J S Bach's Highly Expressive Toccata in C Minor (BWV911)

As a lifelong admirer of Johann Sebastian Bach’s musical genius, I have always yearned to master one of his most intricate pieces: the Toccata in C minor (BWV 911). This composition, with its rich textures, complex themes, and emotive depth, has been a constant source of fascination and inspiration for me.

My journey with this remarkable piece began years ago when I stumbled upon a YouTube video featuring the legendary Martha Argerich. Her performance left me awestruck, capturing the essence of Bach’s composition with her expressive playing. The complexity, texture, and bright theme of the piece, combined with her interpretation, were utterly mesmerizing. Since that moment, I knew I had to embark on the journey to learn this piece myself.

Now, I finally have the pleasure of approaching and learning Bach’s Toccata in C minor. The process has been both challenging and exhilarating. The piece's difficulty only adds to my excitement. Each measure is a testament to Bach’s unparalleled ability to construct music that is not only technically demanding but also deeply expressive.

The Toccata in C minor is structured in a series of contrasting sections, each offering its unique character and challenge:

1. Opening: The piece begins with a dramatic and improvisatory introduction, characterized by its free-form style and virtuosic passages. This section sets the tone for the work, capturing the listener's attention with its bold and expressive nature.

2. Adagio: Following the introduction, the adagio section offers a moment of lyrical introspection. This slower, more contemplative passage allows the performer to explore the expressive depth of Bach’s writing, highlighting the emotional range of the piece.

3. Fugue: After the adagio, Bach presents a fugue, showcasing his mastery of counterpoint. The fugue features multiple voices interweaving intricate melodic lines, creating a rich tapestry of sound. The themes are developed and explored through various harmonic and rhythmic transformations, demonstrating Bach’s genius in constructing complex musical narratives.

4. Presto: The final section, marked presto, brings the Toccata to a thrilling conclusion. This fast-paced and technically demanding movement requires precision and agility.

   
   

For me, the hardest part is not the fugue, but the Adagio. Although slow and quiet, the work to make different voices heard distinctively takes patience and persistence. To be honest, I felt frustrated numerous time and almost gave up. It takes time and I am glad I am finally in the comfortable zone. And beware of the time required to memorize it.

Compared to Bach's Prelude and Fugues, I find Toccatas to be much more dramatic and free in form, style, and structure. This quality is what draws me to them. Toccatas have greatly changed my impression of Bach being serious and rigid. Once you overcome the technical difficulties, it's like an amusement park with so much to offer. I am patiently waiting for the moment when I feel ready to present this great work in front of an audience. When I can sing the Adagio, dance the fugue, and cry with the Presto.

In the movie Tár, one scene has stayed in my mind for a long time. That's when the fictional conductor Lydia Tár responded to her student's negative comments about Bach's work. She emphasizes that Bach's music should not be reduced to factors like his gender, birth country, or religion. Instead, she underscores the importance of appreciating the timeless and universal appeal of his compositions. This scene highlights how Bach's music transcends time and culture, inspiring musicians and listeners alike with its complexity and emotional depth. I agree with her comments. In the fast-paced digital world with excessive information surrounding us, we tend to respond too quickly to something that requires careful thought and I sincerely hope that classical work like Bach's music composition can provide us an avenue to stay grounded as human beings who can cherish our innate creative power and flourish.

Mozart's Magic on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star: the 12 variations for piano, with pianist Kim Yim

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What is your first experience on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star? You may have heard it from your childrens’ singing or from the kids TV shows, or you may have heard it since you were very young but you can not pinpoint exactly where and when and how. That is the magic of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. It has so ingrained in our culture and tradition. Like a traditional Christmas song Silent Night, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is part of our life and as we all are passing by the world, the song will stay for generations to come.

We have talked about the story behind Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in the previous blog post and have known that the German composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote twelve variations on this French childrens’ folk tune, making it world famous. What magic did Mozart do to make Twinkle Twinkle Little Star such an iconic tune that is still loved and known by almost everyone today?

Mozart wrote the twelve variations on the French children’s song Ah ! Vous dirai-je Maman for piano, not for violin or other instruments. And he wrote it for solo piano performance. Wouldn’t you wonder what the variations sound like? As a pianist I am excited to take a listen to it and learn more about it.

This week WowoSpot Kids Podcast had the pleasure to interview our guest pianist Kim Yim to talk about her personal experience on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Kim is a very accomplished pianist and a very experienced piano teacher. Not only did she share her insight with us she also had played a couple of the variations in the podcast episode! (The live interview can be heard on WowoSpot Kids Podcast on August 16)

The excerpt of the discussion is as follows:

Lisa: What is your earliest experience or memory about the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?

Kim: Like what you have pointed out, it is hard to pinpoint exactly where or when you have heard it. As I did some thinking, I think I must have first heard it when I was learning the alphabet song. You know it sounds like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I never realized that until I was about a teenager. I also rememeber Peter, my piano teacher would always tell me to remember the interval of perfect fifth by remembering the tune of this song, which is very useful for preparing for the exams.

Lisa: I love that. Isn’t it the solfege pitches do-do-so-so in the beginning of the song that tells us what a perfect fifth sounds like? For me, I think I learned to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star when I was young in the kindergarten in Taiwan and I am sure it was before I started piano. And of course I learned the Chinese version, not knowing it actually came from an English folk song. And I believe I was able to play this song on the piano once I started learning the piano because had learned to sing it.

Lisa: I am sure all are curious about how Mozart made the magic to make this tune famous by writing 12 variations about it. Will you be sharing us a couple of the variations?

