In this article, I will explain my personal choices when it comes to registering free organ works of Bach. It is important to know how to choose registration in such cases, because a clever use of the resources of the organ will add a lot to the overall impression of your performance. On the contrary, if you play well, but don‘t know how to register such pieces, the result might be quite dissapointing. To illustrate my point, I have chosen to demonstrate the registration in the Prelude and Fugue in C Major, BWV 547. Whenever I play this or a similar free composition (not based on pre-existing material), I tend to use Organo Pleno registration. This basically means a principal chorus: in the manual, I play with principals 8‘, 4‘, 2 2/3‘, 2‘, etc. – all the way up until mixtures. Often there is more than one mixture stop on some large instruments. In this case, I would probably use both of them (the low and the high one). If the mixture is really low (based on 4‘), it is best to add a 16‘ principal to the manual part. In other cases, 16‘ stop adds more gravity to the sound but is optional. If I play this piece on the large organ, I usually also couple one more manual which has a bright sound (preferably not a Swell division). In this case, I might also build a principal chorus on this manual, if available. If this particular instrument has narrow-scaled principals and high-pitched mixtures, such as in the Neo-Baroque organs, I might add 8‘ and 4‘ flutes to the manual part. Such trick usually adds gravity to the sound. Sometimes the fugue sounds nice with a Trompete 8‘ which might be a good option on many instruments to add to the principal chorus. 16‘ Trompete in the manual part might be a little too thick. However, this is my personal preference only. Although the organs of the Bach time in Central Germany usually had mixtures which included the tierce pipes, some organists add a 1 3/5‘ stop to the manual part. However, the result might be a little too harsh so you have to use your ears carefully. For the pedal part, I would also use principals 16‘, 8‘, 4‘ (if available), and mixtures. 32‘ flue stop (Principal or Subbass) works for tis particular prelude and fugue quite well, so I might also choose to have it. When using reeds in the pedal, the first reed to add is Posaune 16‘ and only then Trompete 8‘ (if necessary). 4‘ Clairons don‘t work in this music, so I would save them for other compositions. If the pedal part needs more power when compared to the manual sound, I would add manual to pedal coupler. However, there is a tendency to overdue this, so this option should be used with some consideration. Keep these points in mind when registering Bach‘s free works such as preludes, fugues, fantasias, and toccatas. However, you should always look at the instrument before deciding if it is going to work for a certain composition. Look not only at the number of manuals, manual and pedal compass but also at the style of the organ. If you are also playing chorale preludes of Bach, I also recommend you read about the ways you can register his organ chorale preludes. Although it is said that Bach‘s organ works sound well on any type of instrument, I would probably not play them on a genuine Romantic style organ (with some exceptions, of course). Instead, I would choose to perform Romantic and Modern music on it and save Bach‘s pieces for another instrument. If you have a large instrument at your disposal, often you might be tempted to use as many stops as possible in order to play very loud. However, your concern should not be how loud the prelude and fugue will sound but rather how well the polyphony will be heard. Remember, that even on a 3 or 4 manual instrument you don‘t necessarilly have to use all the stops and couplers. Often, a pure principal chorus without the couplers plus a Posaune 16‘ in the pedals (even without a mixture) will sound just fine. If you want more thorough and comprehensive treatment of this topic with citations from contemporary sources, I highly recommend The Registration of Baroque Organ Music by Barbara Owen. By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my video Organ Practice Guide. Or if you want to learn to improvise in the style of Bach? If so, I suggest you check out my 9 day mini course in Keyboard Prelude Improvisation.
