Musette

Introduction

Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the greatest composers that ever lived. Remember, a composer writes music just like an author writes a book.

Bach’s father taught him to play the violin when he was seven years old. He also grew to play harpsichord and the organ. The Bachs were a BIG family of composers and musicians. Fifty-three of his male musician relatives were also named Johann!

As a child, Johann had a beautiful soprano, (or really high) voice and sometimes sang in the street before eventually going to music school.

Bach composed music during a time known as the Baroque Period, and he wrote over 1,128 pieces of music! That’s a lot! If you played one piece of his music every day, it would take over three years to play all of them!

The Life of Johann Sebastian Bach

Musette comes from a small notebook of songs that Bach wrote for his second wife, Anna Magdalena. She was a singer, but Musette was meant to be played on the clavichord. This performance is on the piano.

Rhythm

At The Piano

Full Speed

Slower

Sheet Music

Which hand plays this song?

The RIGHT.

Can the other hand go on vacation?

Yes.

The patterns in measures 1, 2 and 3 repeat themselves in measures 5, 6 and 7. You can see that really clearly in the rhythm practice from before.

Both lines end differently in measures 4 and 8, but they are not very much different.

Take it slow and remember to break it up into phrases, or chunks.

I added the challenge version here for those of you that are able to play with both hands at the same time. Most of us can just stick with the right hand only one.

Have fun!

Dig Deeper

The next video is a piano teacher demonstrating how to play the full version of Musette as Bach wrote it. Maybe you’ll find it interesting.