Essay On The True Art Of Playing Keyboard Instruments

J. S. Bach's musician son explains the technique for performing eighteenth-century compositions, discussing fingering, embellishments, bass, and accompaniment

J. S. Bach's musician son explains the technique for performing eighteenth-century compositions, discussing fingering, embellishments, bass, and accompaniment

The first complete English translation of C.P.E. Bach's instruction book, incorporating all of Bach's alterations, additions, and footnotes into the main text. The incorporations are identified in the editor's notes.

For beginner keyboard players. Takes you from beginner to professional level in a variety of styles as well as teaching music theory and improvisation in an interesting and practical way. This method features a complete system of chords, scales and arpeggios.

This book collects key writings about eighteenth century music . It brings together for the first time in one place, a wide selection of essential documents not only about music theory and practice, but about the historical, philosophical, aesthetic, ideological, and literary debates which held sway during a century when musical thought and criticism gained a privileged position in the culture of Europe. Enrico Fubini offers a sampling of English, French, German, and Italian writings on topics ranging from Enlightenment rationalism and the theories of harmony to German musical culture and the polemics on J. S. Bach. Organized by topic and historical period these selections go beyond writings dealing exclusively with specific musical works to larger issues of theory and the reception of musical ideas in the culture at large. The selections are from books, journals, newspapers, pamphlets, and letters; the contributors include Diderot, Rousseau, Voltaire, Grimm, Alfieri, Rameau, Quantz, Gluck, Tartini, Leopold and W. A. Mozart, and C. P .E. Bach. Many are translated here for the first time. With general and chapter introductions, restored footnotes, and other valuable annotations, and a biographical appendix, this anthology will interest music scholars, students, and teachers.

First Published in 2011. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Though incomplete at the time of his death in 1849, Chopin's Projet de méthode was nonetheless revolutionary in many respects. But with his Fundamental Pattern, Chopin announced the recognition, if not discovery, of the keyboard's extraordinary topographical symmetry and postulated a core formulation for a new "pianistic" pedagogy. More than a hundred years later the now-legendary Heinrich Neuhaus would passionately plead for this pedagogy and a pianism rooted in it. Natural Fingering explores this remarkable symmetry, significantly as it sheds light on fingering matters for the now vast catalogue of repertoire. It also examines the revolutionary impact of equal temperament on compositional key choice as well as the liberating influence of Charles Eschmann-Dumur's unique discoveries regarding symmetrical inversion. Author Jon Verbalis develops principles for a topographically-based fingering strategy that reflect a surprising compatibility of this fixed symmetrical organization with the most efficient biokinetic capabilities of the pianist's playing mechanism. He addresses previously neglected or overlooked technical aspects of pianism as they relate to movement in keyboard space generally as well as fingering specifically. Symmetrical fingerings for all the fundamental forms are presented in innovative, instructive format. The reader will also find an unusually extensive, in-depth discussion of double note challenges. Answering Neuhaus's call for the reappraisal of a certain pedagogical status quo, several chapters are devoted to the relevant implications of Chopin's Fundamental Pattern. The author also advances guidelines for a progressive implementation of natural fingering principles from the very start, as well as "retooling" for teachers and students alike. Of special note are the cross-hand major and minor scales for the earliest stages, in which the necessity of thumb under/hand over pivoting actions is eliminated. Natural Fingering is the first comprehensive discussion of fingering solutions for pianists since Hummel's monumental treatise of 1828. The book is complemented by a companion website, which serves as a supplement to the printed edition. The website features copious excerpts from the extant repertoire, extended discussions on relevant topics, and a comprehensive manual of the fundamental forms with symmetrically adjusted fingerings.