Bach Prelude in C

[lynnicks]

I know there have been numerous posts about this piece but I wonder if that's because the maority of teachers aren't teaching it properly.
In any case, I am an adult learner and I have had multiple teachers, because they were not teaching me any technique. While I was trying to learn Prelude in C, I was told that none of the notes should sound louder than the others. However, exactly how to do this, was not fully explained. I experimented but never quite got it. How is this done?

[brogers70]

You are probably talking about the Prelude from the first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier, but that's only a guess since you do not say.

One suggestion as to how to get the notes to have a more consistent dynamic is to work on just a single one of the arpeggios. Settle on your fingering. Then do completely the opposite of your goal. Play it a few times making the first note much louder than the others, then the second, then the third, etc. Then work on making the difference between the louder note and the others smaller and smaller, listening very carefully, until you are happy that they are equal in volume.

If that's not helpful at first, just work on one hand doing a scale CDEFGGFEDC, doing the same thing. Plan to emphasize one of the notes a lot, and then reduce the emphasis until it sounds equal to the others.

Give it a try. I often find that starting out doing the extreme opposite of what I want and then working towards what I want gradually helps my body figure out what it need to do to control the sound. This kind of control takes time to develop, so don't get frustrated.

[vandoren]

Personally, I like to include some dynamic shape so that the phrases breath rather than aiming for strictly the same dynamics for each note. 

[brogers70]

Personally, I like to include some dynamic shape so that the phrases breath rather than aiming for strictly the same dynamics for each note.

I agree with you, and apart from shaping phrases one can also focus on individual lines that Bach has hidden by voicing up particular notes in each arpeggio, say, bring out a tenor line by voicing up the second 16th in each arpeggio. The OP, however, seemed to be a beginning student having trouble keeping a consistent volume throughout each arpeggio without having individual notes stick out randomly. Before they can do nice things with phrasing and voicing they need to work on getting the control necessary to play at a consistent volume when they want to.

[dizzyfingers]

I know there have been numerous posts about this piece but I wonder if that's because the maority of teachers aren't teaching it properly.
In any case, I am an adult learner and I have had multiple teachers, because they were not teaching me any technique. While I was trying to learn Prelude in C, I was told that none of the notes should sound louder than the others. However, exactly how to do this, was not fully explained. I experimented but never quite got it. How is this done?

That idea, "none of the notes should sound louder than the others", is a challenging objective for a beginner, it requires a lot of control over the hands/fingers, and usually takes years of practice.  Perhaps the teacher was trying to point out that some notes were extreme in loudness/articulation in relation to the ones preceding it.  Perhaps an objective of "smoothness of sound" where the loudness/articulation of one note is closely related to the one before it would be better.  This isn't easy but perhaps easier.

You can post a video of your playing here and we'll let you know how your technique is.

[pjslp17]

In the C major prelude of Bach WTC book 1, generally you want and are trying to make each note sound the same volume (loudness maybe I should say) for each note in the half measure, unless you are performing a crescendo or decrescendo, in which case you want controlled changes in volume. 

In the below link, Kindkaktus had difficulty with controlled evenness of tone in this Bach prelude.  I’m guessing you are having this same problem.  You may notice that many of your tones randomly come out way too soft or loud. 

The below link shows that Kindkaktus was able to overcome this problem.  Compare his first recording of this Bach prelude that shows very poor tone control with his last recording that shows greatly improved tone control.  Hopefully, Kindkaktus can shed some light on how he was able to make this improvement.

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=68746.0

Good luck to you.

[pianistavt]

... While I was trying to learn Prelude in C, I was told that none of the notes should sound louder than the others ...

It's good to ask how things are done, it's good to try to play notes certain ways...
But I agree with other posters here - - don't lock yourself down with the idea "this is how it should be done" - this prelude can be interpreted many different ways - that's part of its magic.
For example, here is my "non-standard" interpretation.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CFnoA6HnMFA/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Note how the notes do not have the same loudness within the chordal phrase.
Personally, I disagree with your teacher and everyone who proffers that approach - it's pedantic.

[pjslp17]

I know there have been numerous posts about this piece but I wonder if that's because the maority of teachers aren't teaching it properly.
In any case, I am an adult learner and I have had multiple teachers, because they were not teaching me any technique. While I was trying to learn Prelude in C, I was told that none of the notes should sound louder than the others. However, exactly how to do this, was not fully explained. I experimented but never quite got it. How is this done?

The OP says “In any case, I am an adult learner and I have had multiple teachers, because they were not teaching me any technique. While I was trying to learn Prelude in C, I was told that none of the notes should sound louder than the others. However, exactly how to do this, was not fully explained. I experimented but never quite got it. How is this done?”. 

Words that caught my eye: “adult learner”, “they were not teaching me any technique” and “exactly how to do this, was not fully explained” where “how to do this” meaning – how to play so all the notes are played at the same loudness. 

So, the OP appears to not be able to play all the notes at the same volume because of a lack of technique. I’m guessing certain notes randomly and non-musically are played either too soft or too loud – almost spastically – due to a lack of technique. This is addressed in the link that I provided earlier.  Even if you feel that all the notes in a half measure should not be played at the same loudness – which I don’t have a problem if done musically and with good taste - the player should have the ABILITY to play all the notes at the same volume if he wanted to.  The OP does not appear to have this ability.

[dizzyfingers]

The OP says ...

And where is this OP, "lynnicks"?   ... a new account .. 1 post .. and then .. gone forever?
Did she read the responses?
Probably not - and where does that leave us ... all our wisdom, seeds scattered to the winds

[lelle]

And where is this OP, "lynnicks"?   ... a new account .. 1 post .. and then .. gone forever?
Did she read the responses?
Probably not - and where does that leave us ... all our wisdom, pearls before swine.

When I find I've posted in topics with this typ of OP, I take comfort in the fact that there are a lot of lurkers reading this forum to learn, and people finding their way from google who still benefit from reading everyone's perspectives in the replies!