Comments
I've seen some people make these critical mistakes when playing Bach organ works. If you want to avoid these mistakes, read the following list:
1. Trills. In most of Bach‘s pieces, all trills must start on the upper note on the beat. However, I see some people playing from the main note and even starting before the beat. In other words, they start the trills too early. One thing that helps me to play these trills correctly is constantly keeping your attention on the pulse and then it's easier not to start the trill too early. 2. Articulation. The touch which many people transfer from piano to the organ is legato and in such music is not the ideal one. The manner of playing should be smooth and singable (cantabile) but there should be definitely small spaces between each note (unless indicated otherwise by the composer). We call it articulate legato. 3. Pedaling. Another important mistake is using the heels when playing the pedal part in Bach‘s organ pieces. It seems easier for a lot of people but in reality, this manner of playing produces legato touch which is not used for this type of music. 4. Practicing. If you are used to play Bach‘s pieces from the beginning until the end without stopping, I recommend you reconsider this method. The best option would be to stop whenever you make mistake, go back a few measures and correct it several times. Playing in shorter fragments often is more beneficial than playing without stopping. 5. Fingering. Many people still use finger substitution in Bach‘s organ works which I don't recommend. You see, finger substitution technique was developed to create the legato touch which is not stylistically correct manner of playing. 6. Feeling of the pulse. This is a critical mistake, without feeling the pulse and alternation of strong and weak beats, your performance will be dragging and lacking the natural flow. I recommend to shorten the weak beats and play the strong beats longer. 7. Suspensions. A lot of times people make this mistake. Even when they articulate the piece correctly, they might make rests after suspensions. In other words, they might make an eighth note rest after a tied-over note. The correct way to play it is to hold this note longer and play the next note almost legato. 8. Registration. Way too many people play Bach‘s free works (preludes, fugues, fantasias, toccatas etc.) changing registration too often. In free works (not chorale based pieces) you should use Organo Pleno registration on one or more manuals (full principal chorus). By the way, I'm going to be opening 30 slots for my new Bach Organ Mastery (Level 1) - a 16 week video training program. Click here to get early notification before the rest of my list of subscribers and clients: Bach Organ Mastery Level 1 Early Notification I have observed some common mistakes people make when learning Prelude and Fugue in F major, BWV 556 which prevent them from achieving fluency and stylistic integrity. As I'm preparing for the opening of the free video mini-course in learning BWV 556, today I would like to discuss these mistakes and to show you the solutions which facilitates the learning process.
1. Articulation . This is the most obvious mistake I see a lot of people make. As you probably know, the ideal articulation for the Baroque music is the articulate legato touch when we make small breaks between each note unless indicated otherwise by the composer. When playing this prelude, however, at the beginning you can see the legato signs which connect three sixteenth notes. By the way, this articulation should be applied to all places with this piece even though the legato signs appear only at the beginning episode. What I see a lot of people do is they play the three notes legato, but fail to articulate after the last note in the group of three sixteenths. This of course produces the complete legato touch which is more suitable for Romantic and Modern organ music. Another articulation mistake is in the fugue - here many people find it difficult to articulate the inner 2 voices out of 4 voice texture. Since the alto and tenor voices can be hard to listen to while playing all of them together, no wonder why precise and consistant articulation is difficult to achieve. SOLUTION: take a slow tempo and practice in small fragments and in separate voices, then combinations of 2 voices, later 3 voices and only then - the entire 4 part texture. Insist of playing at least 3 times correctly in a row. 2. Fingering . Since the prelude can be played using the general arpeggio fingerings, it is in the fugue that people find difficulties with this issue. The most common mistake I see people make is applying finger substitution in this piece. SOLUTION: I recommend using early fingerings without substitution. Then it will help you create the ideal articulation naturally even without thinking. Also avoid placing the thumb on the sharp or flat keys. In the mini course, I will also explain how the early fingering techniques work in practice. 3. Pedaling . Similarly to fingering, the most difficult part for choosing the pedaling is the fugue. If you are consistently making mistakes in articulating pedal line in the fugue, chances are you are using toe-heel technique which is suitable for Romantic and Modern organ music. SOLUTION: Use alternate toe technique in most cases (right-left toes only). The rule to use the same toe pedaling here is this: play with the same foot when the pedal line changes direction. Otherwise play with alternate toes. 4. Tempo . A lot of people take a tempo which is too fast for practicing. The reason for this is that they really want to feel the natural flow of the music. It takes a lot of courage to insist on playing very slowly. I can tell you from experience that the slower you play, the faster your progress will be. SOLUTION: take such tempo for practice which lets you avoid mistakes. If you make a mistake, go back a few measures, slow down, and check that place again. If you do this regularly, you can overcome any difficulty in the piece. 