An Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instrument Handout

[Type the document title] ~ An Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments ~ C.P.E Bach Translation: William J. Mitchell W.W. Norton & Company Inc. New York, 1949 Essay 1 Introduction    

Bad Keyboardists propagate a tarnished reputation of the instrument and repertoire Bad teachers who enforce poorly composed repertoire and transcribed arias are to blame Poor left hand, distasteful musicality, forgotten notated conventions are results Description of quality keyboard instruments, their functions and strengths

Fingering  

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“anything can be expressed with the wrong fingering, although with prodigious difficulty and awkwardness.” “Correct employment of the fingers is inseparably related to the whole art of performance. More is lost through poor fingering that can be replaced by all the conceivable artistry and good taste.” Bach expands on hand positions, use of thumb for span, avoidance of black keys with the thumb, and proper finger crossing along with exercises to develop technique

Embellishments 

Embellishments connect and enliven tones and impart stress and accents while

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heightening expression. The best melodies die without them. Use like spice in recipes. Must not disrupt affect of piece or melody line. Taste in embellishment unique to each country. the appoggiatura, the trill (normal, ascending, descending, half), the turn, mordent, compound appoggiatura, slide, snap and fermata

Performance   

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“Keyboardists whose chief asset is mere technique are clearly at a disadvantage” Such technicians “overwhelm our hearing without satisfying it by stunning the mind without moving it” Good performance :“one hears all the notes and their embellishments played in a correct time with fitting volume produced by a touch which is related to the true content of a piece” “play from the soul, not like a trained bird!” Introduction to rubato

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Essay 2 Intervals and Signatures 

Basic explanation of music rudiments, such as intervals, key signatures, and notation used for thorough bass

Thorough Bass   

“Figured Bass”. This chapter deals with each type of chord individually Triads, inversions (not notated as such), seventh chords, ninth chords, suspensions Function of each chord, voicing for each, how to prepare and how to resolve

Accompaniment   

Unison as a musical effect. Usually when other instruments in an ensemble playing in unison, the keyboard should as well Tasto solo- musical notation stating that the notes in the bass should be played alone as written without added 80 pages of the use of embellishments while accompanying with thorough bass

Improvisation     

Requires comprehensive knowledge of harmony and construction, but not necessarily composition Improvisation= Fantasia. Free in form aside from initial and final key, and a perfect cadence in the middle and end. When time is available, feel free to modulate to not only related keys, but distant keys Ensure you give time to listener in the beginning and end to establish the home key Note, this is improvisation upon a figured bass