Baroque Style

[scherzo123]

Hi! Since I'm required to play Bach to be a music major, do you guys have any tips of playing Bach and what the Baroque style is? Thanks! 

[scherzo123]

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[rachmaninoff_forever]

I'm not a fan of Bach because I'm not very good at playing his music.

However, what I learned is that when playing Bach, one must use as least pedal as often.  Only to glue two notes together if it's impossible to reach without playing legato.

All the dynamics are scaled down.  The piano didn't exist Bach then so what you would think of a forte now was actually a lot softer back then because Harpsichords weren't as loud as pianos.  So when you're playing forte with Bach, don't play as loud as the traditional forte you would think of.  Scale it down a bit.

Everything with Bach is formal.  So EVERYTHING has to be perfect.  Every note is super clear, it has it's own little place in it's own little world timing has to be precise, everything has to be...  Agh!  I can't stand it!

[j_menz]

Not sure I can capture the Baroque in a nutshell, but a very brief introduction.

The key to Baroque music is its contrapuntal nature (counterpoint).  Whereas classical, romantic, jazz, rock, pop etc tend (thoungh not always) to have a main "tune" and a harmonic accompianament, in the Baroque there are several "tunes" going on at once that relate to one another, both harmonically and in terms of their structure.  This can be as simple as 2 voices in a sort of question/answer sequence, such as in the Bach Invention you are playing, or as  complex as a six voice fugue.

Basically, you need to learn to treat the voices independently and to interrelate them to one another. I've heard it described elsewhere here as thinking horizontally as opposed to the verticality of other styles.

[asuhayda]

The hardest thing for me about Baroque is that you have to know which parts "have the floor" and which parts do not.  Then, you have to make sure that they are clearly articulated.

It's funny, I hate practicing Bach, but I find that it's a lot of fun to play the finished product.  Playing Bach is like playing a game to me.. I dunno it's weird.