Bach with a difference

[jr11]

Maybe I'm a sucker for punishment, but I have come to enjoy playing Bach very much. One reason is that it lends itself well to an electronic keyboard. Try a pre&fugue with a string, harpsicord, church organ, or synthesizer sound for some very appealing variations. My teacher suggested practicing preludes with dotted eights/sixteenth pairs (and reverse) instead of straight eighth notes to smooth out the finger weight. It not only works, it sounds really cool! It helps on the fugues a lot to use organ sounds or others to emphasize the sustained (held) notes. This is no substitute for playing straight on a piano, but certainly an enhancement to practice.

Anyway, these little variations of the grand master's tunes have given me much pleasure, and encouraged me to delve further into JS's works. I mean no disrespect, so I hope he doesn't mind!

[richard weaver]

I know what you mean. Bach fugues sound great on nearly every type of keyboard. If you like electric keyboards and fugues, I can recommend a piece that you can hear at www.recordis.se - a fugue for e-piano by Christopher Swede.

[mcgillcomposer]

I suspect this has to do, in part, with the richness of the counterpoint. No one since has even come close in that respect; it's almost as if the music takes on a life of its own outside the confines of instrumentation.

[gerry]

It's also fun to play Scarlatti using some of the electronic samples.