5. Rhythm . The mistakes with rhythm involve failing to keep the steady pulse while switching between triplets and duplets in the middle episode of the prelude with no pedal part. Since the triplets appear in most measures of the prelude, it is not too difficult to play them correctly. However, the places I see people make rhythmical mistakes are when triplets change into duplets. Here it is easy to play the duplets too fast. The result is a lack of steady pulse and change in tempo. SOLUTION: I highly recommend counting out lout the beats of the measure throughout the prelude (and the fugue). In the beginning you will find it exceedingly difficult because you will be multi-tasking. However, there is no shortcuts here and you just have to insist in saying the beats loudly enough so that you can keep the steady pulse. By the way, there are certain rhythmic devices, such as hemiola which I'm going to be teaching in the mini course as well. Without knowing how to find it in music, it will be very difficult to play the cadences in this piece stylistically correctly. 6. Ornaments . There are two basic mistakes people make when playing ornaments in this piece - either they start the ornaments too early or on the wrong note. By saying too early, I mean they play them before the beat. This comes from the Romantic tradition. The starting notes of the trills also have their rules. SOLUTION: Start the ornaments on the beat and not too early. The trill for the Bach music usually has to start on the upper note meaning that if you see a sign above the note G (as at the end of the first episode in the prelude), start the trill from A. I recommend playing 4 notes for the trill: A-G-A-G. 7. Practicing . Although I constantly advocate for practicing in short fragments, it is not as easy as it might seem to develop this habit. You see, a lot of people come to me looking for help while they already have developed some incorrect or ineficient practice habits. Therefore, they might play the piece from the beginning until the end without fixing their mistakes they make along the way. SOLUTION: I think it takes a shift in mindset to practice in short fragments. You see, one thing we have to realize is that practicing is not the same as performing. As you become more and more fluent with this piece and time approaches for performing it in public (either for your friends or family, during church service or recital) you need to get used to play it from the beginning until the end without stopping. However, if you really want to achieve the best results with BWV 556, the majority of your practice should be done in short fragments. By the way, as I'm typing this sentence, already 98 people have jumped on board of my new free video mini course which will start on Thursday. Congratulations to everyone - it's going to be an awesome time for the entire Secrets of Organ Playing community. So much interaction, so much communication is going on though emails and comments over the past several days. If you haven't done so, there are only 2 more days left to register for free. The methods that I will teach in this mini course will be fully applicable to learning other works of Bach: http://www.organduo.lt/bwv-556-mini-course.html If you are looking for on organ piece which would be suitable to play by an organist with a modest organ playing skills but at the same time you want your listeners to love it, you absolutely should consider learning to play the famous Prelude and Fugue in F major, BWV 556.
This is a piece from the delightful collection of 8 short preludes and fugues, BWV 553-560, earlier attributed to J.S.Bach but now generally believed to have been composed by one of his top students, Johann Ludwig Krebs. In this article, I would like to share with you my ideas on how you can master this wonderful composition. Before you actually start the learning and practicing process, I recommend you do the following two things – analyze the piece and write in the fingering and pedaling. This is absolutely a must if you want to become a master of this piece. In order to analyze the prelude, you can do the following things – look at the structure of the prelude and see if you find some thematic material which is repeated somewhere in the piece. In fact, if you compare the beginning and the end of the prelude, you will see right away, that the ending is the exact repetition of the beginning. Therefore, this prelude is written in a nice ternary ABA form. You can also look at the tonal plan of this piece. In order to find out what keys the composer uses for this prelude, just look at the cadences. They will help you discover the tonalities in their order of appearance. If you want to analyze the fugue, I recommend you count all the subject entries in the fugue. You can also note which voice has the subject and use a pencil to mark the entries on the score. In order to know the fugue on a deeper level, you can find out the key areas for each subject entry. After the initial analysis is done, take a pencil and mark the fingering and pedaling for both the prelude and the fugue. Note that you don’t need to wait until all the fingering and pedaling is prepared and start practicing only then. Instead, you can make the markings of the first line or so, and start practicing right away. Finish the process of writing in fingering and pedaling as you go along through the piece. Now you are probably wondering what is the best and the most efficient way to practice this piece? My answer is this – take a fragment of about 4-6 measures long and learn each separate voice in this fragment. When I say learn, I mean strive for your playing to be free of mistakes at least 3 times in a row. In order to avoid mistakes when practicing, always take a very slow tempo, and pay attention to such details as articulation, ornaments, fingering, and pedaling, hand and feet position, and pedal preparation. For most people, the total number of repetitions will be somewhere around 10. When you master each voice separately in you fragment, play 2 voices at a time, then 3 voices and so on. Even though the texture becomes increasingly difficult with 2, 3 or 4 voices, always strive for perfection, stop every 4-6 measures and correct your mistakes. When you reach the end of this piece, you will also need to combine the fragments together in order to achieve the complete fluency and be ready to perform it in public. If you really want to master this piece, join my new free limited time 7 day video mini course in playing BWV 556 in which I will teach you how to play it from scratch in just 7 days. The registration for this course ends this Wednesday at midnight, US Eastern time. As a bonus, you will also get the score with complete fingering and pedaling for easy practicing. Click here to sign up for free now: http://www.organduo.lt/bwv-556-mini-course.html I'm so excited to announce that all the preparation work for my free 7 day organ video mini course is done. You can take advantage of this limited time offer by clicking on the link below and signing up for this course:
