Do you think students should wait to play JS.Bach until they are really and thoroughly prepared ?

Yes, I think that waiting to be thoroughly ready is the best . We often see players really "murdering" precious Bachian works, for no reason at all. If the student is not mature enough for Bach, he must not attempt to interpret Bach!

No... absolutely not. If you know JS Bach and his music then you know his music is composed for keyboard study and their is a sequence going about it. I would never assign one of my younger students a toccata but I would assign them a Musette or and Minuet from the Anna Magdalena Note Book. Remember, all his music was used to teach his sons how to play the keyboard and each volume progressed in difficulty. Bach even stated what the progression was. Anna Magdalena Little Preludes and Fugues (Notebook for Wilhem Friedman) Six Little Preludes Two Part Inventions 3 Part Inventions English Suites French Suites WTC 1 and 2 Italian Concerto French Overture Partitas Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue Toccatas Goldberg Variations The simple pieces by Bach can teach the baroque dance form which is important. Students need to learn what an Allemande, Sarabande, Courante, Gigue, Minuet, Air, Aria, March, Gavotte.. etc. are. But also need to understand each dances characteristics. The simple dances teach one how to have good fingering, rhythm and teach basic harmonic skills. There is simple counterpoint in these pieces as well that prepare a student for the Little Preludes and Fugues where they can now work on more complicated counterpoint and train the fingers how to do finger legato and develop the independence. If a student, like Bach's children goes through these pieces in this order, one develops excellent technique but more importantly, harmonic and form understanding. A good reason why Bach is performed poorly is because teachers don't know how to teach Bach. They themselves don't understand Bach and his style. They don't know what the appropriate pace for a Allemande is or the reason why you emphasize the 2nd beat slightly in a Sarabande. They don't know why ornaments start on the note above or why the eighth notes are detached (not staccato but portado). Teachers don't understand how a figured bass works or the form of a fugue. So if they don't understand how is a student to? A good teacher teaches all of this and much more to a student while working with Bach. There are so many performance practices with Bach that people just don't know. Its unfortunate and I blame teachers. Its important for a student to know all the 2 and 3 part inventions! Not just a few but all of them! No one should be playing WTC or advanced pieces without playing all of the 2 and 3 part inventions. Students need to learn counterpoint and this is the best place to do it. Also, it teaches textural balance, line independence, line dependency, rhythmic continuity, voice leading and style. Unfortunately, most teachers don't understand a fugue. They can't tell the difference between a tonal and a real answer or spot the retrograde inversion of the subject. Most teachers can't explain what an exposition, transition, or development in a fugue is. And the majority of teachers can't do what is important in fugal study... sing one line and play the other on the piano. Bach did this with all his sons! He demanded that to play a fugue properly, one has to be able to sing all the lines and later play one and sing the other and do this for all voice combinations. This is something that I work on when I study Bach and I require my students to do as well. If they can't hear where each line is going and how each phrase resolves, then they can't play it. And I know the majority of teachers don't do this. I give workshops on Bach and I always ask students and teachers if they work on this and they all say no and are surprised. Its the most important studying skill in Bach. Bach should be studied at an early age but teachers need to know how to sequence it in study and how to teach it.

no because i say its better to start early for such difficult peices, that way you have lots of time to improve on it. i played like 2-3 years and i play advanced peices i still suck and ruin the peices but of course it takes time and besides easier peices are pretty boring and dull. its more fun to play hard peices to impress others and also sound better

I am all for trying pieces that are truly out of one's reach.... you can only learn from it (just don't try to perform them!) .... for some it is a reality check of where they truly are .....for others it may expand their vision of what they could become on their instrument .... either way you learn technique and an idea of how much further you need to go to hit your personal goals

Only with respect to "public" performances; otherwise, certainly not. If they comprehend "written" music, and can adequately play scales, the sooner they are exposed to Bach, the better. The only important consideration, is the students(and the teachers)frustration level(s). Understanding "form" relative to the comprehension of what music is and is not, is as important as understanding the technical fundamentals of performing in my opinion: that is, if the ultimate goal is to evolve a real musician, and not just a musical "automaton". Alberich

I don't believe that they should wait but they should be introduce to the basics of Bach because it is those pieces that makes you really want to play the piano they are long complex and requires a lot of techniques i Used to interpret Bach before and it is now I'm realizing the mistakes that I use to make when I was playing which makes me now a better pianist, but I really think that some teachers do make the kids play very complex music without them having the sufficient amount of musical theory.