Demystifying Bach at the Piano: Problem Solving in the Inventions and Sinfonias

Pianists are horizontalists. When confronted with competing horizontal lines, though, we are called upon to rethink our predilection for spinning a single line beautifully to the right. To some it may seem sacrilege, but we must think more vertically. In these pages we consider the techniques of coordinating more than one musical line. We learn to apply principles of grouping notes together and shaping lines in certain ways for technical ease. We consider fingerings, sometimes more than one. When technical solutions coincide with musical objectives, we are delighted. But when there is a technical problem, we examine it on its own merits. No mindless rote here. We consider approaches to ornamentation and articulation and their expressive partners, dynamics and phrasing. All of this gently couched in physical movements so natural to the body as to be irresistible.*Praise for the previous volume, "Piano Technique Demystified" "This is an excellent book. Whether you are an advanced pianist or a novice, the concepts shared in this book will bring your technical skills at the piano to a new level." "This is a very well written book with lots of humor and fascinating anecdotes shared by the author. The reader is sure to find a wealth of useful and helpful information to enhance mastery of the piano." "Neil Stannard provides a clear, concise summary of how to co-ordinate good movement patterns into your piano practice. He approaches learning difficult repertoire as a series of solvable problems, and offers the reader many tools to come up with solutions."