Hi,
I posted a similar message in the Teachers' forum but I thought it would be nice to hear from any of you in this thread.

First of all, I have to say playing Bach has helped me improve my skills a lot in such a short period of time. It's been about a month since I started seriously practicing Bach Inventions. Just to tell you a few examples, I can play Mozart sonata K310 A Minor and Beethoven Moonlight sonata 3rd movement a lot better with much more control of my fingers. Specially my left hand is way stronger now. I am really excited about it and can't stop playing piano whenever I have a chance!

Anyway, here it goes. I am having a bit hard time teaching myself the Aria and the Variation #1 of Goldberg Variations. Here is the link to Glen Gould's performance. I hope it works.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7LWANJFHEs&feature=related

As I practice, I find it harder than it sounds. I have learned the most of the inventions so I thought I had enough skills to learn these variations. But the rhythm in the Aria with all the ornaments makes it hard to play beautifully in spite of the slowness of this piece. How do you play musically like Glen Gould? (I know this is a rediculous question...)

Also my sheetmusic (downloaded from MutopiaProject.org) doesn't have fingering suggestions and has different ornaments than Gould's playing. I wondered if Gould added some ornaments by himself. Then I watched other pianists' playing like Barenboim, Maria Yudina and found each of them played with different combination of ornaments. I guess it is up to the pianist, is it?

Overall, I am focucing on "quiet hands" and good control of my fingers on the keyboard. I have a really bad "banging" habit that had built over many years. Do you think learning Bach and trying to fix my bad habit will work, or is there a better way?

I plan to go forward with all the rest of Goldberg Variations.
I will also continue my other Bach basic pieces like sinfonias and the whole Well Tempered Clavier book 1 & 2.

Anyway, if you can give me any suggestions, advices or any thoughts, it will be great.

Also if any of you are learning Bach please share your experiences just for fun!



Thank you.

Regards,

Eunyoung

Eunyoung, Bach Music Manuscript Notation This page on ornaments in Bach's music might be helpful. I had a teacher once who suggested I think of the ornaments as a soprano singing an aria.

Sam

Hi Sam,

Thank you for the nice link. I will study it.
I like that there are options in how you play the ornaments.

How did you enjoy playing Bach's music? Would you mind telling me how it helped your skills?

Eunyoung