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Topic: Bach Invention 13 in A minor 784: help breaking chords and memorizing it (Read 825 times)

lorcar

PS Silver Member
Full Member
Posts: 116

Bach Invention 13 in A minor 784: help breaking chords and memorizing it

on: July 01, 2022, 10:34:44 PM

Hi everyone, i wanted to write a much longer post around the frustration of an adult learner and the memory of a pianist, but i need more practical and quicker help. I picked up again the Invention 13 in A minor, and I feel I have to memorize it as much as I can so I can look at my hands and fingers instead of the score. I have now repeated the first few bars so many times that I am starting to get bored and I am playing just with muscular memory that we all know (or at least i do) it will fade away as soon as we dismiss constant practice. Also, if I break in the middle of a bar, I am not able to recover since I have no clue of which notes I am supposed to play: i know the sound, i know how my hands and fingers should move, i can visualize the key where the fingers should land, however if you ask me now to sing the notes I have no clue (in spite of having it played until few minutes ago). I could try to repeat the note visualising my hand on the keyboard however I wouldnt call this "knowing a piece". So the question for you experts is and focusing only on the first 4 bars of the Invention: how do you memorize? i understood the best way would be to understand which are the "exploded chords" which produce the different lines?
For example if I look at bards 3, RH only, i can see that we have the following groups:
C E
C E G A
D F A
While for bar 4 we exactly the same relationship, however one key down
B D
B D F G
C E G

So what should I do with this nice piece of knowledge? what's the name of these chords, since we are in A Minor?
Apologies in advance if these questions are too silly for you guys.

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brogers70

PS Silver Member
Sr. Member
Posts: 1627

Re: Bach Invention 13 in A minor 784: help breaking chords and memorizing it

Reply #1 on: July 01, 2022, 11:55:13 PM

First thing, I think, is that even though it's fine to work hands separate when learning the notes, if you want to understand the harmony you have to look at both hands. So in the first bar the harmony changes on every beat (except that the second A in the bass holds over into the second beat, creating a suspension); you have A minor, E7, A minor, E7.

If you look at bar three, the first two beats are A minor, though the last RH sixteenth, G, at the end of the second beat turns it into A minor 7, the next two beats are D minor, except that the last sixteenth, C, in the bass turns it into D minor 7; in the next bar (bar 4) the first two beats are G7, the next two beats are Cmaj7.
On a larger scale, you can think of those bars as a circle of fifths progression A to D to G to C, and remember it that way.

That's far enough for now. If identifying those chords is difficult for you, I'd recommend finding a pleasant way to learn some theory. There is a Coursera on-line course called "Write Like Mozart" which is basically an intro to music theory and harmony. Or, if you like reading, a good intro music theory textbook is Tonal Harmony by Kostka et al. You can find used copies for under $20.

Understanding theory of chords, harmonic progressions, and chord inversions helps a lot of people (myself included) with memorization. Another thing that may help is just to listen to the piece while following the score.

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lelle

PS Gold Member
Sr. Member
Posts: 2246

Re: Bach Invention 13 in A minor 784: help breaking chords and memorizing it

Reply #2 on: July 04, 2022, 11:20:09 AM

Quote from: lorcar on July 01, 2022, 10:34:44 PM

Hi everyone, i wanted to write a much longer post around the frustration of an adult learner and the memory of a pianist, but i need more practical and quicker help. I picked up again the Invention 13 in A minor, and I feel I have to memorize it as much as I can so I can look at my hands and fingers instead of the score. I have now repeated the first few bars so many times that I am starting to get bored and I am playing just with muscular memory that we all know (or at least i do) it will fade away as soon as we dismiss constant practice. Also, if I break in the middle of a bar, I am not able to recover since I have no clue of which notes I am supposed to play: i know the sound, i know how my hands and fingers should move, i can visualize the key where the fingers should land, however if you ask me now to sing the notes I have no clue (in spite of having it played until few minutes ago). I could try to repeat the note visualising my hand on the keyboard however I wouldnt call this "knowing a piece". So the question for you experts is and focusing only on the first 4 bars of the Invention: how do you memorize? i understood the best way would be to understand which are the "exploded chords" which produce the different lines?
For example if I look at bards 3, RH only, i can see that we have the following groups:
C E
C E G A
D F A
While for bar 4 we exactly the same relationship, however one key down
B D
B D F G
C E G

So what should I do with this nice piece of knowledge? what's the name of these chords, since we are in A Minor?
Apologies in advance if these questions are too silly for you guys.

It's a very good question that's not quickly answered. I think brogers70 put it nicely though. To learn how to identify the chords, common chord progressions and use them to aid memorization you'll be helped a ton by studying some music theory. The majority of my memorization is based on understanding which scale, chord and harmonic progression is going on. It basically takes a sequence that's maybe 50 notes in total and helps me remember it by remembering just like 5 things.

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