Of course, and thank you all for your support! This community’s support of my ProPractice courses gives me the means to hire great guests like Ben and continue putting out as much content as I can here :)
Had to play this in grade 7, very diffidult but lots of fun indeed! My teacher also taught me to not use any pedaling on Bach. Really interesting to see there are many approaches to this.
I noticed he uses both the sustain and una corda pedal at the same time. I have become very accustomed to doing this with half pedaling. I like the sound and the fact it reduces any muddy overtone from the sustain. I'm also torn on pedaling Bach. I don't know weather to five it the sound Bach heard, or the one he would have liked if he had a piano. I like controlling my legato and staccato.
I’ve come to the conclusion that what matters most is the resulting sound and not the means you use to produce it. Don’t be fooled by seeing my big ugly shoe on the pedal. I’m mostly resting on the surface of it and just dabbing it (maybe 10-20% depressed) at certain moments to add a ring to a sound or to surgically connect notes in a phrase to my liking. The left foot is similar, I touch it for color purposes from time to time (and maybe use it more in smaller rooms with a nice grand like Josh’s). I’m able to play everything without my feet, which I recommend as part of learning Bach, but then as pianists - it’s useful to learn to have our feet ready on the pedals as we’re listening to and responding to the sound we’re creating.
@benlawdy Ah, I keep my feet on the pedal too, but sometimes your sudden small movement where hard to tell. I'm sure you were not using your pedal throughout. I am very cautios with Bach. Especially his Partitas. Some tend to have a clear melody tossed between hands. Partita no 13 is one I like to highlight the melody while keeping the arpeggios in the background. But I notice few people do this. What's your take?
@@eddygonzalez2328 so long as your caution is about matching your sound to your intentions, and not about whether you should or shouldn’t use pedal in Bach (which is not a false debate), then there’s not need to worry. Not sure which partita you’re referring to.
@benlawdy Sorry, I meant Invention. I have the Alfred edition. I've always liked playing them since I first learned them many years ago. When the dinosaurs roamed the hallways. I know no.4 and 8 are the ones most people like to play, but my favorite have always been no.13. I've listened to several recordings and for some reason, It just doesn't feel right to me. But perhaps it's my Chopin influence. No.13 has a very distinct melody that is repeated by RH and LH. I like highlighting the melody while keeping those broken chords floating in the background. Not completely obscure, but without competing with the melody. Do you have a recording of it? To be honest, despite of undergraduate and later one year of graduate school, it never occurred to me to ask my professor.
So happy to see Ben Laude here, I'm a tonebase member and I miss him there. :)
This is great! Thanks so much for having Ben on your channel.
Of course, and thank you all for your support! This community’s support of my ProPractice courses gives me the means to hire great guests like Ben and continue putting out as much content as I can here :)
Had to play this in grade 7, very diffidult but lots of fun indeed! My teacher also taught me to not use any pedaling on Bach. Really interesting to see there are many approaches to this.
Riesen Respekt 👍
Great
I noticed he uses both the sustain and una corda pedal at the same time. I have become very accustomed to doing this with half pedaling. I like the sound and the fact it reduces any muddy overtone from the sustain. I'm also torn on pedaling Bach. I don't know weather to five it the sound Bach heard, or the one he would have liked if he had a piano. I like controlling my legato and staccato.
I’ve come to the conclusion that what matters most is the resulting sound and not the means you use to produce it. Don’t be fooled by seeing my big ugly shoe on the pedal. I’m mostly resting on the surface of it and just dabbing it (maybe 10-20% depressed) at certain moments to add a ring to a sound or to surgically connect notes in a phrase to my liking. The left foot is similar, I touch it for color purposes from time to time (and maybe use it more in smaller rooms with a nice grand like Josh’s). I’m able to play everything without my feet, which I recommend as part of learning Bach, but then as pianists - it’s useful to learn to have our feet ready on the pedals as we’re listening to and responding to the sound we’re creating.
@benlawdy Ah, I keep my feet on the pedal too, but sometimes your sudden small movement where hard to tell. I'm sure you were not using your pedal throughout. I am very cautios with Bach. Especially his Partitas. Some tend to have a clear melody tossed between hands. Partita no 13 is one I like to highlight the melody while keeping the arpeggios in the background. But I notice few people do this. What's your take?
@@eddygonzalez2328 so long as your caution is about matching your sound to your intentions, and not about whether you should or shouldn’t use pedal in Bach (which is not a false debate), then there’s not need to worry. Not sure which partita you’re referring to.
@benlawdy Sorry, I meant Invention. I have the Alfred edition. I've always liked playing them since I first learned them many years ago. When the dinosaurs roamed the hallways. I know no.4 and 8 are the ones most people like to play, but my favorite have always been no.13. I've listened to several recordings and for some reason, It just doesn't feel right to me. But perhaps it's my Chopin influence. No.13 has a very distinct melody that is repeated by RH and LH. I like highlighting the melody while keeping those broken chords floating in the background. Not completely obscure, but without competing with the melody. Do you have a recording of it? To be honest, despite of undergraduate and later one year of graduate school, it never occurred to me to ask my professor.