Johann Sebastian Bach was the greatest and most influential composer in Europe in the first half of the eighteenth century and an important representative of the Baroque music period. At the same time, he is also known as the founder and saint of music in the Western "Bliss World". Bach's musical works are also considered by later generations to have eternal value. Bach's musical works embody the highest and most mature technical level of polyphony in the Baroque music period. At the same time, it was Bach who brought polyphonic music to its peak. His musical works are rigorous in form, have strong logic and philosophy, and show solemn and connotative musical thoughts. It is these unique creative characteristics of Bach that make his musical works very different from those of other composers in performance. This article discusses the performance style, dynamics, finger touch, fingering, and pedal of Bach's works.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), one of Germany’s greatest and most influential composers. What Bach brought to people was the language of God, which was gorgeous, elegant and not artificial. The composition skills contained in the complex tunes can be traced in almost any composer after him.

1. Performance style

The performance style of Bach’s music has gone through a long process of evolution and development. Bach was a composer in the Baroque period. His music works are more than 300 years old. Due to the limitations of the era, there are no recordings of the playing styles of the musicians of that era. Modern people can only learn from some historical materials. We can indirectly understand the performance style of Bach's music works from the records. From the harpsichord and clavichord, the instruments of the time that have been handed down, it can be inferred that Bach's keyboard works generally produced elegant and clear sounds. Bach died in 1750. Because its music was so complex, it was forgotten by people for a period of time after his death. Until the middle of the 19th century, two German composers, Mendelssohn and Schumann, worked hard to discover and promote Bach's works, making Bach's works spread to the world again. The mid-20th century gave rise to an "authenticity" movement originating in Western Europe. Let Bach's true voice be played and revealed on instruments from Bach's time. This trend of authenticity movement is also reflected in the performance of modern pianists, who deliberately imitate the sound of the harpsichord when playing the piano, playing the sound very dry and with a small amplitude. But what they never expected was that Bach himself had very casual requirements for sound media when composing and performing his own works. This is enough to show that Bach considered the musical structure itself when composing, rather than the sound medium in which the music is expressed. Therefore, the performance style of Bach's works should be able to fully reflect the simplicity, simplicity and structural perfection of the works. The artistic essence of Bach's musical works should exist in the construction of his music itself, in the perfect horizontal and vertical counterpoint combination of melody, rhythm, harmony, sound pattern and other musical elements. The essence of the performance style of Bach's music works should be to use the sound changes of modern piano to express the structural intention of Bach's works, and to use simple and simple musical language to impress every listener.

2. Dynamics

1. Pay attention to the counterpoint of Bach’s music when playing. Bach's music has a great feature, that is, the phrases of different parts start, breathe and end at different times. This requires that our handling of intensity during performance should also change accordingly at different times. For example, in bars 17 to 27 of this piece of music, each part has its own intensity change time based on its own phrasing, rather than a general crescendo and decrescendo. Furthermore, there are not only horizontal dynamics changes in Bach's music, but also vertical and oblique dynamics changes, which exist not only in works with two parts, but also in works with three, four or five parts. in the works.

2. Since Bach’s musical structural thinking is similar to architectural structural thinking, the intensity changes in Bach’s music are also mainly stepped, rather than the crescendo or decrescendo that appeared after classicism, No. 25 to 27 For the progressive fade-out of the bar, we process it from f to mf to mp, rather than a gradual fade-out. This is more in line with the structural nature of Bach and Baroque music, rather than the linguistic nature of Romantic music.

3. The intensity changes in Bach’s musical works mostly exist between parts and phrases. Therefore, when dealing with the dynamics of Bach's music, we should avoid making too many dynamics changes and ups and downs in one phrase. Only in this way can we more clearly express the counterpoint and constructive thinking of Bach's music. Otherwise, it will destroy the structural sense of Bach's music.

4. According to the different layouts of the texture in the music, the selection of timbre should follow the following rules: A. When there is a large distance between the treble part and other parts, the part can often be made to be soft and soft. The voice sings. BWhen there is a large distance between the voices in the texture, the middle voice can stand out solidly. C When the bass gradually descends, especially when the upper part is a long sound, the bass part can be thicker, and even the instantaneous change is worth it. DWhen the vocal ranges of two voices overlap, be sure to make the main voice clear. Especially when two lines are entangled together, the flow composed of smaller durations will usually fade out as the background.

3. Key touch

In view of the musical instrument conditions in the Baroque era and the requirements of the aesthetic style at that time, the various key touch methods on the piano are different from modern requirements. A Leggiero: Your fingers only need to tap the keys lightly to a shallow level.

B Staccto: The fingers hit and release keys with faster movements. Generally, the beating of the palm is not used. It usually takes up 1/2 of the time value mark. C non legato has a slightly longer key playing time than "staccato" and usually takes up 3/4 of the time value mark. D portato quarter Notes or half notes are often completed with the entire forearm movement, while eighth notes are controlled with fingers, making the key release time slightly longer than "non-legato" notes. E legato: In the legato of the Baroque era, there is no need to erase the starting point of each note, and the tone should be concentrated.

4. Fingering

There are several special fingering methods in Bach's music works:

1. Pad fingers: in order to achieve "more legato" The effect is achieved by crossing one finger over another. For example, three fingers pass through four fingers, four fingers pass through three fingers, etc. Pay attention to the flexibility of your wrist when playing. When one finger has not replaced the previous finger, the previous finger should not leave the key.

2. Silent finger changing: In order to maintain a certain note while making it easier to play other parts, silent finger changing of the same tone is adopted.

3. Changing fingers with the same tone: When playing legato with repeated tones, in order to make the playing clear and smooth, you can change the fingers with the same tone.

4. Finger sliding: In order to obtain the legato effect, the same finger slides from one key to another. For example, the white key slides to the white key, the black key slides to the black key, the black key slides to the white key, and the white key slides to the black key. Find the best finger tilt when sliding your fingers.

In order to achieve a certain performance effect when playing, you should also pay attention to the following principles in the selection and application of fingerings:

(1) Most of the parts that are modeled use the same fingering method. Finger playing.

(2) Try to play with your fingers, and try to avoid using your thumb on the black keys. When playing difficult or decorative sounds, use the stronger second and third fingers more often.

(3) The tempo of the music is different, and the fingering methods are also different.

Slow fingering is not necessarily necessary