Chords for J.S. Bach Prelude in C Major WTC I - ProPractice by Josh Wright
Tempo:
121.55 bpm
Chords used:
C
G
F
Am
D
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
Welcome to ProPractice, your guide to refine, enliven, and illuminate the piano repertoire.
I'm Josh Wright, and today's lesson will be on the Prelude in C Major from the Well-Tempered
Clavier Book 1.
This is also included in the Clavier Buchlein de Anna Magdalena Bach, or the notebook of
Anna Magdalena Bach.
And this is a fairly controversial piece.
You're going to hear all sorts of interpretations all over YouTube and professional recordings.
I think Glenn Gould even does something quite different like that.
Should you [Gb] use pedal?
Should you not use pedal?
Today we're going to work on, first of all, we're going to address that issue.
We're going to address what is in the music.
What did Bach originally write?
How can we honor that?
And what kind of liberties can we take around what he wrote?
Because you don't want it just to sound flat and boring.
We're also going to go over plenty of musical and interpretation ideas as well.
So let's just dive right in.
I think you just want to get an Urtext edition, first of all.
U-R-T-E-X-T.
There's a few different Urtext editions out there that are really good.
And let's just go ahead and play what he wrote.
Let's not complicate it [C] by saying, do I change pedal there or do I change pedal right [F] here?
If this is for a little kid, I mean, and they're just starting [N] out and they're just wanting
to play some Bach and they're just wanting to kind of dive into Baroque music, then it's
really not the end of the world if they use pedal here.
But if you're playing on a more serious level, I don't think you should over-pedal it.
And I'm not one of these fanatics that say you have to play it just like you'd play a harpsichord.
So no pedal, no dynamics.
I think that's ridiculous because you're going to play piano differently than you play a harpsichord.
Harpsichord has a totally different set of interpretive devices that you can use.
Like you can kind of use a little more rubato on harpsichord and it sounds quite nice.
Or you can displace things.
And that's coming from one of the world authorities on harpsichord music.
I took a seminar with him last semester and it was brilliant.
I loved it.
So let's just go through and play what Bach wrote.
[Cm] So half note or minim, and then, I believe it's [Am] a minim, sorry if you're in Britain or
Australia and that's wrong.
And then a dotted eighth note or a dotted quaver.
Now all of these are just sixteenth notes or [C] semi-quavers.
So basically we're going to go one e and a two e and a one e and a two e and a one [D] e
and a two e and a one [Cm] e and a two e.
Now let's just make sure these are really clean releases.
[Bb] Simple.
[C]
[F] See how elegant that sounds?
Very simple.
You want this [A] piece to sound simple.
I remember I was at a big national competition down in Miami when I was 17 and I went in
to talk to one of the judges and she said there was an actor that hated every word in the script.
He just hated the script but he really needed the money for the job.
And so he had to find one word that he liked and he found the word simple and he built
around the entire script just on that one word.
You can find your favorite passage in music and build around it like that but I think
even more so just the word simple.
The simplicity and elegance of kind of the bareness [C] of this piece.
[Dm]
[G]
[C] See how beautiful that is?
Okay now let's talk about interpretation because this piece can [Am] get very flat and boring if
you just [D] play everything the same.
[Eb] How do we know where to crescendo or diminuendo?
This is a daunting task for both teachers and students alike and there's no correct
way to do it.
No one correct way.
There are certainly poor choices but let's go through on how we could make effective choices.
I like to just block these [C] harmonies.
[F]
[G] [C] And to me that feels like a little ending.
Just a little cadence there.
So I think [Dm] a little bigger [G] to there and [C] then back to C major.
C major.
[F] D7 or a [G] ii7.
G7 or a V7 chord or a V6-V if you want to be really picky.
And then [C] back to I.
[Am] [D]
[G] Okay so let's [C] just play that.
[Bb] Sorry.
[C]
[Dm]
[G]
[C]
See how beautiful that sounds?
It's simple.
It's nice.
It's elegant.
It's not overstated.
I didn't go from piano clear up to double forte or fortissimo.
I just [D] did piano up [Am] to mezzo forte.
Maybe mezzo piano slash mezzo forte.
Not even too extreme.
Okay?
Let's keep thinking through this.
Okay this next passage is quite unique.
Thank you so much for watching.
As with all ProPractice videos, the first section is free.
If you'd like to view the rest of this video or if you're interested in learning more about
[C] ProPractice, just click on the link on this screen or on the link in the comments section below.
Thank you for your support of ProPractice.
