Hello, I've been working on this for a long time now but so far I've never been able to quite play anything properly, especially Bach. A few months ago my friend told me that it sounds choppy and there is no clear voice leading in my Bach. I haven't played Bach for her eversince because I want to learn do play properly first before I do it again. So is this even remotely close to how Bach should sound? ( I know the piano sounds bad, but I can't afford a tuner right now )

I think you can identify the repeating figures and place a little more emphasis on each as they come around. I see the bold as a repeating figure.

(A-C-E-C-A-C-F#-A-C-A-F#-D#-C-B-A-G#

It does sound "choppy" in the sense that the notes don't connect to each other. You have definite gaps between most notes. Try singing the melody and observe how you naturally join the notes. Then compare this to your piano playing. You will probably have to slow things down to relearn your finger movements. I suspect you might play like that by reflex now. Still, I think you have good fingers, they just need to be nurtured to create connected musical phrases. Do you have a teacher?

I think he's just not playing the 8th notes legato which is fine(unless Bach marked them legato which is highly unlikely). The 16th notes are legato and don't have"gaps".

Yes, you are right about the left hand, but I also feel there is a disconnected feeling in the right hand. The piano has an odd tone, but I think it's the way the notes are connecting (or not connecting). I think one key is letting go before the next one is being depressed. It's not the way I would play it anyway.

The 16ths are legato, or at least I thought I played legato, personally I can't hear them as having gaps, I thought they were starting to sound pretty clear and that it's a good thing. The 8th notes, I play detached on purpose. I'm working on making them neither legato nor staccato just detached.



Yes but I just took all my first semester exams and I'm in vacation between the two semesters till the 13th. When my piano professor last left me I couldn't even play this at a slow tempo and she said it's a huge jump for me because I previously only played two of the little preludes (and not too well I might add). But I worked for a month after that and now it's starting to take shape and it's very easy notewise.


What do you think about the ending? Should there be such a huge rit. or should it end with no slowing down and more boldly?

I think it's clear, but doesn't really sound legato to me. I think you could use more legato there and it would take away the choppiness. I've listened to it again (with headphones this time) and I think part of the problem might be your piano. It seems to have very hard hammers and it produces a very strong attack on every note. Maybe that is part of what I don't like about the sound. If the hammers are hardened (compressed), it makes the attack of the note much louder than the decay and it can produce a slightly staccato effect. It's hard to make a melody sing with hammers that hard. Your piano is probably in need of a bit of service (hammer voicing and a good tune). That would help the sound quite a bit I think. It's important that your piano isn't harming your technique so if you can afford to have it done, I really recommend you do.



I quite like your ending. The rit is not excessive.

I think it sounds as good as it will get until you get your piano tuned.

It sounds to me like your piano is out of tune too. Can you have it fixed if it is yours?

I had the same thought.