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The Bach festival in our area is changed this year to a level format. That is, students are selected from branch level to play at regional level, and so on. After the branch level, my son started learning new pieces, and just recently returned to the Bach pieces to prepare for the upcoming festival. Although, he's practicing/polishing the Bach pieces, I can tell that he's bored and would do just enough then move on to practice his newer pieces. I'm concerned that although he plays those pieces better now than several months ago, it might not be good enough to pass the next level.

What are some of the things that can be done to keep him interested/motivated? (He is in grade school, so his attention span is limited).

Also, when a festival consists of multiple levels that are months apart, do your students play the same pieces for all levels or do they learn new pieces for each one?

I only send the most talented students to Bach Regionals, and have done so for several years now. A lot of teachers only send their best kids to Regionals because the playing level is so ridiculously high. By the time they hit Regionals, most of my students will have already been playing the same Bach piece for a year. I don't do CWA, but I know some of my colleagues who do CWA; they make their kids play the same Bach piece for two years or longer. I think that's borderline cruel.

If your son is already "bored" between the branch event and Bach Regionals, then Bach Regionals is definitely not for him.

I'm not sure if the details of our Baroque regional work the same as yours. In our branch some students are "invited" to the regional level. The ones invited are of course the ones who are rated highly enough by the adjudicator.

Anyway we also have the problem that the regional can be months later when our students have long since moved on from that particular Baroque piece.

My solution is that we often decline the invitation to the regional.

Do you mean keep him interest in his Bach piece or keep him interest in piano lesson overall?

I agree that playing the same piece for two+ years is a bit much. Fortunately for him (and us), my son's teacher asked him to put the Bach pieces aside and worked on new pieces after the festival. He just recentl returned to those for the upcoming Regionals.

I think our festival is the same format as yours. I think two years ago, one could sign up for the Regionals directly. Not sure why MTAC changed it this year. Is it a requirement that the students play the same pice at each level?

I mean keeping him interest in the Bach pieces. He prefers working on his "new" pieces instead of polishing the Bach pieces for the upcoming festival.

First of all, Bach Festival is a separate entity, not governed by MTAC.

I'm pretty sure the rules are the same for all branches and regions. They have to be! Otherwise it's not fair to kids in other branches/regions. There are no rule changes that I'm aware of, and I've never heard of people signing up for Regionals directly, bypassing the branch event--unless you're talking about voice, strings, and winds.

It's always been the requirement that the student plays the same piece at the branch and regional levels, even way back when I did Bach Festival as a student. But back then we didn't have Regionals as a competitive event; it was more of a recital, and the performance level was pretty horrible since everybody just stopped practicing their pieces after the branch event.

Ok then we are talking about different programs. I haven't heard of the event you're talking about. Our Baroque festival is governed by MTAC branches.

Maybe having an extra lesson about those Bach pieces with another teacher - who should be really good on Bach - could give him some new insights and motivation to work at those pieces from a different angle. I'm thinking about some kind of masterclass. Maybe his teacher would even help to find someone.

To answer your question, how to keep your son interest in Bach's piece.....

1.
Bach's pieces themselves are very interesting piece. You either love Bach so much, or you hate it so much. That is my experience with my students. I won't feel surprise or offended by my students if they tell me they do not like Bach's piece. If that is the case, I will assign Sacrlatti's Sonata instead of Bach's Prelude or Fugue, or Invention.

2.
Playing a same piece for two years is too long!! I won't blame that your son is losing interest in this piece.

3.
Pianomouse's idea is the best idea. Try this link Craig Richey at Long Beach State. I attended his presentation about Bach's piece a while ago and I really like him and his interpretation. Let your teacher knows that you like to have a master teacher maybe every other month to support your current Bach piece. A mature teacher should not have problem with this.

Two years ago, my son went to a Bach festival held at Cypress College. Are they not the same event?

His teacher gives piano masterclasses, and she's known for Bach, so I'm afraid it might not go over too well with her if we ask her to send him to a masterclass. Thanks for your put, though.

I don't know what branch/region you are in, so your branch/region may very well have used Cypress College for its Bach Festival. Alternatively, it may also have been a different competition, which has since been canceled by its organizer.

You really should read the information at www.scjbf.org. It will answer a lot of your questions.

He's not a big Bach fan. He played most of the two-part Inventions but never really liked Bach. I think that has something to do with it. He's more interested in Haydn for some reasons.



My son has never played a piece for more than 2 years. It was students of AZN's colleagues.



It's a good idea, but I'm not sure it'll work for us (see my response to Pianomouse's reply). Thank you for your suggestions.