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The Improvisation of Figuration Preludes and The Enduring Value of Bach Family Pedagogy
The Improvisation of Figuration Preludes and The Enduring Value of Bach Family Pedagogy
1 Octave Line
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facilitates the5 -eventual
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the % chord. They then “expand” the outer voices to move to the
next 6 chord, and so on. I find that the “make a 3rd” and “expand”
prompts are helpful to students as they practice this component.
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Figure 4: Tonal Plan and Formal Layout of the C Major Prelude from WTC1
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F#o7 chord.
the C Major Prelude, shown in Figure 7, utilizes only the first four
chords Dominant
[A. Gross]in Figure 6, leaving Pedal
off before the - C Major
chromatic Prelude
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20
Students may also wish to work on transferring Figures 10a-g, or
even Figure 10h, to monophonic instruments. For brass or woodwind
instruments, I have suggested that students adapt or devise a figuration
pattern that incorporates rests, in order to facilitate breathing.
29
JOURNAL OF MUSIC THEORY PEDAGOGY
Figuration
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e (includes passing tone) f (includes passing tone)
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g Pattern in J. S. Bach's Prelude from
Cello Suite No. 1 in G major
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(shown here in C major)
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2
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1a h Major: Tonicize
Pattern in Dominant
J. S. Bach's C Majorand Tonic
Prelude
# #$
# $ #$ #$ # # #$ # $# #
from the Clavier-Büchlein and WTC1
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2 (! # # # # # #
i 5 - 6in J. S.4Bach's6D Major4 Prelude
Pattern (7) 7 4 6 4 6 4 7
1a Major: Tonicize
2 Dominant and
2 Tonic # 2 2 2
#$ $ $#(shown$#$here
from the Clavier-Büchlein and WTC1
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Figure 10: Figuration Patterns
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21
For instance, in Figures 11.1a and 11.1c, a 4-voice setting could
utilize a G-F# motion into the F# shown in the second measure. Until that
time, students can strike the F# on the second half of measure 2 to fill out
the chord, or eventually incorporate it into their figuration in other ways.
31
2 JOURNAL OF MUSIC THEORY PEDAGOGY
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2b Minor: chromaticize lower neighbors, resulting in local tonicizations
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2c Minor: Scale degrees 5-4-3 in bass suggest III; chromaticize lower neighbors
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32
THE
J. S.IMPROVISATION OF FIGURATION
Bach - Alternate C MajorPRELUDES
Ending
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# # $#
!
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# # # ##
%! #
# ## #
# #
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#
6 4 6 7 (!7)
2 4
2
Figure 12: Ending for Bass Octave in C Major Prelude in the Clavier-
Büchlein
#
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$
$ $
$ $
$ $
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%$ %$
!
$ $ %$
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$
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$ #$
$ $ $
# $ $ $ $
6 6 6 Ä ´ &
5 2 5 6
4
2
Figure 13: Expansion of III and Ending for Bass Octave in C Minor
Prelude in WTC122
altered bass line, some of the % chords utilize raised 4ths to tonicize
the upcoming 6 chord, creating local 7-1 motions in the upper
voices, as in some of the examples in Figure 11. Even with these
chromatic alterations, C. P. E. Bach’s model still treats scale degree
5 in the area of III, as in the model used in J. S. Bach’s C Minor
C.Well-Tempered
Prelude in Book I of The P. E. BachClavier.
- Improvisation Sequence
! " #" $" #" $" " #" $" " " "
6 Ä 6 2 6 !7 Ä 6 7-´
5
23
C. P. E. Bach 1762/1949 (Part II): 433.
24
Gjerdingen 2007: 45-60, 455.
34
THE IMPROVISATION OF FIGURATION PRELUDES
! ( #!
# #! ) %
% % % % % &% % &% % &% % % % % % &%&% % % #% % &% %&%
% % % % %%%
Byproduct of this sequential motion in thirds: canon at the lower 4th (structural, not figural)
# % %%
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! ( #!
# #! *
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4 = Root 4 = 3rd 4 = 5th
iv ii° vii°
36
[A. Gross] C Major Prelude J. S. Bach
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# # #
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# # %%
CB
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8 9 10 11
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37
THE IMPROVISATION OF FIGURATION PRELUDES
JOURNAL OF MUSIC THEORY PEDAGOGY
38
THE IMPROVISATION OF FIGURATION PRELUDES
Other preludes also show the flexibility of the model. The Clavier-
Büchlein version of the C Minor Prelude contains a dominant
pedal section that is much shorter than the version in Book I of
The Well-Tempered Clavier. The Clavier-Büchlein version omits the
entire dominant pedal section after the change of texture, except for
the first measure of the monophonic dominant arpeggio, thereby
leaving out the canonic passage noted above in Figure 15. The
measure of dominant arpeggio then resolves to what is measure 35
in the WTC1 version, albeit with a slight alteration in the first two
sixteenth notes, as shown in Figure 18. This alteration in the Clavier-
Büchlein provides a less syncopated arrival, as the low C sounds
on the downbeat of the measure. In addition, the ending passage
(including the passage shown above in Figure 16) is missing in the
Clavier-Büchlein.