Sign up for free now If you take part in this mini course, you will learn how to play the Prelude and Fugue in F major, BWV 556 on the organ in just 7 days. Beside the most efficient practice techniques and step by step learning method for each day, I'll teach you many important things, such as:
Sign up for free now I don't care how long or short these videos are going to be, the most important thing for me is to teach you all that you need to know to successfully advance in organ playing. So although I call it a mini course, you will receive massive value and information which you can use not just to master this fantastic piece, but also other your favorite compositions that you are playing right now or intend to learn in the future: Sign up for free now So even if you have played this piece piece before, I encourage you take part in it simply because of these additional things that I teach you about in this course. Bonus: you will also receive a score of this piece with complete fingering and pedaling for easy practicing. But remember, this is a limited time offer and you have to act quick because the registration ends this Wednesday at Midnight, US Eastern Time (it's completely free to sign up, just enter your name and email): Sign up for free now If you have been my subscriber for some time, you know that I'm obsessed with over-delivering and exceeding my student's expectations and I'm not revealing all the bonuses and surprises that I've prepared for you. To your success in organ playing, Vidas Pinkevicius P.S. Please forward this message to people who might benefit from this mini course. As I look back at the idea to create my free video course in mastering Prelude and Fugue in F Major, BWV 556 (from the collection of 8 Short Preludes and Fugues for organ formerly attributed to J.S.Bach), I can see some major differences in the presentation and format from my previous Mini Course in Keyboard Prelude Improvisation.
1. Unlike improvisation mini course, the new BWV 556 training program will be available for a limited time only. This means that people interested in joining this course will have to make a decision during a period of about 5 days. 2. This course will be presented using a video format as opposed to pure pdf materials. Because many people like watching online videos, this medium is becoming increasingly popular in teaching as well. At any rate, a live example and visual demonstration will almost always get the message across more clearly. 3. I am also including a practice score with complete fingering and pedaling for easy practice. As you know writing in fingering and pedaling is a very slow and for many people tedious process and yet in many cases it is a crucial element if you want to truly master an organ composition. In this mini course, though, you won't need to worry about fingering and pedaling - it's already taken care for you. 4. I am not limiting the length of each lesson to some particular time frame. Some videos might become longer, some shorter - as long as I need to cover the material in a very detailed manner. For example, the introduction to the course and video for Day 1 alone were 19 and 33 minutes each. However, the video for Day 2 fitted nicely into some 15 minutes. This is because when I teach, sometimes I feel compelled to add some additional points besides pure fast and efficient practice techniques and steps. That's why you will find me talking about the ideal articulation quite a bit as well as about ornaments, fingering, pedal preparation, and even some exciting Baroque rhythmical devices, such as Hemiola. These differences of course provide an increased value to the course but at the same time raise some important challenges which I have to overcome if this mini course is to be as helpful to my students as it was with the improvisation mini course. One of the obvious challenges is the file size and the time it takes to edit and convert the video to the format suitable for online watching. For example, even though these first videos were actually recorded in a period of just 90 minutes, the time and effort it took me to prepare the camera, upload, fully edit for public online use was exhausting. As you might be aware, I'm not a tech person and these things don't come naturally and easily to me. Even to find the suitable position for the lighting cost me some funny juggling around my organ bench. And I still don't feel this is the ideal lighting but at least now you will be able to see me teaching clearly enough. As I am not a native English speaker and not an orator by any means, to talk in front of the camera is always a challenge for me. For instance, this opening episode alone had to be taken several times because I kept making some funny mistakes while pronouncing the phrase "BWV 556". As the Internet speed at my house isn't particularly fit for uploading large video files, I had to find some other place for uploading. Luckily, everything went well and actually, it feels like it's going to be a really exciting time both for me teaching and for the students who will be watching and practicing this fantastic Prelude and fugue in F major. I'm in the final stages of preparation for the public announcement about the start of registration for this limited time mini course. If you want to be notified when the registration period starts and not to miss the deadline, go here to subscribe to the instructional newsletter (if you haven't done so already) and receive my video "How to Master Any Organ Piece up to 10 Time Faster." You may of course unsubscribe at any time: http://www.organduo.lt/bwv-556-mini-course.html You may have noticed that I haven't posted any article on my blog for a while. The reason for this is that I was busy with something that will give much joy to my readers.
