Bach: prelude No. 1 advice?

[shotkong64x]

hi,

first of all im new here,  ive been playing piano for about 2 months now.  My teacher gave me this piece, and it is considerably difficult compared to the other pieces I have done.    Does anyone have any advice how i should go about playing this?  thanks

[BoliverAllmon]

just relax and read tons of posts by bernhard and CC. They are good teachers.

boliver

[Phantasmagoria]

no one should be doing this piece after only 2 months of lessons, it is mostly chord arpeggios, but I doubt you have learned all the chords and inversions you are arpeggiating, and imo its just too much for that early.  I suggest you go to your teacher and ask for a different piece, rushing to this is not helpful.  However if you want to stick it out, its really not too hard to play, make sure it sounds nice and legato and follow the fingering properly, its very straightforward using the same rhythmic technique through out

[xvimbi]

Which prelude No. 1 are we talking about?

[BoliverAllmon]

i believe we are talking about WTC book 1. I think you can accomplish this piece with little difficulty. Just keep at it and relax.

[xvimbi]

i believe we are talking about WTC book 1. I think you can accomplish this piece with little difficulty.

Really? Given the stage that shotkong64x is at, I would have expected Prelude No. 1 from the Six Little Preludes, but I could be wrong. Clarification, please.

Just keep at it and relax.

That's very useful advice

[chopin_girl]

say whaaaaaat??
WTK I first prelude??
it took me seven years of learning the piano to get to that piece!
i can't believe that's WTK.
maybe little prelude?
oh man,,,,can't believe it!
two months.....no way,jose!

[rlefebvr]

Actually, I learned it within my first 3 months of playing. I found it very very easy.
Could be all the work I did on the Classical Guitar.

Some stuff just comes easy and others not.

Takes Bach little minuets that all beginners learn. 4 years later and I can barely play the first three. Find them very hard and yet they are not.

The sad part of the fist prelude from WTC is that it can be played without really knowing what you are doing.
Learn it, but make sure the teacher explains to you  what you are actually doing.

[chopin_girl]

i think that's a stupid thing-to play a piece without knowing what you're doing.
oh well.but there probably is a difference in which a student who plays for a couple of years plays and a beginner.
that's a stupid thing too-to let a beginner play that bach.

[shotkong64x]

ah sorry if the title wasnt specific enough,  thats the title of the peice is at the top of the page.. so...  i dunno..   There is no chords in it what so ever (except one at the end).  and its basically just all 8th notes.  the left hand only plays 2 notes per measure for a majority of the peice, maybe that will help determine which song it is.

I finished 1 page of it so far, it really isnt that difficult.  basically im just playing it, adding a mesure, perfecting that, then adding another measure, and repeating.

[rlefebvr]

i think that's a stupid thing-to play a piece without knowing what you're doing.
oh well.but there probably is a difference in which a student who plays for a couple of years plays and a beginner.
that's a stupid thing too-to let a beginner play that bach.

Well, that all depends. You have to start somewhere and the first Prelude can actually be learned as an exercise more than a piece. Later on, you learn what makes it tick and re-learn it again and then it becomes a great piece to play. (it's one of my favorites)

As for a beginner playing Bach, you must be talking about mostly about the WTC work and that could be a valid point.

The fact is a lot of beginner start by learning the Minuets from Bach. Everything you need to learn is in there and is great for beginners.

Remember, just because someone has been learning the piano for a couple of months does not mean he or she has no music knowledge whatsoever. They may have a lot of knowledge, simply not on a piano. This makes the learning experience very different from what I would call a total beginner who does not even know how to read music.

[quasimodo]

I have 30 years of guitar and had 6 months of piano courses when I was 6 but I hardly depressed a piano keyboard since then.  I've just restarted piano a few DAYS ago and that bach's prelude is something I do not have major problems to play.

Piano-wise there's no big difficulty in it (no such need of coordination between the two hands) and that's what makes it such a masterpiece : great music in a very simple expression.

Its arpeggios are really reminding guitar ones (but this piece cannot be transcribed for guitar). That's why, like rlefebvr, I can play it more or less correctly. Only the last three bars take a little bit more attention.

I don't really agree with some posts here that consider you should not play a piece without understanding all the musical subtlety it includes: it's like if you say "you shouldn't drive a car without an advanced knowledge of the physical principles that makes it function" . Music instruction is one thing and intstrument learning is another. I even think that for a music beginner with a good guidance, working on the piece lets you discover musical notions (like arpeggios, chords and inversions in that prelude) in such a funnier way than learning it as a dull theory.

[jlh]

Sounds like #1 from WTC book 1 to me.  Actually, the whole thing is just broken chords, so that's what Phantasmagoria was talking about.  Notice how in every beat the notes are added one by one to create a different chord.

ah sorry if the title wasnt specific enough,  thats the title of the peice is at the top of the page.. so...  i dunno..   There is no chords in it what so ever (except one at the end).  and its basically just all 8th notes.  the left hand only plays 2 notes per measure for a majority of the peice, maybe that will help determine which song it is.

I finished 1 page of it so far, it really isnt that difficult.  basically im just playing it, adding a mesure, perfecting that, then adding another measure, and repeating.

[super_ardua]

Practice it at the speed where you can happily get almost all the notes right.  If that is extremely slw so be it.  Then speed it up gradually