Bach Prelude in C Major¶
This piece starts off simply enough: the first few chords are straightforward, and the fingerpicking throughout is easy; however, it becomes quite challenging technically and harmonically. Also, every measure is different, so it takes longer to master than you might expect. Below are notes about how I approached it – perhaps it will give you some ideas should you decide to tackle it as well.
A “shorthand” version of the full score is at Prelude in C, BWV 846, from the WTC, J.S. Bach.
Overall approach¶
20-minute chunks¶
I strictly followed the suggestions described in Practicing Repertoire: practicing one single difficult section for 20 minutes, and repeating that on subsequent days until that was reasonably secure. I would then join these sections. It is very easy to try to do too much with a seemingly-simple piece like this, so following the 20-minute rule helped me methodically digest everything.
Backwards chaining¶
A great technique for memorizing repertoire is to start at the end, and work backwards – this is called “backchaining”. So, for this piece, rather than starting with the first measure and building forwards, I started with the last measure, and built backwards!
When I practice a piece “the usual way” (starting from the first measure, then going to the second, then third, etc.), I usually play it from the beginning until I reach a “hard part”, and then I work on that – which means I feel confident at the start of a practice session, and progressively less so as I continue.
With backwards chaining, the opposite is true: I tackle the new/hard stuff first, and then add it on to things that I already know. Moving from the unknown into the known is a completely different feeling than from known into unknown.
In addition, Working backwards seems to engrave later sections more thoroughly into memory. You’ve probably started a song or solo, but then got slightly lost in the middle section where it gets fuzzy and insecure, and you rely on auto-pilot. With backward chaining, you practice the end more, avoiding the auto-pilot and always staying in control.
Backwards chaining is an interesting practice technique – give it a shot!
Day 1: Starting with the last G7¶
Note
All tunings here are drop-D; i.e., tune the lower E down a whole step.
I started with the last two measures:
I found the G7 chord surprisingly tough! The “pull-offs from nowhere” were an unusual technique for me, and it was hard to find the relaxed hand position that let me sustain the notes and still support the pull-offs as I wanted them. I started off with just this, devoting about 15 minutes on that in my first day. It was a lot of gentle experimentation, trying to get the right sound, and to find a good hand and arm position so I could avoid any tension.
This alone was more than enough for me for the first session. 20 minutes might seem like a long time to spend on one small thing, but breaking things down to digestible chunks is the only way to make real progress, and having a short time limit ensures I don’t burn myself out or overreach.
Tip
Keep a gentle focus!
The measure before the G7 is a simple F chord, so I could have tried to combine these two measures during the practice session, but decided not to. It would have diluted my concentration on the G7 chord, and would not speed up my progress at all. I reminded myself this is not a race, it’s a sustained, relaxed, gentle process of experimentation and observation.
Day 2: Repeat¶
The next day, I came back to the piece, and per Practicing Repertoire I started again with the same measure, playing it to see if I had in fact mastered it. And I hadn’t. I started my 20-minute timer, and practiced the exact same measure again, narrowing my scope to just the pull-offs. I had lots of hand tension I had to get rid of!
A few more days¶
Though it’s a single measure, I spent a few more 20-minute sessions on this section alone. When you’re focused, 20 minutes flies by, and the rest between each session lets your body process and synthesize.
Since this measure felt completely foreign to me, I wasn’t aiming for perfection at first. I just wanted a mid range temple that I could play evenly and rhythmically accurately, with no undue stress anywhere in my body. I was going to spend a lot of time on the piece and let my mind, hands, and fingers acclimate.
The next measure: F¶
The G7 measure soon felt solid, so I moved to the measure before it, which was much easier:
This is pretty much a regular F chord so I was able to get this in a few minutes.
Since I still had most of the 20 minutes left in the session, I set about joining the measure with what I’d practiced already:
These were easy to join, so I won’t go into any more detail.
Continuing work¶
I continued adding measures, going backwards through the piece, keeping to 20-minute practice chunks. (I was working on the arrangement at the same time as practicing, so my work wasn’t quite linear … but it was close enough.)
For the next few measures, the fingerings and transitions were relatively clear, so I am going to skip a little bit ahead to what I consider the trickiest measures of the piece, where a few practice techniques came in handy.
The Hard Part¶
There are several parts in this piece that are challenging, but the one longest line of toughness is the section in the last third of the piece, starting with F Major 7, going through some diminished chords, and ending on G7 1:
Note
this is a “shorthand” version of the full score, each chord is played for a full measure.
After several attempts, I was still jumpy and tense when playing. Instead of playing it over and over, or starting slow and gradually speeding up 2, I spent about 10 minutes a day investigating it with different practice techniques, and then let my mind and hands adjust and adapt during rest periods. Everything was experimental: I’d try something for a time, seeing how it felt, then I’d try something else, not frantically changing and also not getting attached to any method.
