Tag Archives: bach

Should You Use the Piano Pedal In Bach?

Is it okay to use the pedal when playing Bach? This is a great question and there are many different ideas about this. Why should there even be issues with using the pedal or not when it comes to playing Bach? Bach lived from 1685 to 1750 and the very earliest pianos were invented just around 1700. While Bach got a chance to try some of these early instruments, he really never wrote for the piano. He never wrote for any specific keyboard instrument other than the organ. All his other works are written for clavier, which means simply “keyboard”. It is up to the performer to decide which keyboard. No keyboards had pedals anytime during Bach’s life (other than the organ, but that’s a completely different matter).

There are many purists who feel that you shouldn’t use the pedal simply because Bach did not have one. Other people feel that if Bach was alive today, he would love to use the pedal! There are different schools of thought. There is some music that absolutely calls for the pedal. Why? Music is written sometimes where there are notes to be held, yet you run out of fingers since you have to move your hands to another part of the keyboard. So the only way to hold those notes that are written to be held is to sustain them by using the pedal.

You can certainly play Bach without the pedal and get very good results. When I studied with Ruth Slenczynska, she insisted upon using no pedal in Bach and it works great! I am going to offer an example, of the beginning of Bach’s 5th French Suite. Why would you use pedal and how would you use pedal in Bach? You don’t use it to connect notes that you can’t hold with your fingers because there is nothing that is written that necessitates the use of the of the pedal for this purpose. Instead you use the pedal to add color. You’ll notice that even in this fast music, there are little touches of pedal to enhance the tone of key notes.

The important thing is that you must practice Bach using no pedal at all. In fact, I recommend practicing all of your music without any pedal until you can play as connected as possible finding the best fingering that accomplishes this first. Then it becomes obvious where the pedal can be utilized.

I am going to play the first section of the Bach 5th French Suite with the repeat as written. The first time I will play it with no pedal. Then upon the repeat, I will utilize the pedal to add color. If you listen to the video, you can determine which performance you prefer. I would love to hear from all of you in the comments on LivingPianos.com and YouTube.

Thanks for joining me, Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com. info@LivingPianos.com

Why is Bach’s Italian Concerto Called a Concerto?

Why is Bach’s Italian Concerto referred to as a concerto? This is a really good question. A concerto is generally a solo instrument or small group of soloists along with a larger ensemble and almost every concerto you encounter meets this definition. Yet, Bach’s Italian Concerto is a solo keyboard work! So, how can this possibly be considered a concerto? The reason for this is that it is written with the Italian style of a concerto grosso and the way Bach achieves this is by doing something he rarely did in any of his keyboard music which is, he wrote in dynamics in the entire three movements every single note; in the right hand and the left hand. Either they’re both forte or they’re both piano or one or the other is forte. This is what achieves the feeling of a concerto of the larger group and the smaller group.

The entire concerto was built upon the juxtaposition of the sound of a solo group against the entire group and it gives the feeling of an Italian concerto. It’s so fascinating to realize two things about Bach. One is that there is a tremendous amount of music that we’ll never know because he was undiscovered until years after his death. There’s an old wives tale that many of his scores ended up being used to wrap fish. I don’t know if this is true, but we do know that he wrote a lot of music that we have never gotten to hear and probably never will. The other thing about Bach is that he lived in Leipzig, Germany and did very little travelling, yet he wrote a magnificent Italian concerto, a set of beautiful English suites as well as French suites. How is it possible that he wrote all this music? After all, there was no recording back then. Being in a major city, any time any artists from other places would come to visit, he made a point of listening to many different styles of music. Being the genius that he was, he could assimilate those styles and could write some of the greatest Italian, French and English music as well as his native German music,

So that’s a bit of a lesson on Bach’s Italian Concerto for you. I hope this has been helpful! Again, this is Robert@LivingPianos.com

Free Piano Lessons – Tips for Playing Bach Minuet in G

Welcome to another part in a series of videos offering you tips for selected piano repertoire. Bach wrote many Minuets in beautiful Baroque style and this one in particular is a wonderful little piece for even elementary level players.

A minuet is a dance form in meter of three and because it’s a Baroque piece it has nice counterpoint. The goal of this piece is to showcase great clarity while retaining a bouncy and dance-like feel. The secret to achieving this is how you execute the phrasing – specifically, how you articulate the staccatos and how you negotiate the slurs.

Like in many other pieces, the technique is accomplished with the wrist. You will want to use certain wrist techniques to clarify the staccato notes contrasting with the slurred legato notes. This might sound simple but many times when first approaching this piece you may unwittingly use the arm in conjunction with the wrist producing a muddled sound.

For this piece, the first beat should have more emphasis than the second and third beats in keeping with the dance form. By coming down with the wrist for the first beat on the staccato notes, you can create a very dynamic sound. By using the arms you will produce a heavier tone that doesn’t sound nearly as bright and bouncy as it should.

The way I would recommend playing this is to bring your wrist down on the first note and then quickly lift it back up on the staccato notes. If you watch the video attached with this article you will see some great examples of this wrist movement. It’s very important to not rely upon the arm for the up and down motion; it must come from the wrist!

You should keep the same motion for each individual staccato note: down, up, down, up. And remember that it’s only the wrist being utilized in these notes; not the arm. If you have to, hold your arm still with your other hand at first and play the notes only using your wrist.