I'm Josh Wright, and today's lesson will be on the Prelude in C Major from the Well-Tempered
Clavier Book 1.
This is also included in the Clavier Buchlein de Anna Magdalena Bach, or the notebook of
Anna Magdalena Bach.
And this is a fairly controversial piece.
You're going to hear all sorts of interpretations all over YouTube and professional recordings.
I think Glenn Gould even does something quite different like that.
Should you [Gb] use pedal?
Should you not use pedal?
Today we're going to work on, first of all, we're going to address that issue.
We're going to address what is in the music.
What did Bach originally write?
How can we honor that?
And what kind of liberties can we take around what he wrote?
Because you don't want it just to sound flat and boring.
We're also going to go over plenty of musical and interpretation ideas as well.
So let's just dive right in.
I think you just want to get an Urtext edition, first of all.
U-R-T-E-X-T.
There's a few different Urtext editions out there that are really good.
And let's just go ahead and play what he wrote.
Let's not complicate it [C] by saying, do I change pedal there or do I change pedal right [F] here?
If this is for a little kid, I mean, and they're just starting [N] out and they're just wanting
to play some Bach and they're just wanting to kind of dive into Baroque music, then it's
really not the end of the world if they use pedal here.
But if you're playing on a more serious level, I don't think you should over-pedal it.
And I'm not one of these fanatics that say you have to play it just like you'd play a harpsichord.
So no pedal, no dynamics.
I think that's ridiculous because you're going to play piano differently than you play a harpsichord.
Harpsichord has a totally different set of interpretive devices that you can use.
Like you can kind of use a little more rubato on harpsichord and it sounds quite nice.
Or you can displace things.
And that's coming from one of the world authorities on harpsichord music.
I took a seminar with him last semester and it was brilliant.
I loved it.
So let's just go through and play what Bach wrote.
[Cm] So half note or minim, and then, I believe it's [Am] a minim, sorry if you're in Britain or
Australia and that's wrong.
And then a dotted eighth note or a dotted quaver.
Now all of these are just sixteenth notes or [C] semi-quavers.
So basically we're going to go one e and a two e and a one e and a two e and a one [D] e
and a two e and a one [Cm] e and a two e.
Now let's just make sure these are really clean releases.
[Bb] Simple.
[C]
[F] See how elegant that sounds?
Very simple.
You want this [A] piece to sound simple.
I remember I was at a big national competition down in Miami when I was 17 and I went in
to talk to one of the judges and she said there was an actor that hated every word in the script.
He just hated the script but he really needed the money for the job.
And so he had to find one word that he liked and he found the word simple and he built
around the entire script just on that one word.
You can find your favorite passage in music and build around it like that but I think
even more so just the word simple.
The simplicity and elegance of kind of the bareness [C] of this piece.
[Dm]
[G]
[C] See how beautiful that is?
Okay now let's talk about interpretation because this piece can [Am] get very flat and boring if
you just [D] play everything the same.
[Eb] How do we know where to crescendo or diminuendo?
This is a daunting task for both teachers and students alike and there's no correct
way to do it.
No one correct way.
There are certainly poor choices but let's go through on how we could make effective choices.
I like to just block these [C] harmonies.
[F]
[G] [C] And to me that feels like a little ending.
Just a little cadence there.
So I think [Dm] a little bigger [G] to there and [C] then back to C major.
C major.
[F] D7 or a [G] ii7.
G7 or a V7 chord or a V6-V if you want to be really picky.
And then [C] back to I.
[Am] [D]
[G] Okay so let's [C] just play that.
[Bb] Sorry.
[C]
[Dm]
[G]
[C]
See how beautiful that sounds?
It's simple.
It's nice.
It's elegant.
It's not overstated.
I didn't go from piano clear up to double forte or fortissimo.
I just [D] did piano up [Am] to mezzo forte.
Maybe mezzo piano slash mezzo forte.
Not even too extreme.
Okay?
Let's keep thinking through this.
Okay this next passage is quite unique.
Thank you so much for watching.
As with all ProPractice videos, the first section is free.
If you'd like to view the rest of this video or if you're interested in learning more about
[C] ProPractice, just click on the link on this screen or on the link in the comments section below.
Thank you for your support of ProPractice.
Key:
C
G
F
Am
D
C
G
F
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Welcome to ProPractice, your guide to refine, enliven, and illuminate the piano repertoire.
I'm Josh Wright, and today's lesson will be on the Prelude in C Major from the Well-Tempered
Clavier Book 1.