Fast chord changes¶
The voicings in this section are unusual. Since all of the difficulty is in the fretting hand, I practiced this Hands Separate, and simply shifted the left hand through different pairs of chords. For example, for the F major 7 - F# diminished pair:
I wanted each chord shift to feel as natural as a regular chord change, such as from C to F in open position. For each change, I concentrated on a few things:
Minimizing the fretting pressure applied to the first and second chords.
Releasing all tension in the fretting hand and arm during the shift. It’s easy to tense up when moving, or prior to moving, from one chord to the other.
Noting the feeling in the hand when in the required chord position – relative finger placements, extensions, etc. (This is “proprioception” as mentioned in
Slow Practice, i.e., the body’s ability to know its own position in space.)
Steady rhythm¶
I had trouble keeping a strong, steady beat during these tough chord changes. This piece is a simple bass line with arpeggiated chords on top, so I used Dropping Notes to gradually build up the full chords on a steady bass line.
Starting with the bass, ensuring I’m using the correct fingering for these notes as I would use in the final performance:
When those are all steady and easy, I “dropped in” the next note, again using the correct fingering:
... and so on, until all notes are filled in.
Joining measures¶
Sometimes transitions were extra tough, so I wanted to focus just on them. I found Chaining sometimes very effective. My focus was on rhythmic accuracy, and ensuring that the top melody note was sustained into the next chord.
For example, for the F major 7 to F# diminished transition:
I used “forward chaining” to work on the transition, ensuring that each note sounded reasonably. Starting with just one note in the F# chord:
When that was smooth, adding another note:
Then the next:
... and so on.
I found forward chaining quickly revealed useful efficiencies in my finger movements.
Tip
Don’t lose sight of the big picture!
Sometimes, working with laser intensity on small sections can lead to an obsessive need to make each microsecond perfect. While that can be useful, and make you dig deep for solutions and real musical meaning, it can also prevent you from taking a larger view of your work.
You must absolutely work on the fine details. But every so often, take a step back.
For example, when working on this particular chord transition, I found I needed to release some of the strings in the F major 7 chord sooner than others in order to make a clear transition to the diminished chord. When working on a very small section, that stood out as an imperfection. It was only when I played larger sections together that I saw it as a mere ripple in the stream, and not needing further work.
Slow practice¶
For these tricky measures, Slow Practice was really useful. I could take all the time I wanted to really notice my finger position, and could observe tension throughout my body. This whole piece is fairly demanding, with its big chords and delicate musicality, so it’s easy to lose track of tension in your shoulders, neck, and arms. Just a few minutes of slow practice was enough for me to observe what was going on.
Troublesome sections¶
As I continued work, there were some challenges I couldn’t seem to crack. They weren’t fundamental technical challenges, they were more musical in nature: shape, articulation, emphasis, etc. I could boil some of them down to a small handful of notes that exposed the problem (for example, keeping the top E ringing during the transition from F major 7 to F# diminished).
I kept a short list of these “troublesome” sections, and played each of them a few times a day, trying different approaches and techniques, and letting them develop. I didn’t want to spend more dedicated sessions on them:
I figured they just needed time to “bake” in my mind and body, and would continue to improve during my rest periods.
In some cases, I wasn’t happy with the arrangement, and needed to keep tinkering, but didn’t want to get stuck.
I would also play those short sections in context, seeing how it all fit together. (Piecemeal practice gets pretty tedious.)
Tip
Practice the hard parts
Though I didn’t keep track, I would guess that I spent at least 60% or 70% of my time working on just a handful of measures. A great piano teacher, Dorothy Taubman, once said (paraphrasing) that every measure in a piece should be as easy to play as the simplest measure. In this piece, the first measure is dead simple, but later on, there are parts that I find more difficult – much more. Spending my time polishing these difficult sections, doing my best to make them as efficient and musical as the first, makes this whole piece much more enjoyable to play.
Putting it all together¶
When I had (finally!) worked my way back to the beginning of the piece, I was able to play it through from beginning to end. I was still working on a few troublesome measures, but now shifted to focus to more musical matters of the full piece.
I still alternated between playing at my chosen performance tempo, and playing very slowly. Slow practice is extremely good for refining your efficient fast motions, and for carefully monitoring your playing and self for any tension and trouble.
Final thoughts¶
It’s just 20 minutes at a time.
This whole process, all the detail on this page, may seem exhausting … really, really exhausting, overwhelming, and tedious. Having worked through it myself, though, I can say that it was an extremely satisfying process. It took me longer than expected to reach performance level with the piece – partly because the sustained melody that I wanted was so hard for me to achieve in the arrangement – but I really enjoy playing it, look forward to the challenging parts, and am happy with how it sounds and feels.
So, make your plan, and work your plan, just 20 minutes at a time.
- 1
These are unusual chord shapes and fingerings, and it was very hard to find playable guitar chords that would accurately convey the harmony of the original piano score, and not compromise the melody voices. Even with the simplest chords I could find, it’s a challenge.
- 2
“Start slow and gradually speed up” can easily lead to problems – see Why “Start slow” fails.