Bach, Prelude 20 in A minor, Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, BWV 865

FAQ

Prelude 20 in A minor from Book I of J. S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, BWV 865, performed on the Roland VP-550 Vocal and Ensemble Keyboard by Stephen Malinowski, accompanied by a scrolling bar-graph score.

Q: Where can I get the sheet music for this piece?
A: The standard score for the prelude and fugue is here:
http://www.musanim.com/pdf/IMSLP02225-BWV0865.pdf

Q: What are we hearing and how did you create it?
A: The string-like sounds you're hearing are made by me playing my viola through the Roland VP-550 Vocal & Ensemble Keyboard Here's an article on vocoders:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocoder
If you want to see what it looks like when a person is performing live with the VP-550, I recommend Don Lewis's wonderful performance of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TdQwOUGaFs
The main differences between what Don's doing and what I did are that I was playing the viola instead of singing, and I performed the two parts of the prelude separately.

Q: Is there a way I could make the bar-graph scores myself?
A: The Music Animation Machine MIDI file player will generate this display; you can get the (Windows) software here:
http://www.musanim.com/player/
There are lots of places on the web where you can get MIDI files; I usually go to the Classical Archives site first:
http://www.classicalarchives.com/

Q: Could you please do a MAM video of _________?
A: First, check my "to do" list:
http://www.musanim.com/all/MAMToDoList.html ...
If the piece isn't listed, read the "Could you please do a MAM video of _________?" item on my main FAQ:
http://www.musanim.com/mam/mamfaq.html#copyright ...
and if you think I'd consider doing it, email me (stephen at musanim dot com).
.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• baroque
• harpsichord
• clavichord
• organ
• vocoder
• VP-550
• malinowski

[brightsideoflife64]

on second hearing....j'adore.

[smalin]

Interesting ... I'm curious to know: what was it like on the first hearing?

[brunopwr]

It sounded French for me. It was funny, the idea of a French Bach... Anyway, it was nice. Thanks for the good work!

[smalin]

Don't forget: Bach was familiar with French music, and it influenced his style greatly. English too, for that matter. And Italian. He lived in Germany, but he learned from everywhere.

[whovianfloovian]

Can I ask, smalin, what edition of the Well Tempered Clavier are you using? Mine's ancient and falling to pieces, and has passed down generations of piano teachers to me, in rags!

I'd like to invest in a good copy that I can mark up myself... but wouldn't mind some advise.

By the way... I love watching these. It really helps me get more of a sense of the different voices in the music.

[smalin]

I recommend the Dover edition because it's inexpensive and has relatively few pages turns. If you want to get deeply into the details (differences between one source and another), then the Henle urtext is probably what you should get. But for writing fingerings, I use the Dover; if you want a copy without fingerings, you can get another. I think I've bought five or six by now (given several away).

[TimFreud]

Nice work, thank you smalin.

[Schubert958]

One of my favourite Bach preludes

[cnochain]

@smalin absolutely cool!!! !!!! !!!! any chance of the First movement of Brandenburg Concerto No.05??? In the meanwhile I think I will listen to this again.

[uemciicmeu]

the sound is amazing! thanks

[victorbite]

Find this piece actually stressing, dunno why.

[AntuQum]

@guitarrasco Absolutely agree, vision brings more light to structure.

[123Calvario]

I think this is much better than the ones with voices. I hope you can always improve it, testing new sounds.

[guitarrasco]

I find this tool very useful in understanding TRUE music. Thanks for your hard work and keep them coming.