Managing Bach executions

[fcracker79]

Greetings,
I'm preparing for the fifth year piano exam, which requires the execution of the english suites 2 and 3, over all.
Now, I have a problem: after studying a piece, from day to day, my execution starts to be less correct, unarticulated, I mean the execution degrades...
How can I prevent this problem? It's very frustrating to restart studying a piece, moreover if you consider that you already know it but with consolidated errors.

Thanks a lot!

[rc]

I get that too, especially with Bach.  I think it's because I find his music difficult to memorize, so eventually I wind up over-relying on muscle memory, which causes the musical memory to fade and eventually weird mistakes start creeping in.  Possibly this is you too?  I think the solution for that is to keep the notes fresh in the head as well as the hands...  To look at the score more, and clarify things like the harmony and structure.

[stringoverstrung]

possible reasons are:

- you did not study the notes away from the piano beforehand
- you practice too fast
- you practice inaccurately (= you practice the errors while playing)
- you do not correct 'practiced' errors at the end of the session by playing the piece slowly one more time
- you practice in chunks that are too large for you to handle without error.
- it has to do with concentration
- you sit too long at the piano instead of practicing in smaller but more concentrated chunks of time.

It also helps to understand the correct motion for up to speed execution when you practice slowly.

[hwangs]

Hey-- It's kinda funny, I just uploaded English Suite #2, if you want to give it a hear, on the audition section. The biggest thing that helped me interpret this piece was to play it like I would sing it. Hope that helps 

[ganymed]

I advice not to be too strict with yourself! Bach is very hard to play!
Thats why you can only learn the pieces if you divide the pieces in segments .
U have to devide your work into steps so the process of learning is more organized.

It psychologically doesnt look like much work anymore if you divide e.g an invention into 8 segments.

What helped me a lot with bach was slow practice and hands seperate practice.
My definition of slow is a sixteenth = 50 bpm.

The problem that i struggle with is always thinking goal-oriented. I always set high goals instead of working process-oriented, i.e How is this goal achieved ?!

[nyquist]

Old bad joke:

"What do you think about this pianist's execution."

"Execution would be too harsh.  A couple of years in jail would be appropriate, though."

nyquist