Help on Invention 13

[leongws]

hi guys first post here.
I'm currently learning invention no.13 in a minor by bach, been learning + practicising about less than half of the piece for 8 days. its my first baroque piece, could you guys give any tips + suggestions + criticism please? thank you very much.

[chopinlover01]

Not bad.
A couple of things, though:
If you want to play it THIS fast, you're going to have to shape things much more.
In addition, with Bach in general (but especially with inventions), you should do a slight tempo fluctuation at major cadences.

[leongws]

Not bad.
A couple of things, though:
If you want to play it THIS fast, you're going to have to shape things much more.
In addition, with Bach in general (but especially with inventions), you should do a slight tempo fluctuation at major cadences.

thank you for your comment. unfortunately, I'm not good in music theory, what are major cadences?

[kuska]

In addition, with Bach in general (but especially with inventions), you should do a slight tempo fluctuation at major cadences.

I like this explanation

[109natsu]

Hi leongws,

8 days??? Great job! That's good for 8 days!

I think you need to slow down your tempo a little bit. It can help you do the following suggestions I have...
- Focus on picking up your fingers after you play them. Doesn't mean the fingers should be 3 inches in the air though.
-  Bring out the theme more. For example, there is the theme in Measure 1. Then it appears in the left hand, the eighth notes going the opposite direction, in the third beats of the same measure.
- Also, I want to hear more shaping, like what Chopinlover said. Generally, on the notes that go up in pitch, you crescendo, and on the notes that go down in pitch, you decrescendo.

Playing Bach is really hard. That's because not matter how you play it, half of the audience is going to disagree with your interpretation.

When someone plays with pedal, they go "no pedal in Bach!!!"
When someone, like you, who keeps it in tempo, someone else (Chopinlover) goes "fluctuate tempo!!!"
As far as your interpretation goes, be original, and do what you want to do, not what other people tell you.

Happy practicing,

Natsu Ozawa
Cleveland, OH

[coolpianoman]

This is one of the hardest so well done
I really would slow down though.  all these inventions have a call and response structure which means the left hand is an important as the right and at this speed it just sounds like a race.  You cant hear the times when you have to lift the notes or stop the phrasing either at this speed.
It sounds like 'look how fast I have learnt this piece!' instead of 'listen to what a wonderful piece this is that I want to share with you and delight you'
Chris