video: bach's invention no. 1

[sumpianodude]

I have been learning this for a month and a half. this is my second piece ever played by Bach.(the first was prelude no.1 from the well tempered clavier)

(sorry for the mistakes. recording makes me very nervous for some reason...)
at what level is my technique at?

[torandrekongelf]

Very nice. I appriciate any attempt on playing Bach because its the smartest thing any student can do.

I would say that your level is around 1-2 (Henle difficulty system) and there is nothing wrong with that. There are still tons of pieces you can play.

I would recommend playing the Notebook to Anna Magdalena Bach. There are many pieces there for your level. And then you move on to more inventions.

I dont know if it was the nerves but you should relax as much as possible. Try to search for some piano relaxation guides on youtube and do them always before playing. All your muscles and joints should be like gelly and you should always rely on gravity.

Especially for Bach its nice to practice "tension-relaxation" on each note in this exercise. You will see that in movie by me on the same piece my arm bounces a bit on each note.

Practice those ornaments as well to make them quick.

Just keep on playing doable pieces and focus on relaxation as much as possible. I am looking forward to seeing more

[sumpianodude]

Very nice. I appriciate any attempt on playing Bach because its the smartest thing any student can do.

actually my teacher is having me play this, i never heard of it until someone at this forum told me, then my teacher at the same time(coincidence) had me play it   i had nothing to do with it

I would say that your level is around 1-2 (Henle difficulty system) and there is nothing wrong with that. There are still tons of pieces you can play.

just looked up the Henle difficulty system(i don't use it)
it said prelude no. 1 was lv 2. i played that a year ago

[torandrekongelf]

Just continue with level 2 and 3 then for the time being and go to level 4 when you feel you are ready

[sumpianodude]

also, can people who are looking at this point out any bad habits i have in piano playing? it would be helpful if i fixed them. many thanks to anyone who has taken the time to watch the video and (possibly) give feedback (especially torandrekongelf)

[pianotv]

Nice job! Bach is very difficult, even his easier stuff (Or is that just me? Lol). I'm seconding the idea to pick up the Notebook for Anna Magdalena - a lot of the pieces are actually quite difficult, but not quite as hard as most of the inventions.

Nerves are something I struggle with as well. But what I find is that when I play for somebody (or just for my video camera), the mistakes that occur can be a bit of a lesson - it can illuminate me on certain spots of the piece that maybe I thought I had down, but are actually more insecure than I thought. And then I know I need to work more on those sections. Just my two cents, I don't have a real solution to the nerves themselves!

In terms of constructive criticism, I noticed that your tempo started to slow in the minor section toward the end, so just watch for evenness. I struggle with Bach because while you don't want to do dramatic, romantic-style dynamics, you still want to make the playing three-dimensional. So look at how you can shape the phrases and build a dynamic plan, and I think that would help. I just finished my grade 10 RCM, and that's more or less what the examiner told me - whoops - so you can learn from my mistakes!

[abielikesu]

Good work. I would suggest the Classics to Moderm books. They have a nice music selection, including from the Ana Magdalena notebook. I also like that the music is as originally written, not transcriptions to make it easier.

Another book I recommend is Piano Pieces for children. It has 100 pieces in order of difficulty. And the selection is really really nice.

As soon as u can, go back to the Inventions. Or to put in another way, always keep an invention in the works. They are really wonderful music.