(zxxz) J. S. Bach - Little Preludes and Fughettas - BWV 939

mmmmmm you ate more or less.... almost all the pauses.....excluding the one at the head of the theme....

Smooth, I didn't dislike it.

Bravo. You are clean and correct. Regarding technique: You must develop, especially in Bach, the small phalanges, and for this reason, you must not be afraid to play too loudly. You are a bit "reticent," as if you were walking on eggshells. Do not be afraid to "extract" more sound. The "zero point" is having the entire muscular apparatus tension-free and "resting it" on the fingertips, which must, mentally, understand how to support the weight. From there, the rest is built. Not much articulation is fine, but with an awareness of where the bottom of the key is.

Obviously, the piano is still poorly "intoned" and you feel the sound too loud, too harsh. It must be prepared in a way that allows you not to withdraw your muscular support... because you feel too much sound. Therefore, a softer intonation. Also control the depth, which in that model must not be less than 10mm. The tuning is so-so, but it's fine. There can therefore be more balance between the lows and highs.

I seem to sense from the video that you are a tall and slender person. Do not sit too high... but I believe you observe this principle. However, I see that you are inclined to find energy by raising your wrist and forearm. This can cause a push from the shoulder and too much involvement of the strong muscles "against" the keyboard. Instead, it is appropriate for you to develop a calm support of the hand, perhaps a bit more gathered (you have long fingers, which is an advantage, but they must be more strictly governed in the correct position at the start).

In short, these observations of mine, however, do not take away from the praise for your work, which is going well. You will discover new muscular sensations, especially if you rely on being "tension-free."

Hi Zxxz. I liked it too. How long have you been studying it?

paolo if you only knew how many times I told him that he plays on eggs ahahahahah

antares86 wrote:

paolo if you only knew how many times I've told him that he plays on eggshells ahahahahah

...maybe just saying it isn't enough...solutions are needed too! Paolo is very good...

Thank you very much to everyone for the comments!

foster12 wrote:

Hi Zxxz. I liked it too. How long have you been studying it?

About 3 weeks... but unfortunately with very little consistency :-(

antares86 wrote:

paolo if you only knew how many times I've told him that he plays on eggshells ahahahahah

...eh yes... :-) I'm working on it :-)

pianoexpert... once again I am stunned by the accuracy of your comments... as if you had known me for a long time :-) for Italian standards I am relatively tall (184) and I have relatively large hands and in fact I am still exploring my seating... once I was sitting too high, and too close to the keyboard, while now I am definitely lower and as time passes the more I realize that I feel more comfortable moving away from the keys... regarding the shoulder issue... it's one of those things that even my teacher points out to me... because I stiffen my shoulders but then just telling myself it's enough to try to relax them... sometimes I use some Duvernoy exercises to try to shift more weight onto the fingers while trying to keep the forearms and shoulders relaxed.

This weekend I will try to restudy the piece paying more attention to the pauses that I missed and maybe post another video :-)

If you are thin… you can eat something… Ha ha ha

Anyway, thank you for the likes and compliments. I especially hope to be useful and not create too many doubts and disagreements. Suggestions must indeed be new elements of attention, but we must never place them before us as obstacles. Naturalness is the foundation. You possess it and, in my opinion, you are doing well by working on this through small, correct steps. Happy studying

For being three weeks of inconsistent study, I find it an excellent performance!

It's clear that you enjoy it!

pianoexpert wrote:

You are a bit "reticent," as if you were playing on eggs. Do not be afraid to "dig out" more sound.

I want to recount a small but funny coincidence, even if a bit off-topic: in a piano fugue that I am writing for Frank's workshop, a couple of days ago on a phrase I actually wrote the indication "on eggs," but I was uncertain if it would be understandable (I am not a pianist). From Pianoexpert's comment, I have now understood that, in effect, that indication conveys the idea of the effect I wanted to suggest

Agreed. But even when playing by taking weight off the shoulder and making a sort of "sur l'escapement" sound—that is, making the hammer sound without reaching the bottom of the key—the fingers must play "sincerely," rising and falling neutrally without muscular force, using their own weight. An example is the variation of the trill in the second movement of Schubert's Wanderer that I posted on Audio, pop., or the last variation of the second movement of Beethoven's Appassionata sonata (which I will post soon). In this sense, the sound is as clear and delicate as possible. To give you an idea, try this experiment: place a listener in a corner of a large room, then go to recite any passage of prose or poetry from the opposite side. Whispering words without lip articulation is equivalent to not being understood at all. But as soon as the reader begins to articulate the syllables, even while whispering, including the final ones, everything becomes understandable. Often, in fact always, our instrument requires a "sincere pronunciation," even in pianissimo, and the natural fall of the fingers helps us with this. On the other hand, "walking on eggshells" (if you liked that metaphor) results from withdrawing as if thinking: I'm playing too loudly... now I'll lift myself a bit, so I can reduce the sound... so I can play piano. Resting the hammers against the strings is not equivalent to playing softly. The sound might come out unclear and impersonal. With the technique of the falling fingers, which is equivalent to the "jeu perlé" so dear to the French, the hammers strike the strings lightly, but with a certain decisiveness, from which comes the clear "pronunciation." Naturally, one must "work" in this sense and find touch uniformity in the "out of tension." I hope I have illustrated my idea clearly.

I understand. So, the egg metaphor always has a negative connotation, it seems to me.

Let's say yes, although, in the case of our friend who posted the good video, it should not be understood in an absolute sense. Let's just say that I believe one must be wary of this way of finding contact with the keyboard. At first, one must give up a little on experiments with piano and pianissimo. Later, with awareness, one can experiment with lightening the gravitation and the different ways of pronouncing the notes. Words cannot be exhaustive and therefore I would not want to create confusion. It also depends on the musical context, on the style of the Author to be interpreted... and also on the type of instrument.