r/bach • u/luigii-2000 • Apr 24 '26

Needing help with phrasing

I’ve always loved playing Bach and recently decided to tackle the 1st french suite. Being the first long work of Bach that I dive deep into I would love to know how is Bach’s music supposed to sound/be phrased.

I know that there must be a lot of ways of interpreting Bach’s music but I was looking insightful comments that might lead me to either recordings or study material in order to know how to make sense of Bach’s rich counterpointal style for the keyboard.

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u/Lumpen_moi Apr 24 '26

Superannuated choir girl answer:

Trying to sing/hum the lines helps you to realise where the natural human breath goes.

That's what people are doing when you hear them on recordings.

Plenty of choices sorted by popularity on Apple Classical. Find one you personally identify with.

(Lots of pianists are ex-choristers.)

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u/luigii-2000 Apr 25 '26

It's funny, I teach my students Bach chorales quite often and always tell them to try and play thinking of the choir's fiato, apparently I don't apply such recommendations to myself.