Joined: Sun May 20, 2012 3:56 pm Posts: 391 Location: Boston, MA
Re: Which Bach Invention should I learn?
Balt-A-Sar wrote:
...just learn them all... ...
I have start somewhere... and it looks like it's #13.
Thanks again to everyone who voted and offered some feedback.
Brett - thanks for the heads up, I'll take a look/listen at her work.
Sat Feb 04, 2017 1:35 pm
Claire
Resident Contributor
Joined: Sun May 20, 2012 3:56 pm Posts: 391 Location: Boston, MA
Re: Which Bach Invention should I learn?
Just wanted to give an update on my progress and what I’ve learned so far.
I’ve managed to learn the notes, I can mostly get through the piece. Now I need to clean it up and make it sound like music.
Initially, I had an exceptionally hard time getting my hands to play the parts together. I’ve been learning the smaller sections in each hand, then putting it together. Early on, even though I could play each hand decently, everything would grind to a halt when I would try to put the two hands together - I could feel my brain thinking through what needed to happen in each hand. That’s not something I’ve ever experienced playing piano, so as a test, I got out a keyboard to see what would happen. On keyboard, I can mostly sight-read it, no issues with getting my hands together. Not sure what’s going on, I guess Stick is really so different physically that it’s just a whole other beast.
Thankfully, as I got through more of the piece, that feeling went away, and I could learn various parts more quickly. This invention uses alternating rhythms for most of the first half of the piece (alternating 16ths and 8ths in the LH and RH), I think that probably added to my troubles in playing it. The last section does not alternate and was easier to get through.
It seems strange, but I feel like learning this is helping my hand independence, even though this music is interdependent. Regardless, I’m fairly certain this is helping my playing overall. And of course, I'm definitely getting more used to my SG12.
Still don’t know when I’ll feel like I can actually play it, but making progress… Huge shout-out to my fellow Bach geeks for keeping me on track!
Joined: Sat Dec 22, 2007 8:01 am Posts: 1767 Location: North Haven, Connecticut USA
Re: Which Bach Invention should I learn?
That's awesome Claire!!! I can't wait to hear some of that!
Brett
Fri May 12, 2017 10:08 pm
Jayesskerr
Elite Contributor
Joined: Sun May 18, 2014 9:43 am Posts: 4039
Re: Which Bach Invention should I learn?
I'm looking forward to checking out your version of Invention 13, that's a really great piece of music.
A couple of interesting points you bring up, Claire; the inversion of pitch direction, plus the 3 note per string vs 4 note per string bass/melody scalar thing, gave me quite a headache when I was working out Invention 1 (or anything) in Matched Reciprocal tuning. I pretty much had the piece worked out but began anew in mirrored 4ths tuning. Mirrored 4ths still messes me up a bit, the direction thing can be whacky I think... Bach is really important, I feel that even if I am truly brutally horrible at something even the attempt at his music elevates...
Here's me struggling with life with 4 measures of Invention #1. It's not a performance videoI can actually read through the whole thing if I keep it real slow, although I only shared 4 measures in the video. I tried #13 tonight after reading your post, I can play it at about the same level. Same with a few others. This reading thing is paying off in many, many areas... Anyways, I thought I'd share a clip of some practicing, hopefully it doesn't offend anyone... lol Funny stuff actually
Joined: Sat Dec 22, 2007 8:01 am Posts: 1767 Location: North Haven, Connecticut USA
Re: Which Bach Invention should I learn?
Hey man (is your name Jay?) that was amazing. I'd give A LOT to ever be able to sight read on your level. Your are very lucky enjoy it.
Brett
Sat May 13, 2017 6:29 am
Jayesskerr
Elite Contributor
Joined: Sun May 18, 2014 9:43 am Posts: 4039
Re: Which Bach Invention should I learn?
Brett Bottomley wrote:
Hey man (is your name Jay?) that was amazing. I'd give A LOT to ever be able to sight read on your level. Your are very lucky enjoy it.
Brett
Lol Jeffery Scott Kerr = JS Kerr = Jayesskerr
Brett, thanks for checking it out... I love Bach, and I love the effect that learning his pieces have (Or any of the Bach family, CPE has some gnarly pieces that would be great for Stick...) Being able to read is a huge advantage, practicing it on the Stick has really helped my playing out. I wish I dug into the language right when I got a Stick. Ahh well, doing it now!
I'm really looking forward to hearing Claire's Invention 13, gonna be really cool.
Joined: Sun May 20, 2012 3:56 pm Posts: 391 Location: Boston, MA
Re: Which Bach Invention should I learn?
Scott - Pretty cool, thanks for posting.
I haven’t really been working on sight-reading (so many other things to work on...). I usually do OK while I can think in terms of interval motion. As soon as I need to find a new reference point, it takes me a bit longer - need to know the fretboard better.
For me, the pitch direction was initally confusing in terms of up/down. On piano your hands move in the same direction to move the pitches up or down, on Stick it’s reversed. I’ve not personally had issues with the outward pitch movement. Somehow the “inverted-ness” of the Stick has always made sense to me.
I also seem to have issues playing slowly. And I hate metronomes. Unfortunately for me, playing slowly with a metronome is how I’m able to make progress on this invention.
Working through this has really had me thinking about how we learn. Back when I was learning piano, it never occurred to me to think about how I was learning and what techniques helped. Now, I find it fascinating to be able to see how it’s working (or not).
Jayesskerr wrote:
Bach is really important, I feel that even if I am truly brutally horrible at something even the attempt at his music elevates...
Wow, props to both Claire & Scott. I totally relate to both of your struggles. It's really great you are making strides towards the sight reading/playing, It is no doubt challenging and I applaud you both on your progress. Scott, thanks for posting the video as it demonstrates the Stick hand independence challenge that the Stick presents. I love that you are throwing in the note vocalization into the mix - it is so helpful. I too am working on a tough composition and this is inspiring.
Love this thread & don't lose the eye on the prize! Phil
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot post attachments in this forum