Never played any Bach

[ferron123]

Hello everyone,

I have been playing for 2 years and a half now. I've played Debussy's Reverie, some easier Chopin preludes, Beethoven's "Moonlight" sonata (1st mov) and fur elise. Nothing too hard.
However, I feel like my technique is extremely weak and my playing is "uneven", and I find myself unable to play any Bach/Mozart. I failed miserably at Invention No1&8 and Mozart's K545 1st movement.

When I began playing the piano, I never really played Classical pieces (just a bunch of traditional songs), at the recommendation of my teacher.

I've read that playing Bach would help, but I don't know where to start. He composed many pieces, which all seem super hard. Could you please give me suggestions of pieces to get me able to play Bach and Mozart?



Thank you very much!

I've played Hanon to improve technique and it didn't help me.

[ybanana]

Probably what you need is independence of the finger and hands. Don't try to solve it too quickly. It takes time. Up until my 5th year playing, I had smashed notes of the left hand together in  Mozart Sonatas.

After Fur Elise of the first movement of Moonlight Sonata, it might get back to quite easy stuff, but pieces from Bach's ''The Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach'' might be a good place to start.

Did your teacher ever give you exercises by Hanon? They are really effective at getting finger technique.

[preludetr]

For the Mozart, you might try playing some Clementi sonatinas, which are easier than the k545. For the Bach, I think you will just need to practice your scales and arpeggios for a while until you can do them smoothly, before moving on to the Inventions. Even if you're playing something without complicated notes, classical or baroque era pieces demand a certain evenness and articulation that in romantic music, you can somewhat get away without due to all the chords and pedal.

Sometimes, I think that a lack of evenness might have something to do with a lack of confidence in your knowledge of the notes. If you want to have an even spacing between the notes, you need to carefully plan out which keys you are going to press, without having to do any eyeballing or thinking about it.

[chopinlover01]

You may look into Czerny. Take Czerny with heavy doses of sedatives, though, to keep you from shooting yourself.
For Bach, look into the Anna Magdalena Notebook and the Little Preludes.

[ferron123]

Thank you for your fast answers.

I think it is a good idea to go back to (supposedly) easier pieces, such as in the Anna Mag book you suggested. Thank you.

Clementi's sonatina also look pretty cool and sound like it can prepare me to Mozart.

Also, my teacher always said that Hanon was too boring to ever put an ounce of effort into his works. He instead gave me some Burgumuler.


Thank you all, its cery appreciated

[outin]

You don't really need to play just Bach, almost any Baroque will  do to improve your playing if you do it right.

[briansaddleback]

i cant multi quote (unless you know how) but I agree with three statements above.. I definitely recommend working on your scales all major and minor and know how to play them fluidly not more so fast but articulating and manipulating the scales to your whim of staccato or legato or range in dynamics meaning make sure you are fluent in them and you know the topography or feel of the keyboard in each of them.

I highly recommend Czerny as well. Really work through (some ) of these slowly and understand the way you need to move your wrists arms fingers. You dont have to do every single exercise, that is not what the whole book is for (299 or 740 etc) He created a range of exercises that are similar as he knows everyone has different tastes and choose /pick the ones best for you and nail them drill them down for a year.

Yes, you can work on many other baroque. There is tons out there besides JS Bach.

[hardy_practice]

These are good: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Little_Preludes_%28Bach%29

[timothy42b]

Bach is.........well, I shouldn't make blanket authoritative statements.

In my inexpert opinion, Bach is HIGHLY dependent on fingering it the only possible way it can be done, and that way is often VERY nonintuitive when you are starting.  I think it is this that frustrates people about Bach.

Get somebody you trust to mark every note, and see if that makes a difference.

Scarlatti might be a little more accessible. 

[hardy_practice]

In my inexpert opinion, Bach is HIGHLY dependent on fingering it the only possible way it can be done, and that way is often VERY nonintuitive when you are starting.  I think it is this that frustrates people about Bach.
  

Precisely what his son said.

[rmbarbosa]

In my opinion, Bach is essential. To beginners, the little preludes, two voices Inventions after them, perhaps some three voices inventions, french suites, english suites, finally WTC.
I dont think possible to play Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, without a previous Bach.

[pencilart3]

Although most of the recordings I post on here are from Chopin, many of the pieces I play are by Bach. I actually just recorded one of his pieces, you can look for it in the audition room. But more recently, I've played the entire French Suite 5 and Italian Concerto. The reason I'm telling you this is because I never WANT to play any Bach. Seriously. There's nothing worse than starting a new difficult Bach piece. But am I glad to have done it? YES! Will I continue to do it? YES! Not because I find it enjoyable, but because it is essential music not only to have in one's repertoire but because these pieces laid the foundation for all of the other pieces we love, like Chopin, Beethoven, and Mozart.

Yes, Bach's pieces are almost all quite difficult, but with patience and persistence, you will find that it is worth it, and it is truly rewarding!! Stick with it, you can do it!

[CC]

I too, had difficulty playing the Inventions -- couldn't even memorize them. Took me something like 50 years to figure out why.  Bach had specific lessons in mind when he wrote them, and unless your teacher knows those lessons, you are going to have a hard time.  I have written relevant stuff in my book, go to my web page link below, and download 3rd edition and to section (44).  With these methods, I gained the confidence that Bach wasn't a problem anymore.  Because you will learn so much from geniuses like Bach, you should learn at least a few of the Inventions.  They are far, far, better then Czerny, Burgmuller, Cramer-Bulow, etc., that aren't even music and a total waste of time compared to Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, etc. There are few joys that can compare with talking one-on-one with these giants of geniuses through your music. For your lesson pieces, insist on music you can perform -- why do you think they call piano a "performing art"??  Ever heard of anyone performing a Cramer-Bulow at a concert?  Wonder why.

[hardy_practice]

  Ever heard of anyone performing a Cramer-Bulow at a concert?  Wonder why.

There's no such thing as a Cramer-Bülow - that was just an edition of Cramer studies chosen by Bülow.  Some Cramer studies were performed.  In fact he invented the concert étude!