energies produced by the five fingers cannot be the same, and the brain compensates and makes up for this. You will see that even when you manage to execute the trill, with a slight rotation of the left hand, you will notice that the sensation is not the same; that is, you will feel a different quality of skill being put into action. One must have patience and insist on the correct coordinated movement of finger-wrist-forearm.