I've been "working at" the WTC Prelude and Fuge # 15 in G Major. My hands are not very large. If you have a score handy, I have a question. In Measure 62 of the Fugue, how does one who has a rather small hand possibly hold the A bass dotted half with the fifth finger of the left hand while playing the BAGFE with the other fingers (probably the 1st and 2nd) of the left hand. To make matters worse, they should be played legato. I have to stretch to play the BA & G with my thumb(Definitely NOT legato). I can't stretch my second finger that far. Should I just play them NON legato or should I let got of the bass A? It blurs the descending passage if I use the sustaining pedal. I hope this makes sense. It takes a long explanation to express a simple question. John
Maybe my advice wont be helpful because this is Bach, and you can't cheat with Bach. But use the pedal or just roll your left hand (aka, don't hold down the lowest note)
Yes i know with the pedal it would get blurred a little but my opinioin is to use the sustain pedal with a light touch and with full control..... It will work anyway Either if you want to use it without pedal, then you have to focus working Hand Seperated, carefully, with different speeds, and with different rythyms.... (this apply not only to this piece but to many other pieces) O.K
I have not got especially big hands (average I guess) and can just manage this. But you need to be able to reach an octave with the 5th and 2nd finger so that you can put the thumb on the B and the 2nd finger on the A, then thumb under to the G and so on. Alternatively if you have a sostenuto pedal you can use that to hold the low G (works great as that is the higest note the pedal handles, at least on my machine). Failing all that you'll have to use the nose or left toe to hold the G. Sustaining pedal is not really an option because of the scales..... although if you manage to silently re-take the low G once it's in reach again,. it may not be too bad.
trivia Chris, Thanks. I'll experiment with all of the suggestions. At least I'm trying some Bach again as you suggested. I thought you probably had bigger hands than I being from the Netherlands. An article I read this week said that the Netherlands is the tallest country...meaning the average height is taller than any other country in the world. The average man is 6'1" according to that article. In the US, the average is 5'10". So I assumed you can reach further than I. Sometimes I remember weird trivia like that. Just thought you'd like to know that. LOL John
Re: trivia Height has nothing to do with hand size. I know people shorter than me, and their hands are bigger. I also heard that the Dutch are taller because one time back in the day the dams broke, flooding the entire country, and all the short people drowned. :lol:
In case you 'boys' don't already know this, it's not the size that matters - it's stamina, baby! :lol:
Sostenuto It works! Thanks, Chris. I never would have thought the sostenuto pedal would solve the problem. I recorded it on Audacity and when I listened I could hardly tell that I wasn't really holding the note down. If I'm careful to apply the pedal AFTER the staccato C#, the low A is the only note sustained. Great! By the way, thanks to you, Chris and Juufa, I'm having a lot of fun with the Bach. I've stopped worrying about the "proper" way to interpret it and am just playing the way I feel it.
