Valuable Tips for Playing Piano Pieces by J.S. Bach

Do you find yourself battling with a piece by Bach? You’re not alone! Bach’s piano music is some of the most played of any composer and presents wonderful challenges to all piano players at every level.

Today we’re going to learn how you can navigate through your own Bach piece in new ways that will make it easier to understand and play; and you’ll be able to apply these great tips to any Bach piece that you want to play in the future.

Tip #1:

• Write your fingerings in above any notes or groups of notes that you’re having trouble playing through successfully. Sometimes the editor of the actual piece that you’re playing will have put some fingerings in already. Feel free to try these or if you are advanced enough you can put in your own fingerings if you prefer a different pattern. You may have to just insert some fingerings along with the ones already in there. Both are fine.

Tip #2:

• Play slowly! Don’t ever try to play through a new Bach piece up to tempo (unless you are very advanced and can do it correctly). Going too fast will make you miss the right fingerings, rhythms, chords and just about everything. Bach’s music has so much going on in each hand independently that you must start and practice slowly in order to get it all in. The really great thing about this is…that when you do go slowly, you will see how much you can actually play because you will hear everything so much clearer.
• Also look for any accidentals throughout your piece. This is simply where a natural, sharp or flat symbol is placed by a note that changes from the original key signature…just for that measure. Once you reach the next measure, go back to the original key signature.

Tip #3:

• Pay attention to the Key Signature and look through your piece before playing to find all of the times the key signature may change in the piece. Yes…you can have several different key signatures in one piece! Look at what sharps or flats are in the beginning of the piece and figure out what Key you are playing in for this piece. Then, when/if you find a change in the key signature, figure out what new key you are in for that section of the piece. Do this each time the key signature changes.
• If you come across a key signature that you don’t know very well, go back and practice the scale and arpeggio in that same key signature to just help reinforce those notes on the keyboard and in your sheet music.

Tip #4:

• Pay attention to where the melody occurs throughout the piece. Many times the melody line will switch from one hand to the other and when you observe the change before you start playing, it will help you know what to listen for.
• Bach is also known for a technique called Counterpoint and this is when you have several melodies occurring at the same time.
• Finding these melodies helps you as the player bring them out to the listener.  This is actually one of the most complicated yet beautiful things in Bach’s music.
• It can be really helpful to use different colored pencils to mark the different melodies in your piece when you first start doing this. It will be much easier to play them this way as well. Don’t forget to check the notes in both hands…not just the right hand.

Tip #5:

• Don’t start out with the most difficult Bach piece that you can find. Start with the easiest, and then move up to a little more challenging piece the next time. You always want to have a piece that includes some of what you already know but will also present you with new techniques so you will continue to grow in your playing.
• To give you an idea of where to start…try Bach’s Prelude in C Major. This is a great one to begin with if you are a bit more advanced than just a beginning pianist. Then you can move on to a few of the other preludes and I’ll show you these in the following video.

All of these tips to help you tackle a new Bach piece can actually be applied to any new piece or composer that you are ready to start playing. To really reinforce these tips and see how you apply those in “real time”, watch the following video where I go through all of these at the keyboard and also show you a great book of Bach pieces that you can get started with!

If you like my tips and lessons, you will love the courses over on my website. Whether you are a beginner looking to get a solid foundation to build on or you are looking to take your existing skills to that next level, the online music courses on my website https://www.pianolessonsontheweb.com will help you do just that.