Kim: Sure, I will be happy to play the variation eight

or variation eleven. A lot of the variations are very interesting. Some are more classical with alberti bass or running scales that dance around the main theme. Variation eight is the only minor one. In it the theme passes through different ranges, making it almost polyphonic. The variation eleven is really nice with some octaves, and chromatic movement, giving it some romantic characteristics. It is really special because Mozart does not compose a lot for minor keys.

Lisa: Great point about minor keys. We all have the impression about Mozart being very passionate about life and being very positive. The darker mood of minor keys is indeed very special in his work.

Lisa:

What is the difficulty level of this piece and what is your experience in teaching Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to your students? What are the benefits for young children to learning this piece?

Kim: The difficulty of this piece is hard to say. A lot of Mozart’s tunes are very accessible. It’s not overly difficult to read. But it is very tricky to play with the right sound. In a way you can say Mozart is easy but musically it can be very difficult. Extra study of Mozart is like a good workout for your brain and your ears to shape the phrases and repeated notes. Teaching easier versions to younger students is much easier because kids love to play pieces that they know. That helps them to explore and be more musical. They learn much faster.

Lisa: I can’t agree with you more. Based on my ow

n experience, I learned Twinkle Twinkle Little Star quickly because I already knew this song. For kids it is just very natural and they get excited too.

Lisa:

As a pianist myself I will be happy to play the theme and the variation one for our podcast listeners too! The theme is the original Twinkle Twinkle Little Star melody, and the variation one will be the very first magic Mozart did. One can almost sing the opening theme with the variation one. It can be easily observed that the 16th notes run on the right hand side creates “sparkling” effect, by which we can visualize the stars flashing like many little eyes in the sky.

To listen to the full interview and the demonstration of selected variations by Kim Yim and Lisa Cheng please stream WowoSpot Kids Podcast on major podcast platforms including Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and more. The episode will be released on Monday, August 16.

There are numerous arrangements of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star you can find in the internet. The beauty of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is that it is so accessible, regardless your playing levels, all can enjoy pla

ying it. There is no age limit. It is versatile, universal and MAGICAL!

For further interests, below are selected Twinkle Twinkle Little Star music scores for young children to try:

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star level one (F major, melody with accompaniment) Twinkle Variations Beginners (sinlge melody played by both hands) Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Beginners (fun variations in wider range)

Wowospot Kids will continue to explore more about Mozart’s 12 piano variations on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with our readers and listeners. Please follow us, and subscribe our blog!

Do you know the Muffin Man? | the story of an English nursery rhyme

Will we call a man who delivers muffins house-to-house a "muffin man" today? Obviously in older times we did. The popular nursery rhyme The Muffin Man is an English folk song. The lyrics are dynamic, easy to remember and they rhyme well. The melody is cheerful. The widely known lyrics are as follows:

"Do you know the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man?

Do you know the muffin man who lives on Drury Lane?

Yes I know the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man;

Yes I know the muffin man who lives on Drury Lane."

We tend to visualize the muffins as the contemporary muffins we see freshly baked in the supermarkets. The muffins referred to in the lyrics must have looked like English muffins, not the sweeter, cake-like American muffins. An illustration by the English illustrator Paul Sandby shows us the image of a muffin man in the 18th century. I imagine in those times muffins were household staples that were consumed on a regular basis.

Nowadays if we crave for a muffin, we either get one from Tim Hortons, or get a dozen from a nearby grocery store. If we order delivery of pastry it usually is for special occasions or custom made specialties. I would imagine that the muffins in the lyrics would look like the English muffins we can find on the shelves of the bakery sections in the supermarkets. They are plain in color, tasting a bit sour with chewy texture, and are used to make the popular breakfast dish Egg Benedict.

Since the verses of the Muffin Man are in a question form, this song evolved into forms of games and ring dances. To answer the question another person will respond by saying yes or no. Question verses make a folk song so much more lively and versatile!

I like that the term "muffin man" is repeated many times in the lyrics and the new word that rhymes with “muffin man”, "Drury Lane" occurs in the very end, giving the song a strong finishing sound with a surprise.

“Man" and "Lane" rhymes beautifully!

Taking a look at the harmony structure, it progresses from tonic to subdominant and dominant in the first verse and in the seond verse the melody repeats then falls back to tonic as resolution.

To sing it in solfege can reveal the harmonic structure quickly:

So do do re | mi do do ti | la re re do | ti so so

So do do re | mi do do do | re re so so | do

(I used vertical lines to mark measures; we can see the structure is symmetrical.)

If Mozart had picked the Muffin Man to write some variations for piano wouldn't the Muffin Man have become as famous as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star? Now in 2021, will there be interest among contemporary composers to revisit the traditional harmony in folk songs and making them new? As a pianist myself, this is a question to contemplate!

The balanced structure, conventional harmony, and the dynamic, easy to remember lyrics make The Muffin Man popular. We can learn to sing or play this song with any instrument. There are numerous arrangements to choose from in the internet. I have written a beginner's piano version too. For further interest, please follow the link below to explore a variety of sheet music for "The Muffin Man"

The Muffin Man, For beginner to level one piano

The Muffin Man Duet for easy piano

To add on new elements to this folk song, one can create a different version of the lyrics in English. If I were to write new lyrics I would change muffin man to a subject that we can all relate to in the current time. What about using "the cat next door" to subsitute "the muffin man" and using "naps by the rising dough" to substitute "lives on Drury Lane"? (I happen to have dough rising in the kitchen at this moment!)

My adventurous re-written lyrics are as follows:

"Do you know the cat next door, the cat next door, the cat next door

Do you know the cat next door who naps by the rising dough?

Yes I know the cat next door, the cat next door, the cat next door

Yes I know the cat next door who naps by the rising dough."

To hear The Muffin Man sung in solfege, in the old and the new lyrics, please listen to the same-title episode in WowoSpot Kids Podcast.