So here it is: I'm so excited, I want to announce that yesterday I've recorded the first four videos for my brand new free 7 day mini-course on learning to play Prelude and Fugue in F Major, BWV 556 on the organ in 7 days. That's right - after seeing so many positive comments and such a tremendous interest in my mini-course of keyboard prelude improvisation (over 150 sign ups in the first 48 hours), I decided to create something new this time - I'm going to be teaching through video. The reason for me to create this mini-course is simple - people kept asking and asking that I create a similar course for the organ repertoire. And to tell you the truth - I was sort of hesitant at first, simply because that's a lot of work and I was busy with my other organ coaching programs. But now when I look back at the videos I created and the value that you will get out of them, I think it was well worth the effort. I will share the details of the program and the sign up form soon so if you want to take part in this free exclusive limited time mini-course, be on the look out for further updates. Organ Playing: The Exact Steps to Mastering Short Prelude and Fugue in F Major, BWV 556 in 10 Days7/14/2012 Mastering the Prelude and Fugue in F Major, BWV 556 is easier than you might think. In this article, I'll give you the exact steps which will help you learn it in just 10 days.
Here are the steps in mastering Prelude and Fugue in F major, BWV 556 in 10 days: General comments: 1. Play slowly to avoid mistakes 2. Practice each day in solo voices, combinations of 2 and 3 voices, and only then the entire 4 part texture, where applicable) - play 10 times each combination. 3. When you repeat previously learned lines, play them 3 times correctly. 4. Practice one line at a time, unless indicated otherwise. 5. Make sure the notes, rhythms, fingering, pedaling, and articulation are correct in each step. Step-by-step plan: Day 1: Learn lines 1-2 2. Repeat 1-2, practice 3-5 3. Reinforce 1-5, master 6-7 4. Remember 1-7, learn 10 and 11 5. Repeat 1-11, practice 12-13 6. Reinforce 1-13, master 14-15 7. Play the entire prelude and fugue by stopping every 2 lines 8. Practice the entire piece by stopping every 4 lines 9. Play the entire composition by stopping every 8 lines 10. Play the entire prelude and fugue without stopping In order to reap the best results, it is best if you just follow the above steps exactly and you will have it ready for public performance in 10 days. This public performance doesn't necessarily have to be a recital. You could play it in church during liturgy as a postlude or just for fun for your family and friends. By the way, if you would like to start practicing this prelude and fugue tonight, check out my practice score with complete fingering and pedaling which will create the ideal articulation. If you just follow the above steps exactly, you will have it ready for public performance in 10 days. Or if you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster, download my free Organ Practice Guide. If you are struggling with the fingering, pedaling, articulation and practicing the short prelude and fugue No. 4 in F major, BWV 556 for organ, read this article in which you will find my tips and advice in mastering this wonderful composition.
Concerning the fingering in measures 1-4 of BWV 556, if you play it with the usual technique, it feels strange to your hand. However, if you use them correctly like I will teach you now, they will be perfectly natural and most importantly, they will create the articulate legato touch for you without you having to think about them. You see, the fingering in this piece is based on the paired fingering technique meaning the strong fingers are placed on the stronger beats. Although in measure 1 you could say, 3434 looks like finger crossing, it is in fact, finger shifting. This means you should not attempt to play legato and cross over 3 after 4. Instead, play 34 and shift the entire hand to the new position for another 34. In other words, move your fingers together as a unit. When you shift this way, you are naturally articulating correctly. In measure 3, the right hand part has pairs of thirds which look like this: 2/4 1/3 2/4 1/3. Do not try to cross your fingers but shift your hand from 1/3 to 2/4. Crossing would be very inconvenient but shifting will naturally create a break between the pair of thirds. The same thing applies to the pedaling in the fugue. Try to move both of your feet together as a unit on eighth and sixteenth notes. Another important principle to notice is the finger skipping technique. This means that the same intervals (especially wider ones) should be played with the same fingers. For example, in measure 4 from end of the fugue you can see the 4 consecutive sixths in the right hand part which could be played with 1/5 1/5 1/5 and 1/5 fingering. Be careful not to make very large breaks between the notes also which make the music sound choppy and unconnected. The touch should be singable or as Bach calls it "cantabile manner of playing". When you are good in articulating this way, you could also make subtle adjustments in order to emphasize the meter. Make larger breaks between the stronger beats. As far as accuracy in triplets