Concentration

Today I played the Fuga 1. I think I understand why piano teachers do not assign this as the first fugue for intermediate or nearly advanced students. It is deceptive. I am not sure what is going on in this piece but I think there is some perhaps mathematical equation for which Bach is writing the musical equivalent. It is necessary to pay close attention to the held notes, the harmonics are established partly through these, and they are everywhere. Booby traps. Wonderful result though is in order to keep track and play these various holds one has to concentrate in an extreme way. Of ten when I practice my mind drifts off, to whereever, and though I may keep playing adequately I check out from the piece when I do this. I suspect concentrating is like anything else, one develops greater skill as one keeps at it. I wonder where I might find some kind of analysis of this piece, as some of these difficult---for me--- spots have harmonies which are truly not beautiful, and yet I suspect there is something revealed in these measures, some musical truths, some death defying tricks of genius. And to play is to give one's self over to the experience, you can not fake your way through Bach, he insists that you pay attention to the details. Ah, something I have resisted often. I like the big picture, the larger meanings, the overall and general view. Sorry, that won't work here. It's strictly and utterly all in the details, whether it be augmented sixths or diminshed sevenths or passing tones or six four chords in the relative minor, you cannot take your eyes away from the proverbial ball for a second. You cannot drift off into your own narcissistic web of cognitive self absorption.
Chromatic harmony. That's it. Colors, resonance, dissonance, consonance, but he, Maestro Bach expanded the possibilities of chromaticism, hence the strange sounds coming from the fugue.
Onward. Upward.