The more things change. . .
The Bach Prelude in C major from the first of the two books of the Well Tempered Clavier is one of those pieces that many pianists learn to play. The repetitive rhythm and "simple" key make it seem easy, and therefor approachable to many beginning pianists.
Have you ever mapped chords of a piece? While playing around with mapping the prelude when I was struck by how close the chords were to the 2-5-1 progressions that I have spent the last year teaching to anyone who comes within a 5 foot radius of me next to a piano (be warned!)
The next step was to take the structure of the Bach Prelude and use it as a foundation for learning jazz chord progressions in an approachable manner. . . . the Bach Prelude in Jazz was born.
You can download both versions at the end of this post.
Here's how it works: the chords are arpeggiated 7th chords (mostly) one hand at a time, ascending and descending in both hands, working off the same structure as the original, with 7ths added to some of the chords. Usually the 7th added was to make the major chord a major 7th.
I doubled up the measures so they are each played twice, (but you don't have to play them that way). My observations- the first time the measure is played, the movement and fingerings are determined, and the second time, the hands are more relaxed and muscle memory kicks in. For novices, the second measure is really helpful.
Interestingly, it takes between 8-10 minutes to play through, but it doesn't feel that way. And you don't need to be comfortable with, or even understand the chord progressions to benefit from playing them this way. Once you've been playing the piece from 2-3 months, you will start noticing muscle memory going from one arpeggio/chord to the next, and the sounds will become much more familiar.
All three diminished chords are in the piece, as well as 2-5-1-progressions in C an G Major are part of the piece. Cool, eh?
I hope you enjoy this as much as my students.
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