This is also included in the Clavier Buchlein de Anna Magdalena Bach, _ _ or the notebook of
Anna Magdalena Bach.
And this is a fairly controversial piece.
You're going to hear all sorts of interpretations all over YouTube and professional recordings.
I think Glenn Gould even does something _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ quite different like that.
Should you [Gb] use pedal?
Should you not use pedal?
Today we're going to work on, first of all, we're going to address that issue.
We're going to address what is in the music.
What did Bach originally write?
How can we honor that?
And what kind of liberties can we take around what he wrote?
Because you don't want it just to sound flat and boring.
_ We're also going to go over plenty of musical and interpretation ideas as well.
So let's just dive right in.
I think you just want to get an Urtext edition, first of all.
U-R-T-E-X-T.
There's a few different Urtext editions out there that are really good. _ _
_ And let's just go ahead and play what he wrote.
Let's not complicate it [C] by saying, _ _ _ _ do I change pedal there or do I change pedal _ _ right _ [F] here?
If this is for a little kid, I mean, and they're just starting [N] out and they're just wanting
to play some Bach and they're just wanting to kind of dive into Baroque music, then it's
really not the end of the world if they use pedal here.
But if you're playing on a more serious level, I don't think you should over-pedal it.
And I'm not one of these fanatics that say you have to play it just like you'd play a harpsichord.
So no pedal, no dynamics.
I think that's ridiculous because you're going to play piano differently than you play a harpsichord.
Harpsichord has a totally different set of _ interpretive devices that you can use.
Like you can kind of use a little more rubato on harpsichord and it sounds quite nice.
Or you can displace things.
And that's coming from one of the world authorities on harpsichord music.
I took a seminar with him last semester and it was brilliant.
I loved it.
So let's just go through and play what Bach wrote.
[Cm] So _ half note or minim, _ and then, I believe it's [Am] a minim, sorry if you're in Britain or
Australia and that's wrong.
And then a dotted eighth note or a dotted _ quaver.
Now all of these are just sixteenth notes or [C] semi-quavers.
So basically we're going to go one e and a two e and a one e and a two e and a one [D] e
and a two e and a one [Cm] e and a two e.
Now let's just make sure these are really clean releases. _ _ _ _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ Simple. _ _
[C] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[F] _ _ _ _ _ _ See how elegant that sounds?
Very simple.
You want this [A] piece to sound simple.
I remember I was at a big national competition down in Miami when I was 17 and I went in
to talk to one of the judges and she said there was an actor that hated every word in the script.
He just hated the script but he really needed the money for the job.
And so he had to find one word that he liked and he found the word simple and he built
around the entire _ script just on that one word.
You can find your favorite passage in music and build around it like that but I think
even more so just the word simple.
The simplicity _ and elegance of kind of the bareness [C] of this piece. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Dm] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ _ _ See how beautiful that is?
Okay now let's talk about interpretation because this piece can [Am] get _ very flat and boring if
you just [D] play everything the same.
[Eb] How do we know where to crescendo or diminuendo?
This is a daunting task for both teachers and students alike and there's no correct
way to do it.
No one correct way.
There are certainly poor choices but let's go through on how we could make _ effective choices.
I like to just block these [C] harmonies.
_ _ _ [F] _
_ [G] _ _ _ [C] And to me that feels like a little ending.
Just a little cadence there.
So I think [Dm] a little bigger [G] to there and [C] then back to C major.
C major.
[F] _ _ D7 or a [G] ii7.
_ _ G7 or a V7 chord or a V6-V if you want to be really picky.
_ And then [C] _ back to I.
[Am] _ _ _ [D] _
_ [G] Okay so let's [C] just play that. _
[Bb] Sorry.
_ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Dm] _ _ _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
See how beautiful that sounds?
It's simple.
It's nice.
It's elegant.
It's not overstated.
I didn't go from piano clear up to double forte or fortissimo.
I just [D] did piano up [Am] to mezzo forte.
Maybe mezzo piano slash mezzo forte.
Not even too extreme.
Okay?
Let's keep thinking through this.
Okay this next passage is quite unique.
_ Thank you so much for watching.
As with all ProPractice videos, the first section is free.
If you'd like to view the rest of this video or if you're interested in learning more about
[C] ProPractice, just click on the link on this screen or on the link in the comments section below.
Thank you for your support of ProPractice. _ _ _ _ _ _
Welcome to ProPractice, your guide to refine, enliven, and illuminate the piano repertoire.
