Bach’s Prelude in D minor, BWV 999

I was not planning to participate in this due to an issue I have in my right hand. For the last couple of years, there have been certain basic right hand movements that have become nearly impossible for me. One of them is any repeated right hand arpeggio that includes the i finger. Whenever that occurs in a piece (and there are many, of course), I lack precision in the index finger, often missing the string completely, and most vexingly, my thumb begins to curl inward involuntarily toward my palm. I figured this issue would make playing this Bach prelude impossible.

Yesterday, however, I thought I would try to find a solution that keeps the i finger out of the arpeggio pattern. I discovered that I am able to play the repeated figure using this pattern: ppma-mpam-pmpm. It is not the most efficient pattern to use, with the repeated thumb at the beginning and the necessity of a slight shift of the hand in the middle of the second beat. At a fairly slow tempo, however, it does seem doable for me.

One thing this pattern does seem to rule out for me is any stopping of bass notes with the thumb (like on beat two of every measure). I tried many times to achieve that, but it just seems impossible, at least for me.

So, here is my first recording of the prelude using this new pattern. My goal by the end of the study group is to get the pattern more secure so I can speed it up a little bit. I'd also like to memorize the prelude, which is think is achievable since most of the harmonic movements are so clear.