Bach's music

[tdk2302]

Hey guys, I'm currently working on Bach's prelude and fugue. I don't know if any of you experience this but I found his music not so enjoyable like any other music I play. Therefore, I can't move far with his music. Can you guys give me some tips to how to approach Bach's music and make it more enjoyable? Thanks. 

[j_menz]

1) Which Prelude & Fugue? - he wrote rather a lot of them.

2) Is this the first piece by Bach you have played?

3) What else have you played?

I am assuming you mean Johann Sebastian, not one of the multitudinous others.

[tdk2302]

I mean Bach's music in general. I'm currently working on Prelude and Fugue number 21 in Bb major. I played Mozart, Chopin, Khachaturian, Schubert, Debussy, Beethoven. Yes this is the first time I play Bach's prelude and fugue,. I only play Bach's intervention before that.

[j_menz]

I'm assuming you mean one of the two part inventions, though I do rather like the idea of a Bach Intervention. Several people around here would benefit from that. 

Are you talking about Vol 1 or 2 of the WTC?

It's quite a jump from an Invention to a P&F.  Bach wrote in a baroque style, which heavily relies on counterpoint and polyphony. You probably should read up on what that involves a bit, and listen to some recordings on YT to get an idea how it works in practice.

I'd seriously suggest you start with a few more of the Inventions, then just have a look at some of the less dense Preludes on their own. Get a feel for how he writes before starting on a fugue.

[brogers70]

Some people, alas, just do not like Bach. If you have not done so already, I'd suggest listening to some of his vocal and non-keyboard instrumental music, St. Matthew Passion, B minor Mass, Brandenburg Concertos, Violin Sonatas. If none of that says anything to you, then the keyboard music probably won't either.

For learning the fugue, try writing it out in parts as though it were for two violins and a cello; that way the structure will be really obvious, and understanding the structure in more detail may make it interesting to you (this is assuming you're not a grad student who's taken courses in counterpoint and fugue writing and can just look at the keyboard score and see everything immediately).

[tdk2302]

Thanks guys for advices. I been playing Bach's interventions so its feel alright when to me playing prelude and fugues. I just don't enjoy it and so can't practice that much, it doesn't come like other pieces? Hope you know what I mean .

[indianajo]

Playing things you don't like is part of maturing. If you ever play with a group, or play for pay, a lot of things you won't like.  Being able to do that meets the expectations or needs of other people, your cohort or coworkers or patrons.  I played Koch's Der Jongler at recital, and haven't touched it again since. Vile cacophony.   I played Vaclav Nehlibyl's Symphonic Movement in high school band, and have never played that cut of the LP we recorded again in my life.  But I and we did it.  I've moved on from those experiences.
I happen to love most of J S Bach keyboard pieces.  The academic structure is not what pleases me. I don't "study" J S Bach to pass a music theory course.   The internal harmonies, the suspensions and then resolutions, the melody repetitions and modifications, affect my mind profoundly.  Perhaps your mind doesn't work as mathematically as  mine.     Fine, everybody is not the same and maybe you can't fully appreciate his work.  But being able to play J S Bach has important teaching points that you should not miss.  Skipping practice of something you don't like is not a good way to learn it, then move on.  Practicing something you don't like intensely gets you past it the quickest way.  

[rmbarbosa]

I`m not sure if someone can play Mozart, Beethoven or the romantics without a previous "knowledge" of Bach... Bach is Music in all its depth, he`s a genius and with his Music we can understand the compositional architecture of Music. Music is not only "heart" but also "brain" and without "brain" there is no "heart"... I sugest you search Bernhard posts about Bach.
Best wishes
Rui

[nystul]

To me a big aspect of learning a Bach piece is breaking it down into musical phrases.  We are used to reading the more detailed notation that evolved over time, where the composer is more and more obvious about his musical intentions.  If Rachmaninoff would like you play a bit louder he just puts fffffff and you know it is safe to play a little louder.  With Bach there are often more questions than answers.  What tempo should I play?  What dynamic?  What articulations?  

 As a youngster I pretty much ignored it all and focused on hitting the right notes.    But as an adult I feel that if we can break the piece down into the individual voices, see the motives and melodies Bach is working with and determine some sort of natural phrasing, realize some emotion within those themes... now these other questions can be answered naturally based on the emotion of the piece instead of some random guessing game.