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How to Teach Bach Prelude in C Major BWV 846 from the Well-Tempered Clavier - Part 1 of 2

Janna Williamson

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Today we’re talking about how to teach the Bach Prelude in C Major BWV 846 from the Well-Tempered Clavier. This is part 1 of 2 videos covering this piece. Click here for part 2: How to Teach Bach Prelude in C Major BWV 8...

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0:00 Introduction
1:20 Part of the Well-Tempered Clavier
2:50 Baroque prelude style
4:30 Baroque Appreciation
5:10 Harmony and blocking the chords
10:13 Final thoughts

17 Comments

@lauradavis7133 3 months ago

Wonderful journey through one of my very favorite pieces ever!

@pianobyhannah 2 years ago

Thank you for covering this piece! I’m looking forward to Pt. 2! ☺️

@laurariley9851 2 years ago

Thank you SO much for making these videos 🙏😊🌷

@gwventers 2 months ago

I'm working on relearning this at the moment. Your 2-part breakdown is excellent. Thank you. I have a question. Do you teach Diabelli's sonatinas? I began his Op. 151 No. 1 as a bridge while I start Burgmüller and slowly work my way toward relearning Clementi. It has a simplicity that takes the sting out of the leap (for me) from the simplest early Bach pieces to Clementi via Burgmüller, etc. If you do, I would love to see a lesson. Thank you for your great material and effort.

@eugenevazquez4890 2 years ago

Your piano sounds so beautiful.
Thank you

@JannaWilliamson Creator 2 years ago

Part 2 is now available! https://youtu.be/PJsWSMrNz1U?si=pCzOoiDhu33TGoFI

@tonyb9864 3 years ago

Good video! :-)

@lawrencetaylor4101 2 years ago

This was in the style of this Prélude, nothing fancy but beautifully said. Merci beaucoup.
I've been playing this for almost a year (with two years of piano playing) but I don't consider myself yet a beginner. I'm still learning dynamics and rhythms, but I'm improving.
I transcribed this to Thoroughbass and transpose it into other keys. I can 't yet play it just from the chord indications, but that's my goal.

@KarlaandZac 1 year ago

I plan to play this one day at our small music club, followed by my teacher playing the fugue, thus it will be prelude/ fugue as intended.

@lawrencetaylor4101 2 years ago

Watching this again, since you are the teachers teacher. Merci.

@OldPianoAndElectronicsGuy 1 year ago

I tried practicing this piece over a year ago. It kept me from sleeping painlessly. The amount of wrist rotation in my right arm needed to get through this was seriously aggravating my right arm and wrist to the point it was waking me from my sleep. It took 4 to 5 months of physiotherapy to allow me to return to piano in a limited fashion.

@artwork-r8d 2 years ago

I'd like to see you do the fugue. My tip with fugue is to divide it into the 3 basic sections (plus 'coda') and to play everything super-slow.

@paulrhodesquinn 2 years ago (edited)

Wonderful lesson. You have a lovely communication style and play beautifully. I lecture in composition and performance at the University of Winchester in the UK. When teaching anything I also like to block out the chords as you do, and also explore the harmonic progression and cadences, such as the II V I Am7 D7 G cadence at 7:07, which I find helps to make sense of the music for the students and aids memorisation. So glad that the algorithm brought me to your channel. My MA is in Jazz, so I also like working from figured bass and partimento for improvisation.