You will be greatly impressed by the results of employing a light staccato using the wrist; it will truly bring new life to this piece and many others. Thanks again for joining me Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com

How to approach Bach’s Two Part Inventions – Part 3

Welcome back to our multi-part series on Bach’s two part Inventions. In Part 1 of our lesson we talked about how to understand these pieces as well as the importance of understanding counterpoint when approaching the inventions. In Part 2 of our lesson we discussed some techniques for Invention #8 – The F major invention.

Today we are going to discuss Invention #4 – the D minor invention. Again, we are going to discuss the importance of delineating the subject and countersubject in these pieces. I will take the subject and countersubject at the beginning of the piece to demonstrate how phrasing can help bring out the most in this work:

Here is the subject

And here is the countersubject

By delineating the phrasing in this section you will be able to make the structure of this piece clear. How do you achieve this? You will want to play the 16th note subject legato and the 8th note countersubject staccato. By doing this you will be able to hear every note clearly, yet they combine beautifully together.

As you continue to advance through the inventions you will be able to experiment with your own phrasing. The key to getting these pieces to make musical sense is to delineate the lines to create clear counterpoint. You will bring out the individual lines and allow them to bounce off one another creating a wonderful sound!

I recommend these pieces if you are starting out with playing Baroque music or want to expose yourself to brilliant counterpoint. After you learn these pieces and go on to learn more pieces of Bach or other Baroque composers, you will encounter four or even five voice fugues. Learning to delineate two voices will bring you a long way towards learning how to handle even more complex scores.

Thanks again for joining us at Living Pianos. If you have any questions about this subject or any other subjects please contact us directly: info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

How to approach Bach’s Two Part Inventions – Part 2

Welcome back to our second part in our series on how to approach the Bach Two Part Inventions. In Part 1 of our lesson we talked about how to understand these pieces as well as the importance of understanding counterpoint when approaching the inventions.

Today we are going to explore Invention #8 – The F major invention. Again, this piece really relies on subject and countersubject for its structure so if you missed the last lesson or you aren’t familiar with the concept of Counterpoint you might want to catch up before you proceed with this lesson.

Let’s start with the first phrase in the piece and separate the subject from the countersubject.

Here is the subject:

And here is the countersubject:

Right away you will be able to spot a difference between the two. You will want to accentuate these differences with the phrasing. To accomplish this I recommend playing the subject staccato and the countersubject legato. This is a great way to delineate the subject from the countersubject and allow them to stand on their own so they don’t meld together.

You should always understand the context in which the piece you are playing was written. In this piece Bach was not writing for the piano. The keyboard instruments during his time didn’t contain sensitivities for dynamics. So, phrasing the parts differently from one-another was an essential component of the performance.

You should play this way through the entire piece and you will separate both the lines clearly and let them stand on their own. When performed correctly it’s truly amazing what type of sound this achieves and it’s even more amazing to think that Bach was developing this effect without the aid of the modern piano. If you were to play everything with the same phrasing the piece would sound fine but it would sound flat and lacking the life that Bach intended.

As you play further into the piece you can utilize dynamics (such as playing piano or forte in different sections). But the phrasing is what’s going to separate the two lines and bring life to the piece and highlight the brilliant counterpoint within.

What makes these pieces great is that you are free to develop phrasing and dynamics on your own and bring unique expression to these pieces. Bach didn’t write dynamic or phrasing markings and it’s not because he didn’t want them. It’s because it’s up to the performer to bring their own unique voice to these works. Have fun with these inventions and experiment; don’t be afraid to try something new!

Thanks again for joining us here at Living Pianos. info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

How to Play Bach’s Two Part Inventions – Part 1

Welcome to the first part in our series on Bach’s Two Part Inventions. These are masterful works that are not very long but brilliantly conceived. If you’re looking for something short and challenging to practice these could be a great choice for you.

Let’s start by breaking down exactly what is meant by “two part invention”. This phrase simply means it is a type of 2-voice counterpoint (for more information on this subject please watch our video on What is Counterpoint?) To put this simply, there are two different lines of music and at no point are there more than two different notes playing at the same time in just about the whole piece. Even with these limitations this is an amazing composition that’s built with a subject and a countersubject. Being able to delineate these two phrases is what makes counterpoint so special.

A great way to separate the subject from the countersubject is to phrase them differently from one-another.

For example, in the first phrase you have this as your subject:

And this as your countersubject:

In this particular piece the subject and countersubject are incredibly similar. So how should you make each one stand out? Well you might notice that a few bars into the piece the countersubject has elongated eighth notes.

A great way to delineate these notes is to play them legato and in groups; with the last note being short. This is a great way to separate the countersubject from the subject.

The beauty of Bach is that there is really no right or wrong. A lot of his music is open for interpretation so if you wanted to play the phrasing completely differently it can work just as well. Why is this? Because Bach rarely wrote phrasing into his music. It is up to you come up with the phrasing.

Unlike later music that has melody and harmony and obvious distinctions between the two, these Bach Inventions have intertwining melodies instead. So for now have fun and experiment with these pieces. When we return we will have more videos for you on these inventions that show even more extreme examples of delineation between subject and countersubject.

Thanks so much for joining me here at Living Pianos. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us directly: info@livingpianos.com (949) 244-3729.