I'm Josh Wright, and today's lesson will be on the Prelude in C Major from the Well-Tempered
Clavier Book 1.
This is also included in the Clavier Buchlein de Anna Magdalena Bach, _ _ or the notebook of
Anna Magdalena Bach.
And this is a fairly controversial piece.
You're going to hear all sorts of interpretations all over YouTube and professional recordings.
I think Glenn Gould even does something _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ quite different like that.
Should you [Gb] use pedal?
Should you not use pedal?
Today we're going to work on, first of all, we're going to address that issue.
We're going to address what is in the music.
What did Bach originally write?
How can we honor that?
And what kind of liberties can we take around what he wrote?
Because you don't want it just to sound flat and boring.
_ We're also going to go over plenty of musical and interpretation ideas as well.
So let's just dive right in.
I think you just want to get an Urtext edition, first of all.
U-R-T-E-X-T.
There's a few different Urtext editions out there that are really good. _ _
_ And let's just go ahead and play what he wrote.
Let's not complicate it [C] by saying, _ _ _ _ do I change pedal there or do I change pedal _ _ right _ [F] here?
If this is for a little kid, I mean, and they're just starting [N] out and they're just wanting
to play some Bach and they're just wanting to kind of dive into Baroque music, then it's
really not the end of the world if they use pedal here.
But if you're playing on a more serious level, I don't think you should over-pedal it.
And I'm not one of these fanatics that say you have to play it just like you'd play a harpsichord.
So no pedal, no dynamics.
I think that's ridiculous because you're going to play piano differently than you play a harpsichord.
Harpsichord has a totally different set of _ interpretive devices that you can use.
Like you can kind of use a little more rubato on harpsichord and it sounds quite nice.
Or you can displace things.
And that's coming from one of the world authorities on harpsichord music.
I took a seminar with him last semester and it was brilliant.
I loved it.
So let's just go through and play what Bach wrote.
[Cm] So _ half note or minim, _ and then, I believe it's [Am] a minim, sorry if you're in Britain or
Australia and that's wrong.
And then a dotted eighth note or a dotted _ quaver.
Now all of these are just sixteenth notes or [C] semi-quavers.
So basically we're going to go one e and a two e and a one e and a two e and a one [D] e
and a two e and a one [Cm] e and a two e.
Now let's just make sure these are really clean releases. _ _ _ _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ Simple. _ _
[C] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[F] _ _ _ _ _ _ See how elegant that sounds?
Very simple.
You want this [A] piece to sound simple.
I remember I was at a big national competition down in Miami when I was 17 and I went in
to talk to one of the judges and she said there was an actor that hated every word in the script.
He just hated the script but he really needed the money for the job.
And so he had to find one word that he liked and he found the word simple and he built
around the entire _ script just on that one word.
You can find your favorite passage in music and build around it like that but I think
even more so just the word simple.
The simplicity _ and elegance of kind of the bareness [C] of this piece. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Dm] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ _ _ See how beautiful that is?
Okay now let's talk about interpretation because this piece can [Am] get _ very flat and boring if
you just [D] play everything the same.
[Eb] How do we know where to crescendo or diminuendo?
This is a daunting task for both teachers and students alike and there's no correct
way to do it.
No one correct way.
There are certainly poor choices but let's go through on how we could make _ effective choices.
I like to just block these [C] harmonies.
_ _ _ [F] _
_ [G] _ _ _ [C] And to me that feels like a little ending.
Just a little cadence there.
So I think [Dm] a little bigger [G] to there and [C] then back to C major.
C major.
[F] _ _ D7 or a [G] ii7.
_ _ G7 or a V7 chord or a V6-V if you want to be really picky.
_ And then [C] _ back to I.
[Am] _ _ _ [D] _
_ [G] Okay so let's [C] just play that. _
[Bb] Sorry.
_ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Dm] _ _ _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
See how beautiful that sounds?
It's simple.
It's nice.
It's elegant.
It's not overstated.
I didn't go from piano clear up to double forte or fortissimo.
I just [D] did piano up [Am] to mezzo forte.
Maybe mezzo piano slash mezzo forte.
Not even too extreme.
Okay?
Let's keep thinking through this.
Okay this next passage is quite unique.
_ Thank you so much for watching.
As with all ProPractice videos, the first section is free.
If you'd like to view the rest of this video or if you're interested in learning more about
[C] ProPractice, just click on the link on this screen or on the link in the comments section below.
Thank you for your support of ProPractice. _ _ _ _ _ _