In much the same spirit that Julie Powell created a blog to both inspire, motivate and challenge herself to accomplish something that seemed quite impossible, I am here to do the same. For many years I have taught music to children, a career threaded with a parallel career as a classical singer, much less successful sad to say. My success as a teacher was in part derived from my passion for music. My first instrument was piano. I am a passable pianist, but for years now I have been playing the same four pieces. Three by Bach, one by Chopin and an occasional Beethoven sonata and Debussy thrown in for spice. My strong belief is that Bach is the best foundation for anyone doing any kind of music and for any instrument. He was, this will sound very silly, the Julia Child of music; his books are the very best "cook" books for musicians. Among the best is "The Well Tempered Clavier". I have Volume One. It has 24 Preludes and 24 Fugues, in all the keys major and minor, one in each key. I have never played all of them, in fact, I haven't even come close. So my challenge is for the next 365 days to see if I can work my way through all of Volume One. It won't mean they are performance ready but it will mean I can basically, without stopping and with some sense of elegance and technique play each piece. It would mean basically a prelude and fugue a week, which means some significant practice time each day.
This is my challenge and I will report back and tell you where I am and what Herr Bach is saying to me.