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Dear F Minors,
I bought a CD ROM this week that might interest some of
you.
I am going to begin by saying that I am always looking
for new teaching material. I have been researching piano methods for years
and have developed a pretty good nose for sniffing out scams. I never buy
anything that says ' learn to play the piano without reading music' or
'easy'.
When I first visited the 'i Song' web site I was
not impressed but I couldn't resist "Glenn Gould plays
Bach."
This program has six recordings:
Bourree in A+ from The English Suite
Menuet in C- from the French Suite
Invention 1
Invention 8
Prelude in C+ WTC 1
Aria from the Goldberg Variations -- both recordings.
All pieces have the original score , GG's ornamentations written out, and 1
or 2 simplifications.
The GG scores can be played with 'artist on' which is the real recording
(with humming) or midi on which has GG's notes but can be slowed down (no
humming here).
The advertised video is not GG playing, but some anonymous woman. The
good part about the video is that it can be turned off.
Here is the part that bothers me. There is a keyboard below the score
with all the names of the keys written in. As the music plays, the
keys are highlighted with finger numbers -- blue for the LH and red
for the RH. A person who doesn't know the names of the piano keys is going
to learn the Goldberg Variations by following the blue and red finger numbers
bouncing along? I don't think so!! There is a help section. I've
haven't explored it.
On the positive side -- all the ornaments are written out. Of
course you can get this from W.F. Bach's list, but it is handy to have GG's
ornamentation on paper. GG often played the ornaments a bit differently
than W.F. wanted and they go so fast that it is hard for the ear to pick out
exactly what he was playing. If 'i Song' makes a second program I might
buy it just for this feature. Also, it is fun to play along. The music is
recorded at concert pitch. Believe it or not I have two " Music Minus
One" recordings that are not at concert pitch.
You can find this at www.isong.com
click on the Artist's button.
Thanks to Anne Marble for finding this.
Anne Smith
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