[A. Gross] C Minor Prelude - tonic arrival J. S. Bach
'
$ '( ' ' ' ' )' ' (
" #!% ' ' ' ' ' )'
Clavier-Büchlein
! # # $& ' )' '
Conclusion
The Bach family pedagogy for improvising figuration preludes
can provide benefits to students today, particularly since it
anticipates aspects of modern pedagogy. The act of improvising
figuration preludes unites performance with the learning of
theoretical concepts and compositional design, modeling aspects
of Steve Larson’s multi-faceted educational approach, “integrated
music learning”.30 For Larson, integrated music learning includes
engaging ideas not only conceptually, visually, aurally, and
vocally, but also, in Larson’s terminology, “digitally” (that is, with
the fingers). The improvisation of figuration preludes can also
build on or be integrated into other materials and approaches used
in the theory curriculum. For instance, Aldwell and Schachter’s
textbook includes keyboard exercises as a way to reinforce student
understanding of tonal concepts, presenting them in a larger context
and allowing students to focus on voice-leading connections and
larger patterns.31 Their examples also include embellished versions
of tonal patterns.32 With specific regard to Baroque music, Michael
Callahan has provided numerous protocols for integrating Baroque
improvisation into the modern classroom, including standard
patterns of diminution.33
Figuration preludes also capture another key feature of Larson’s
approach, where students learn to improvise by using menus,
maps, and models. Here, basic tonal patterns serve as “maps” of
the possible tonal pathways, and “menus” provide the available
chordal options for embellishing or altering these maps. This process
30
The title of Steven Laitz’s textbook, The Complete Musician, and the
“Integrated Approach” noted in his subtitle also reflect this pedagogical
goal. Many of Laitz’s examples, which focus on voice-leading concepts,
could be performed or realized at the keyboard. Indeed, the first edition
of Laitz’s text included overt “Keyboard” exercises placed regularly
throughout the text. See Laitz 2003 (First Edition) and 2012 (Third Edition).
31
See the appendix in Aldwell and Schachter 1989.
32
See Aldwell and Schachter 1989: 587-588.
33
See Callahan 2010a, 2010b, and 2012. While encompassing a much
wider scope than figuration preludes, Callahan 2010a does include
a brief treatment of diminution in figuration preludes, in which he
discusses the use of different figurational permutations. See Callahan
2010a: 158-162.
41
JOURNAL OF MUSIC THEORY PEDAGOGY
34
Larson 1995.
Psychologist Jeff Pressing has noted that increased practice
35
Bibliography
Aldwell, Edward and Carl Schachter. Harmony and Voice Leading.
Second Edition. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College
Publishers, 1989 (originally published in 1978).
Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel. Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard
Instruments. Originally published in 1753 (Part I) and 1762 (Part
II). Trans. and Ed. by William J. Mitchell. New York: W. W.
Norton & Company, 1949.
Bach, Johann Sebastian. Clavier-Büchlein vor Wilhelm Friedemann
Bach. Begun in 1720. Printed in Facsimile in New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1959.
_________. The Well-Tempered Clavier: Books I and II, Complete. New
York: Dover Publications, 1983.
_________. Six Suites pour Violoncelle seul. Ed. by Diran Alexanian.
New York: Editions Salabert. Reprinted by Hal Leonard
Corporation, 1987.
_________. Precepts and Principles For Playing the Thorough-Bass or
Accompanying in Four Parts. Leipzig, 1738. Trans. with Notes by
Pamela L. Poulin. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Barnett, Gregory. “Tonal organization in seventeenth-century
music theory.” In The Cambridge History of Western Music Theory.
Ed. Thomas Christensen. New York: Cambridge University
Press, 2002: 407-455.
Brown, Matthew. Explaining Tonality: Schenkerian Theory and Beyond.
Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2005.
_________. “C. P. E. Bach, Schenker, Improvisation, and
Composition.” Intégral, Vol. 24 (2010): 3-27.
Butt, John. Music Education and the Art of Performance in the German
Baroque. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Callahan, Michael. Techniques of Keyboard Improvisation in the
German Baroque and Their Implications for Today’s Pedagogy. Ph.D.
Dissertation. Rochester: Eastman School of Music, 2010a.
_________. “Improvising Motives: Applications of Michael
Wiedeburg’s Pedagogy of Modular Diminution.” Intégral, Vol.
24 (2010b): 29-56.
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THE IMPROVISATION OF FIGURATION PRELUDES
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JOURNAL OF MUSIC THEORY PEDAGOGY
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