if you cant dance a sarabande, you can't play it!
I know how to waltz and salsa, but do I know how to dance to the dance suites of Bach? My answer is no. SOOOOOOOO, my goal is to learn. Arthur Loesser, a pianist and scholar once asked, "Do you know how to dance the movements of this (Bach) partita?"
"It might help you to understand each movement's character if you did. Let me demonstrate." The man actually got up and danced!
We have been trying to perform Bach in the way that performers of Bach's time would play. However, Bach was head of his time. If he were given the instruments of our time, I believe, along with Pablo Casals, that Bach intended for his music to be played uncensored and from the heart. There is already a difference in your sound if you are playing on an instrument made in the 1950s. Not everyone dances the same to a waltz. There is specific foot work to the dance, but there is freedom within. Why can't I play the opening to Bach's third cello suite with passion and fire if I have the basic foot work? Blame it on Casals if I play with too much passion!
Pablo Casals once told Arnold Steinhartz a story about a gypsy. Casals sat down in a resturant and was immediately recognized by this gypsy. The gypsy then honored him by playing Bach's G minor Solo Sonata. Casals told Steinharzt that "it was the most fiery, the freest Bach [he] had ever heard. Also the best. This gypsy had none of our fears and inhibitions about what to do or not do in Bach. He played uncensored and from the heart (Indivisible by Four, Arnold Steinhartz)."
My conclusion is...I can't play Bach yet!! I've studied his works for years and I still don't get it. Chance are, it will be a life long lesson. Tom Tatton once told me a story about a violist who was studying the six cello suites. I can't remember which great violist it is...so I won't mention the name just in case I step all over it.....anyways, this violist had been studying the suites for years...I'm talking decades. Everyone thought that he was by far one of the best teachers and performers of these suites. One day he was heard practicing these suites and was asked, "how are the cello suites coming along?" The old man, of 65 or 70 replied, "I think I'm beginning to understand them." I'm only 24....Bach and I have a lifetime ahead of us! My goal is to learn how to dance a Sarabande today....cause you can't play it until you know how to dance to it! :)
"It might help you to understand each movement's character if you did. Let me demonstrate." The man actually got up and danced!
We have been trying to perform Bach in the way that performers of Bach's time would play. However, Bach was head of his time. If he were given the instruments of our time, I believe, along with Pablo Casals, that Bach intended for his music to be played uncensored and from the heart. There is already a difference in your sound if you are playing on an instrument made in the 1950s. Not everyone dances the same to a waltz. There is specific foot work to the dance, but there is freedom within. Why can't I play the opening to Bach's third cello suite with passion and fire if I have the basic foot work? Blame it on Casals if I play with too much passion!
Pablo Casals once told Arnold Steinhartz a story about a gypsy. Casals sat down in a resturant and was immediately recognized by this gypsy. The gypsy then honored him by playing Bach's G minor Solo Sonata. Casals told Steinharzt that "it was the most fiery, the freest Bach [he] had ever heard. Also the best. This gypsy had none of our fears and inhibitions about what to do or not do in Bach. He played uncensored and from the heart (Indivisible by Four, Arnold Steinhartz)."
My conclusion is...I can't play Bach yet!! I've studied his works for years and I still don't get it. Chance are, it will be a life long lesson. Tom Tatton once told me a story about a violist who was studying the six cello suites. I can't remember which great violist it is...so I won't mention the name just in case I step all over it.....anyways, this violist had been studying the suites for years...I'm talking decades. Everyone thought that he was by far one of the best teachers and performers of these suites. One day he was heard practicing these suites and was asked, "how are the cello suites coming along?" The old man, of 65 or 70 replied, "I think I'm beginning to understand them." I'm only 24....Bach and I have a lifetime ahead of us! My goal is to learn how to dance a Sarabande today....cause you can't play it until you know how to dance to it! :)
posted by Jenn & John at 1:32 PM
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