Feb 10 (Var 4)

OK, this second half is harder than the first, by far. Dunno why though! I played it real fast tonight, and the recording could have been a lot worse. I have to go down to 80 bpm to get it right all the way through, which is e x c r u t i a t i n g l y s l o w. I was so optimistic when all I knew was the first half...

Which reminds me, this whole composition is a fractal. Each piece is divided into two halves, the second of which is an inversion of the first (and generally harder). Also the whole thing is divided into two halves - and I'm pretty sure the second half is harder. So we have that to look forward to. 

Anyway, here it is.

Feb 9 (Var 4)

There are three measures right in a row, in the second half of Variation 4, where you play the same note twice in succession, as part of two different melodies. I don't know why, but they're evil. They've been torturing me for three days. But today, a breakthrough!


Here are those pesky spots, by the way:

Feb 8 (Var 4)

The less said, the better.

Feb 7 (Var 4)

Well. Dogs can bring joy, can't they? 

Also they can refuse to let you practice in peace. I had a very frustrating time trying to start the second half of this variation, getting interrupted constantly. I can pretty much play the first 8 bars, but I didn't record that. Instead I worked out my frustration by dialing the metronome way up on the first half.


That's 132 beats per minute. At this tempo some of the awkward spots are evening out a little - this piece is a real struggle between staccato and legato playing. I'm aiming for a middle ground, which mostly goes fine I think. But there are a couple of awkwardly fingered spots where I have to pick my fingers up more than I want to; at slower tempos (and with less practice) those spots sound pretty abrupt. I think the speedier tempo helps.

Feb 6 (Var 4)

Yep, this one is coming along nicely. Practiced successfully at 128 bpm; I dialed it back a couple of notches for the recording. You might hear coach snapping along with the beat. You might also hear her snapping along almost with the beat. And yet I managed to get through the whole thing! My focus is returning!

Also today I ate a bunch of candy and went running and got a stomach ache afterward. So I felt like a little kid today. Still it was fun; I recommend you try it!



Also, after I play this song I usually end up with "The Holly and the Ivy" in my head, one of my favorite Christmas carols. Do you hear it too?

Feb 5 (Var 4)

OK, this one is definitely a little easier, and a little shorter. And maybe I'm getting a little better at practicing, too. I got distracted a couple of times tonight because I was thinking about what I was going to put into this post! I don't know if that's a good thing - I enjoy it, but I need to focus! Anyway, here are the things I thought of:

Two places in this first half a curious thing happens: I play the same note twice in a row, but to my ear they sound distinct. It's because the first time they're part of one melody line, and the second time they're part of the other. The two lines that are happening together just need the same note at about the same time, is all! What I love about this is that Bach intended it that way, since this variation is marked for 1 manual, that is, a harpsichord with just one keyboard. There are others that are designed for an instrument where each hand has its own keyboard, and I gather those can get super tricky. Not looking forward to that. Anyway, here are the two places I mentioned:

In the first, it's pretty obvious what's happening. We play that D in the bass clef twice in a row, but the first time it's coming from the G above, and the second time it's coming from the B below. And what's amazing to me is that I don't hear the repetition at all, I just hear the two lines that happen to have the same note in them. But I've been listening to this piece for years already; do you hear it that way too? Here's the second place this happens:

It's a little less obvious, but the B in the treble (marked with a 2) is the same note as the B in the bass clef (marked with a 1, right after it). Same deal as above. Remarkable! What's even cooler about this occurrence is that both times it's played in the same hand, but with different fingers. And that really helps the performer bring it out. Another cool thing happening here is that wide arpeggio in the treble clef is split between two hands. You can see why Bach's pieces are considered to need a virtuoso technique (which I don't have, sorry). Making all of this sound like it's supposed to is harder than it looks. In fact, that's more or less true by definition since the manuscript is written in a way to highlight the melody, rather than to make it easy to play. Putting the first B in the treble clef and connecting it to the G-C above it is a prime example of that.

Two other notes. One, I have big hands:

The last note in the bass clef there is intended to be played in the right hand, because the stretch of a 10th is more, apparently, than the editor expects from a normal human. But it's really comfortable for me! So I'm playing it in the left hand, and feeling good about it every time.

Lastly, my teacher in grade and middle schools would be annoyed with me based on how I'm playing the following:

The right hand, along with the top note of the left hand, is supposed to be completely silent during the last note of this measure. It's clearly marked. I'm not doing it; go back and take a listen and see if you notice! I guarantee that Ms. Moore would have noticed. People complain about the Suzuki method, but if you want to grow up and play Bach, it's definitely the way to go!

Feb 4 (Var 4)

I love this variation. It's so jaunty! (Have I called it jaunty yet?) I also think it will be a nice recovery piece after that beast of a canon. Working a half at a time, I expect I'll get this one down much faster. In the meantime, I've been starting to do some deeper reading about the Goldberg Variations, and I'd like to start sharing some of that knowledge with you as it comes up. First though, an update on Maurice! He was working really hard holding up the lamp, but the lamp was sideways and he didn't feel good about his work. Together we found a more suitable solution:

Beethoven doesn't approve, but he doesn't really approve of much anyway. Maurice is feeling useful but less stressed, and there's no more rattling! Win-win.

As it turns out, scholars seem to think of the variations as *really* starting with Variation 3. There's some debate about whether Bach even wrote the Aria himself, or "borrowed" it, but I guess most people think he wrote it. But Variation 3 is the first of 9 canons, and it's a canon in unison. That means that there is a leading voice and a following voice, and they both start on the same note (the unison). Variation 6 is another canon, this time at the second (the follower starts up one step from the leader), and so on up the line. Also apparently the canons are considered by many to be the best part of this whole thing. This suggests the time spent on Variation 3 was worth it!

After each canon comes the 'real' variations, which are written in a wide range of styles. I'm told that listeners of his day would have recognized them as wildly different styles; I don't know if that means hip-hop vs ambient nowadays, but I bet it's at least on the level of rockabilly vs metal. Variation 4 is (I think) a toccata, a kind of dance. The name sounds jaunty too!