Quote:
Originally Posted by
Vintage Gent 
Thanks for the kind words. The performance aspect was no easy feat, and I practiced religiously to get to this point. I did actually play this piece from memory; the music was for the Schoenberg piece; while I also had that one memorized, I wasn't quite as confident with it and needed the crutch.
As for the issue of emphasizing the first note, that was something my instructor had me do. I'm sure there's some pedagogical value to it, but I'm too much of a neophyte to figure it out.
The thing about doing something like this - your artistic sensibilities will change over time. It's important to know where "1" is, so you emphasize that note in the beginning. Eventually you start to feel "1" differently, and having emphasized the beat for so long, you grow tired of doing that and bring different articulation into your playing, and it gains a lot of depth. You will hear and prefer things months and years from now that you can't even perceive today. That's just the way it is.
I play jazz guitar, so I can sort of analogize for you. In jazz music, everybody knows that eighth notes are generally swung. As a beginner, you are taught to think of it as an eighth note triplet figure with the first two tied, so long to short ratio is strictly 2:1.
If you are sensitive enough - and this is why it's important to record yourself and listen - you will start to hate the sound of eighth notes played this way, because it's not now good jazz musicians phrase their eighth notes. Nowadays, they tend to play them much more evenly, relying a lot on articulation for "swing" or motion. There are loads more issues of timing and dynamics that you start to understand in the same way, without even beginning to mention vocabulary.
Nonmusicians can rarely tell the difference, but playing the instrument opens your ears to all sorts of nuances that just come from spending a lot of time playing and listening. Listening back to stuff you recorded years ago, that at the time you thought was awesome, will make you cringe.
So back to the Bach piece, yes, the phrasing and articulation is a little one-dimensional, but it is absolutely fantastic for a beginner. Your time feel is good - some places are a bit rushed, but that can come from nerves - which is probably the most important ingredient to sounding like a professional. A strong sense of time is like the fit of a suit - it will really elevate your playing beyond the typical amateur.
You sound like you use a metronome to practice, which is good. If you can find one that mutes the quarter note*, you can make it click only on beat 1. What this does is force evenness into the rest of your measure without a click. It's a great exercise. Then you can put that same click on the second quarter note and see how it changes your feel for the time.
*Boss DB-90, iPhone app Tempo, Dr. Betotte
Is that a Chan jacket? It looks good in motion. Are you going to have him move your sleeve pitch forward?
