Making Bach soil his pantaloons....

Rick Denney · Post by **Rick Denney** » Thu May 12, 2005 5:10 pm

I agree with Barry. Who cares? If you sold it to the audience, that's what count. You had already eliminated any commitment to historical practice by playing it on a tuba. Going a bit fast seems like a small sin.

A bourree is a dance, and as such would not have been played all that quickly back in Bach's day. But we aren't back in Bach's day.

The important point is to sell it no matter what your choice of tempo. I may play it slower (or, more accurately, I may HAVE to play it slower), but when I do I have to sell it at the slower tempo. Otherwise it just looks like I don't have any technique (which I don't).

I doubt there were any Baroque scholars in the audience.

For an audition to a bunch of college music professors, though, I might be a bit more careful in my approach, heh, heh.

Rick "who plays it at a stately MM=72 but who keeps it strict" Denney

windshieldbug · Post by **windshieldbug** » Thu May 12, 2005 6:55 pm

Who's to say? J.S. never had a tuba to write for, and his "cello" was very different than today's. Playing the dances at a faster tempi wouldn't have been done, but neither would they have been done on a tuba or at a band concert.

If you communicated well with the audience and sold the work, I'm sure J.S. would have been happy to take credit for writing it. Just don't do it on your baroque tuba when you play in the choir loft with gambas at the only church in town by candlelight in the heat of summer.

Chuck(G) · Post by **Chuck(G)** » Thu May 12, 2005 8:32 pm

Please allow me to offer a differing opinion. I don't much care for "machine gun" Bach; if you want to play something fast from the period with lots of notes per square inch, try a Scarlatti sonata.

..but wouldn't it be appropriate to play a dance at a tempo that can be danced?

You wouldn't do a jitterbug at MM=40, would you?

And, at that tempo, how carefully executed was your ornamentation and phrasing?

Sorry to be a party-pooper.

Phil Dawson · Post by **Phil Dawson** » Thu May 12, 2005 9:57 pm

Just for fun play Bach - the cello suites or anything else for that matter, in a "swing" feel (it works). It's fun, doesn't sound bad and it will at least provide you with a bit of entertainment.
Phil

windshieldbug · Post by **windshieldbug** » Thu May 12, 2005 11:37 pm

The question you need to ask yourself, though, is why did you "blister through" it? If it was being in the moment, that's one thing, but if you did it because you were nervous and rushed it, quite another. If the latter, be glad you got through it, make a note of it, and guard against it in the future. You don't want a meltdown the next time you try it...

elimia · Post by **elimia** » Fri May 13, 2005 10:44 pm

I'm of the thinking that breathing new life/interpretation into classics is fine. There's nothing wrong with interpreting a piece that doesn't play to the bluehairs. I commend doing this especially with Bach, as it is so well written it would play well in punk rock!

Chuck(G) · Post by **Chuck(G)** » Fri May 13, 2005 11:24 pm

elimia wrote:I'm of the thinking that breathing new life/interpretation into classics is fine. There's nothing wrong with interpreting a piece that doesn't play to the bluehairs. I commend doing this especially with Bach, as it is so well written it would play well in punk rock!

Dunno about punk rock, but it's certainly been done with Jazz, about 40 years ago:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... ce&s=music

Still blows me away when I listen to it; not just fast or jazzy, but musical.

LOTP · Post by **LOTP** » Sat May 14, 2005 8:21 pm

Almost 40 yrs ago I had reserved a rehearsal room (college) to go over a few numbers with a jazz 4tet in which I was playing drums.
The bassist and I showed up a few minutes early to find the guy ahead of us playing Bach Inventions on the piano. Without saying a word I sat down at the traps and picked up a pair of brushes while the bassist started playing a running bass line to the Bach. I wish I had a camera to record the huge smile on the face of the pianist. Quality music is good no matter what is done with it.

Dylan King · Post by **Dylan King** » Sat May 14, 2005 8:34 pm

In 1988 I performed Tubby the Tuba with my junior high school band. I had only been playing the tuba about eight months and had only been playing CC tuba for about two months. The tubby performance went great. I hit every note and the band sounded great. But then I got to the encore, and yes, I was to perform the Bouree that is being discussed here.

I had only been told by my band director that I should perform an encore a week before the concert, and my trombone teacher only had this one piece. I thought I knew it pretty well, but when the encore came, I got nervous. I must have taken the piece at around 144bpm and it was a disaster. Every other note came out wrong, and it just kept getting faster and faster. I played it solo, without an accompanist, and that didn't help at all. It was a train wreck all over.

Bach is dead as a nail, so there wasn't any rolling around in his grave, but I'm sure there was a little rolling around in the audience. I learned a lot from that performance, and have never been unprepared for a public performance since.

One should never take a piece, even one they know up and down, faster than they practice it. Luckily, in my later years I got more mellow, and play the music, not just the notes on the page.