How should I learn the goldberg variations

[xdanielyj]

Hello everyone,

I want to get started on the Bach Goldberg Variations. This piece has such a large personal value to me (It's possible I may never have started piano if this world did not have this piece) that I can't hold myself back from learning it any longer. The problem is, this is my first piece that's longer than a hour, so when I look at this piece I'm having trouble figuring out where to start. I assume learning one variation at a time will be the most efficient just as I would learn one movement at a time for a sonata or any other shorter variations. Anyways, I'd appreciate any advice on tackling the Goldberg Variations, and I would ask you to refrain from commenting any "if you have to ask, you're not at the level to play this piece" type of comments. Thank you!

Daniel

[anacrusis]

It's a big work to tackle! But the rewards are lovely. I think my personal approach would be to read through the work, identify the variations that seem the most difficult, and start with whatever number of those seem suitable to work on concurrently. Could be one variation at a time, could be more. Then I would work my way "backwards" to the technically easiest ones while continuing to polish the hard ones once the groundwork has been laid. That way, you'll be "finishing" more variations at the same time.

[xdanielyj]

It's a big work to tackle! But the rewards are lovely. I think my personal approach would be to read through the work, identify the variations that seem the most difficult, and start with whatever number of those seem suitable to work on concurrently. Could be one variation at a time, could be more. Then I would work my way "backwards" to the technically easiest ones while continuing to polish the hard ones once the groundwork has been laid. That way, you'll be "finishing" more variations at the same time.

Thank you for the advice. Upon reading your comment I realized reading multiple at the same time would probably be faster and would probably lead to better results.