of the prelude are concerned, try not to lift your fingers off the keyboard and stay in contact with the keys at all times. This will help you to improve your accuracy. For best results, practice in separate voices, 2 voice combinations, 3 voice combinations and only then the entire 4 part texture. Do not play the entire piece from the beginning until the end (at least at first). Instead, choose a fragment of about 4 measures and master each combination in it. Then take another fragment and so on. After you learn all the fragments, combine them together, playing 1 line, 2 lines, 4 lines, 8 lines, 16 lines and so on without stopping. Bottom line: the early fingering helps to achieve the desired articulation. Do not reach for the keys but instead shift the entire hand or both feet into a new position. Make it as connected as possible but not legato. By the way, if you need complete fingering and pedaling of Prelude and Fugue in F Major, BWV 556, check out my practice score. When you click on this link you will be able to see the preview of the actual score with fingering and pedaling which helps to create ideal articulation (articulate legato) naturally. Or do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my FREE Organ Practice Guide: http://www.organduo.lt/organ-tutorial.html Organ Playing: 8 Steps in Analyzing Contrapunctus No. 1 From the Art of the Fugue, BWV 1080 by Bach6/22/2012 Are you trying to analyze the structure of the Contrapunctus No. 1 from Bach's the Art of the Fugue, BWV 1080 but don't know where to start? It is important that you know how the piece is put together before you are attempting to practice it. This way you will be able to fully appreciate the composer's intentions. Read my 8 steps in this article to find out.
1. Subject. Take a look at the theme at the beginning of the piece. It is 4 measures long. Notice how it consists both of the chordal tones of the d minor key and the notes in stepwise motion. 2. Answer. The answer is the second subject entrance after the theme. Usually it is in the key of the dominant. Look at it and discover if the answer is a perfect transposition of the subject (real answer) or it has some melodic modifications (tonal answer) so that it would stay in the same mode. 3. Countersubject. A countersubject is a contrasting melody which goes together with the answer. The countersubject is written in a voice which previously had a subject. Check if the countersubject stays the same throughout the piece or if it changes every time there is a subject. 4. Exposition. Exposition consists of the subject and answer series until every voice has entered. Since this fugue is in 4 parts, the exposition also lasts until all voices have finished their entrances, usually in alternation of the key of the tonic and dominant. 5. Counter-exposition. After the exposition, several other entrances form the counter-exposition. The tonal design for it might vary a little but the generally the order of entrances are inverted - answer comes before the subject. 6. Episodes. The episodes are parts of the fugue that connect different subject entries. Usually they are formed of sequences based on the material from the subject or countersubject. Look for episodes between the exposition and counter-exposition. Additionally, there are episodes after the counter-exposition. 7. Other subject entrances. Most of the time other subject entrances move to closely related keys. However, since it is a simple fugue, the subjects continue to be in the tonic and in the dominant. 8. Pedal points. Towards the end of the fugue, there are 2 episodes which are built around two sustained notes in the bass part. The first is in the key of the dominant and the second is built around the tonic note. The dominant pedal point increases tension and features constant fluctuation between the key of the dominant and the tonic. The tonic pedal point is like a resolution of this tension - there is a constant alternation between the key of the tonic and subdominant. Many fugues also have canonic subject or answer entrances towards the end of the composition. This part is called a stretto. However, since this is only the first in the series of complex fugues in the cycle of the Art of the Fugue, there are no canonic subject entrances in this fugue. Use the above steps in analyzing the Contrapunctus No. 1 from the Art of the Fugue by Bach today. After you know how the piece is put together, you can write in fingering and pedaling and start practicing it. By the way, do you want to learn my special powerful techniques which help me to master any piece of organ music up to 10 times faster? If so, download my FREE Organ Practice Guide. Or if you really want to learn to play any organ composition at sight fluently and without mistakes while working only 15 minutes a day, check out my systematic master course in Organ Sight-Reading. It is based on Bach's the Art of the Fugue. |
DON'T MISS A THING! FREE UPDATES BY EMAIL.Thank you!You have successfully joined our subscriber list. Authors
Drs. Vidas Pinkevicius and Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene Organists of Vilnius University , creators of Secrets of Organ Playing. Our Hauptwerk Setup:
Categories
All
Archives
May 2024
|