Richman & Bach

[tinkertanker]

I've been progressing through Howard Richman's book on sight reading for a few months now and I'm about to move onto K.O. Drill 5 (where I will start using Bach's Chorales). I did a search as I know that there are a lot of topics on this book but couldn't find an answer to my query.

Some of the Chorales have huges stretches (ie 14ths!) which presumably stem from the fact that these pieces weren't originally written for piano (?). How should I go about playing these? Playing them as an arpeggio, playing the lowest or highest note only? I know there should be a simple answer to this but when I've finished the book I want to know that I've done everything properly (even if I won't have finished it for a few years yet!)

Many thanks

Nick

[Egghead]

Hello Tinkertanker,

yes, they werent written as piano sightreading exercises originally - try singing them with four voices instead 

Your questions naturally arise, previously suggested solutions see this thread:
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,4445.msg41401.html#msg41401

You are welcome -  I'd forgotten to mention they look like exact copies as well. You can often manage with T briefly moved to RH  , so your left hand just plays one part and stays in one piece.
And of course capella plays them for you as well...

Wonderful stuff, enjoy it! 

[tinkertanker]

Hello Tinkertanker,

yes, they werent written as piano sightreading exercises originally - try singing them with four voices instead 

Your questions naturally arise, previously suggested solutions see this thread:
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,4445.msg41401.html#msg41401

Wonderful stuff, enjoy it! 

Thanks. I've just had a go at the first chorale (370 to go!) and have just been sort of rolling the left hand on some of the larger intervals. I think this will be beneficial as it will eventually give me a sense of how to feel for these intervals that I cannot reach without moving my left hand, but if this doesn't work out, I'll try shifting the upper note in the bass into the treble as you suggested.

Cheers

Nick

[bernhard]

I suspect you may be using the vocal score (which has four staves) rather than the piano score (with two staves, and the voices optimally distributed between the hands.)

In the piano score (I use the one published by Breitkopf no. 3765, since it is easy to read – large notes and all), the few instances where you have large intervals, they usually occurs in the left hand, and they are easily negotiated by playing the top left hand note (tenor) with the right hand. (And yes, you can arpeggiate them if you prefer)

I hope this helps.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[bernhard]

Which is exactly what Egghead suggested.

[tinkertanker]

Which is exactly what Egghead suggested.

No problem. I do have a piano version but the notes are quite small. Good job my eyesight isn't so bad!

[darla]

Hello, this is my first post--thanks in advance for all the great information and help.  I'm also working through the Richman book and until now have made decent progress. Now, I'm working on VP #5A and #6A--practicing the Chorales legato and I'm struggling.

Has anyone done this that can offer any hints on accomplishing this? 
Does he mean "real" legato (overlapping keys)?
How critical is this legato drill (it seems that it could take me a very, very long time to master it with overlapping keys)?

Thanks,
D

[tinkertanker]

Hello, this is my first post--thanks in advance for all the great information and help.  I'm also working through the Richman book and until now have made decent progress. Now, I'm working on VP #5A and #6A--practicing the Chorales legato and I'm struggling.

Has anyone done this that can offer any hints on accomplishing this? 
Does he mean "real" legato (overlapping keys)?
How critical is this legato drill (it seems that it could take me a very, very long time to master it with overlapping keys)?

Thanks,
D

Afraid I haven't got there yet so I can't help you other than each new drill seems to take longer than the last so I wouldn't be surprised if this does take you awhile.

[visionsofnighttime]

Does Richman expect you get through all 371 Bach chorales for each of V.P. drills 5-9? This amounts to going through all the chorales about 10 times (once for each drill plus once for each "a" drill). In order to get through these drills in 2 years doing 5 minutes a day (assuming you take Bernhard's advice and only spend about 10 minutes a day on sight-reading: in this case 5 on K.O. drills, 5 on V.P. drills), you would need to get through an average of 1 chorale per minute. This seems a bit fast, but I guess you would speed up as you get better at the drills.

Has anyone gotten through all of the drills? Do you think Richman means go through all chorales or just enough to feel that you have mastered the technique? And lastly, any other opinions on amount of practice time? Richman mentions 15 minutes a day as being a good amount of sight-reading and also says you should spend no more than 2 minutes a day on the basic drills in chapter 3 because they are so strenuous. I think doing the K.O. and V.P. drills would be quite strenuous too (probably moreso).

Yes I know this thread is old.