You MUST Do These Things When Learning Bach Minuet in G (with FREE PDF)
Apr 27, 2023
First of all, make sure to watch the video below that goes along with this week's free PDF as that has all of my tips and tricks for how to utilize this week's free pdf you can get it right here:
A Minuet is a dance in ¾ time – and here we have one of the most famous ones ever written!
It’s popular among teachers, students, music lovers, and even keyboard makers, and commercial jingle writers. The melody is catchy, musical, and song-like.
DOWNLOAD THE FREE PDF HERE
I’ve taught this piece MANY, MANY, MANY times and throughout the years, I’ve seen students struggle with similar things as they try to tackle the piece.
First of all, you want to make sure that we are very consistent with fingering. I chose this version of the Minuet from the Making Music Fun website –which has an abundance of free piano sheet music, as well as many paid and affordable options as well. I was initially drawn to this edition of the Minuet because it has really great fingering suggestions and fingering is one of the main areas of frustration that I observe when a student first learns this piece – if they don’t pay attention to fingering from the start.
Next, you need to make sure to observe the rhythm! You can see in the PDF that I have actually written in the counting for 8 measures. I’d like you to write in the counting for the rest of the piece and focus on clapping and counting the rhythm out loud before you even try to put notes to the piece. This will ensure that you are feeling the rhythm, and hopefully keeping a steady pulse as well. If the rhythm is something you struggle with, I highly suggest you check out this video below.
Once you’re comfortable with fingering and rhythm, I suggest that you focus on dynamics! I have written some dynamic suggestions for the piece. Don’t necessarily follow my suggestions literally, but use them as a guide to make some artistic decisions about what dynamics you would like to use in this piece. The more drama the better.
I go over even more suggestions in the video – so go ahead and get your free PDF copy ready at your piano, watch the video, and dive in!
Happy Practicing!
