I was enjoying a pint of beer after a day of teaching at London’s City Lit. Joining me in the pub was an old friend. I gave him a copy of an easy single-page piano piece, about Grade 1 standard. “I’m off to spend a penny” I said. “See how much of that you can memorise”.… Continue reading Bach Project
Bach Project
Bach Project: Update 31st October 2022
Up to the point that I discovered Daniel Barenboim’s recording of the WTC in the early 2000s I had never been particularly drawn to Bach’s original keyboard music. I’d enjoyed enormously some of Wilhelm Kempff’s arrangements of famous cantata movements etc., but as for solo piano, I’d always preferred Beethoven or Chopin. All the Bach… Continue reading Bach Project: Update 31st October 2022
Bach Project
Update: September 2022 I’m now 10 years into my project to learn, memorise and perform all 24 of Bach’s preludes and fugues from Book 1 of the Well-Tempered Clavier.When I began, back in October of 2012, I thought 2 years would be be about right. I planned to give a performance of the whole book… Continue reading Bach Project
Learning Bach
I had been playing the piano for 37 years before I decided it was time I made a start on learning how to play properly. In 2012, I embarked on learning part 1 of Bach’s Das wohltemperierte Klavier, intending to memorise the whole book to coincide with my fiftieth birthday in 2014. Now, 10 years later,… Continue reading Learning Bach
