I found that this is a very easy piece of J.S.BACH.
I like Bach and i gonna start to learn this nice piece. I am practising piano 5 months 2 hours daily.
Is iot to early to start with Bach ???

Not at all! I learned that Minuet within six months of starting the piano. It is an excellent start to learning counterpoint. It seems like an easy piece but it can be a bit challenging to bring out the two voices.

Go for it! I just submitted this Minuet for the November recital. I have been taking lessons for over 2 years, but I am a slow learner. These songs are harder than they look.

Bach almost always look much easier than it feels really. I was mislead many times and I think I still am not ready for Bach It's a very valuable tool to learn counterpoint, voice separation, dynamics, rhythm and clarity and not to be underestimated.

I say - go for it! At worst, you won't be happy with results for quite a long time - but you will certainly get a lot of pleasure from learning it.


M.

I also learned that piece in my first 6 months. Still play it sometimes too. It's a great piece -- go for it!

Very interested to hear your recorded version - I think there's another Minuet in G by Bach in the Recital - I wonder if it's the same one? - How many Minuets in G did he write?

I'm working on this piece myself right now - my 1st Bach - really like the movement within the piece, both RH & LH - excellent harmonics & basic counterpoint - and yes, it is a little more challenging than it looks at first - but well worth the extra effort to get it down - makes me look forward to alot more Bach in the future

Regards, JF

That'd be my submission to the recital then

I think there's a Major and Minor variant of Minuet in G. The Major one is by Christian Petzold although it appears in Bach's collection. Not sure about the Minor one.

That pretty much sums up how I feel about my submission for this months recital. I intend to keep polishing this piece though whilst starting work on some new pieces.

John Frank....I am working out of the Schirmer's book "First Lessons in Bach". There are several Minuet's in G in the book. The first three songs in the book ara a Minuet in G Major, Minuet in G Minor, and the third again in G major. I submitted the first one and am working on the second, in G minor.
The third one is also familar. It is very lilty and is a study in arpeggios. I am looking forward to learning it.

Gary001. I thought that the Minuet in G minor was the one written by Christian Petzold?. I think he was a student of Bach. Anyway I am looking forward to hearing your recital piece.

Ok. thank you guys, but what is the original tempo of that piece ? Is it moderato , allegreto or allegro ? Where i have to put metronome on ?

Allegretto d.= 66 according to the music I have. I think it sounds nice at any speed. Good luck with it.

i watched some performances of minuet in G and i used metronome with it. I think that he performed at about 130 but i am not sure.

wj3: I'm pretty sure Christian Petzold did Minuet in G Major. Whether he also did a Minor piece, I do not know.

Perhaps one of the two G Major minuets in your book is the Christian Petzold one? Looking in the Succeeding with the Masters book, it looks like Bach has at least two "Minuet in G Major" in the "Bach Notebook", one by Petzold and one by Bach. I say "at least", as I'm basing this off the pieces in the "Succeeding with..." book which is only a selection of pieces from the notebook.

danzack: I'm not sure about the others but I used a 120 tempo when recording my piece. The book I played it from recommended between 96 and 120, whether the tempo of the piece when originally played falls within that range, your guess is probably better than mine

The version of this piece that I'm working on has a general tempo indication of Allegretto , which of course, is a relative tempo somewhere between Moderato and Allegro .

If Allegretto can be very loosely defined as somewhere in the range of say 96-120 bpm (as Gary indicates is specified by his source) then there is obviously a fairly wide range of "acceptable" tempos (tempi) for this piece.

However, I think that the Minuet was (at least originally) a rather slow, formal, stately dance and, based on this, it might be preferable to lean towards the lower end of the tempo range when playing this - and most other - Minuets.

Just a thought.

Regards, Jf

Gary001. It appears that we might both be right. According to Wikpedia it seems that he might have composed both pieces. I am working on the minor piece now. It is a beautiful piece.

that's one of the pieces i was learning when i just started. it's easy, but for a total beginner, still it's not going to be easy. i remember i was struggling with it. well, it's long time ago...

actually, it comes from Bach's A.M.Notebook, of which several pieces were not composed by Bach but his students, even though those names are not mentioned on the book.

My edition of AMB Notebook - Keith Snell J.S. Bach Selections from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, attributes the Minuet in G Minor BWV 115 to Christian Petzold as well. I've heard it suggested that you can play the Minuet in G Major, G Minor, and G Major again as a set.

Rich

Hey danzack,

I've been playing only a few months. My new teacher said she was going to challenge me, and gave me the Minuet in G Major from the Anna Magdalena Notebook. Supposedly, I will play this in a recital next month.

It looks easy enough, but I'm really struggling with it. This week I made almost no progress on it at all. But I know I'll get it, and it will be fun to play.

In other words, no it's not to early to start with Bach!

Danzack,

The Minuet in G Major is printed in RCM Level 3 exam book. This is the first real piece my daughter learn after 2 months of piano lesson and she is just turn 6 year old. So, you should be able to handle it.

BTW,

Try the Musette from "Notebook of Anna Magdalena Bach" too. My daughter and I like it a lot. I asked her to play the Musette everyday after her 30 mins practice.

Here is the link you can download it:
http://gmajormusictheory.org/Freebies/bios/Bach/Bach.html

Enjoying this piece greatly - challenging playing it thru relatively error free - have it memorized now -

Here's a little "bonus" you might like to try (although it involves "meddling" with Bach) - after you repeat the 2nd section go back and play the 1st section once more. This would be the same as a D.C al Fine with the Fine at the end of the 1st section. Repeat the 1st section again only one time and use a slight ritardando at the finish.

That 1st section is so unique and attractive it almost calls out for a final repeat to wrap the piece up! I think old Bach himself might even "approve this message"

Regards, JF

JF,

I'm sure Bach would approve of that, especially if the final play through is done with LOTS of ORNAMENTS!

Seriously, improvisation was not only acceptable, but expected in the Baroque era.

Rich

Rich - I'd like to think he would approve (and that Anna Magdalena would have preferred it this way). Also - I'd love to play it with lots of ornaments but at this stage I don't know too many - but I'll revisit it later when I do

Regards, JF

P.S. that was the Baroque Era and this is the "Broke" Era