Developing an interpretation: Playing like you'd sing

Melodic Line and Musical Direction

So this little piece is actually great for introducing melodic line and musical direction because we have the words written here. This gives us a sense of where the harmonies, which we'll be looking at more intricately in other works, kind of cadence.

Cadences

We sort of finish or begin again here. In particular, we have:

• "Little Town of Bethlehem"
• "Breath, how still we see thee lie"

There's a little cadence, and I think that's very important. It's a philosophy that we want to develop.

Dissonances and Resolutions

When we look at other Bach inventions, consider:

• Where the dissonances occur
• The clashes of the harmony
• Where they resolve

This is quite advanced thinking, but you'll have an idea of practicing the left hand and the right hand together or separately, focusing on where they go, where they rise, and where they fall. This can develop your understanding of phrase length and melodic contours.

The Importance of Breathing

I would really recommend thinking that every time you play a piece, it always has this melodic line and musical phrase. Consider it a sentence that you are almost singing. If you're singing, you need breath, and it's essential to breathe at various points.

Cadential Points

We have cadential points, harmonies that twist and turn, and those are the moments we can breathe.

Practice Tip: Sing along and see where your breath runs out. Then think, "Where is a suitable place to put a breath?" For example:

• Breathe, breathe.

This approach gives much more depth and space within the phrase and the whole piece. Additionally, it helps convey the melodic contour, offering the audience an idea of where the journey is moving and where it's going.

Harmony Insights

Looking at the harmony a bit more closely, in bar four it's interesting that:

• That A is a first inversion of F major
• It resolves on the third beat

This observation could be a little point to take away. We also have a couple of cool F sharps popping up within a kind of F major key, which adds further interest.

Notable Words

If you look at where they appear, such as in the words "sleep" and "the years", those might mean something. They appear at a point when the phrase turns, so just watch out for those.

Final Thought: Don't emphasize them; just subtly notice them and think, "Well, this is because it's turning the phrase that way or this way."