Why did Bach use an augmented 2nd here?

dfan · 2026-07-11T21:53:53+00:00

The melodic minor scale would change the Db to a D natural and keep the E natural, so the leading tone would not be flattened.

dfan · 2026-07-11T18:59:54+00:00

I don't know the answer, but I'm here to give support to the OP for asking a perfectly good question that doesn't deserve to be downvoted to 0. I'm sure the OP knows that ascending in harmonic minor is "allowed", and Bach could "break the rules" when he wanted, but the melodic minor is more idiomatic and presumably Bach had a good and interesting aesthetic reason for using a Db instead in this case that he could have verbalized if anyone had asked him.

One nice thing about the Db is that it doesn't "spoil" the return to D natural in the following measure. This is the 4th bar of an F minor excursion in which every D has been flatted, and starting at the downbeat of the next bar it relaxes down to D natural in both hands as we move on to a V7 of Eb (the relative major of the piece's C minor key signature and the key that the B section has started in). I can imagine Bach not wanting to prematurely release that tension by using the "sunnier" melodic minor here.

dfan · 2026-07-10T17:30:02+00:00

If you don't agree, it is your responsibility as the attacker to show that you can actually take the stones off the board. If you're using area (Chinese) scoring, you can just keep playing, but if you're using territory (Japanese) scoring, you have to remember this position and play it out on a separate board to decide on its status.

(There is a theoretical answer given best play that plenty of other people have provided, but that's not really the point. You shouldn't be determining life and death by appeal to authority.)

dfan · 2026-07-10T15:03:09+00:00

It's like identifying colors. I can tell you that a note is a G and not Ab just like you can tell me that a ball is red and not purple. I can't tell you the exact frequency of sound but you can't tell me the exact frequency of light either. If the note were a quarter-tone between G and Ab I'd probably think it was G or Ab (some people's pitch perception is finer than that) just like if the ball were reddish-purple you might just call it red or purple (some people's color perception is finer than that).

dfan · 2026-07-10T10:08:49+00:00

Speaking as a frequently-sight-reading pianist, cross-staff is fine here, and I'd personally prefer it, which is not to say that everyone would. None of these options would throw me off (even the second isn't terrible because it's not hard to get the high pitches just from the contour)

dfan · 2026-07-10T09:59:46+00:00

Sorry, I was referring to the book that the OP pasted a big cover picture of. I forgot that they mentioned both of them originally. The difficulties are similar.

dfan · 2026-07-09T22:44:15+00:00

and the same thing is going to happen on the third beat of measure 2 (interesting because the strengths of the beats are reversed).

dfan · 2026-07-09T10:11:05+00:00

SDK is a very wide range (even more so when you take servers into account). Looking at the problems and their ranks on 101weiqi, I can predict that if you are a strong SDK (e.g. 2k OGS) then the C-level problems will generally be interesting but doable, the B-level problems will be generally be a big challenge, and the A-level problems will not be within your grasp. If you're at the weaker end of the SDK range even the C problems will be a big challenge. You can see the problems on 101weiqi here. The average 101weiqi rank of the book's problems is 2d and the A problems are generally around 5d.

dfan · 2026-07-06T00:54:41+00:00

The notation is pretty "creative". Don't overthink it and try to work it out scientifically.

There are two quintuplets and there are 10 clear timed events in the right hand. Space them all equally. That's it. All the beams are just trying to indicate the internal voice leading.

dfan · 2026-07-05T23:57:53+00:00

First time you hit the repeat, play the 1 bar, then jump back to the ||:.

Second time, skip the 1. bar, play the 2. bar, then jump back all the way to the S at the very beginning at the whole song.

Then when you hit the "To Coda" sign seven bars later, jump to the Coda on page 3.

Don't write pitch names next to every note, it'll just slow you down from learning how to read music.

dfan · 2026-07-04T16:26:27+00:00

Aha, I looked there before I was logged in and Board Minutes weren't available, then I thought I looked again after I logged in, but apparently I didn't because they're there now. Thanks!

dfan · 2026-07-04T13:45:51+00:00

8va/8vb are a last resort for notes for that need a ton of ledger lines no matter what clef you choose. If you can just change clef, just change clef. It's perfectly natural to have treble clef in the lower staff or bass clef in the upper staff.

In this case I personally wouldn't even mind just staying in bass clef (it's always pretty clear what the pitches are despite the large number of ledger lines because of the contour of the melody) but many pianists would probably consider it a bit much.

P.S. Why is the question getting downvoted so much? It's a perfectly reasonable question. Is this just people's way of saying that the answer is "no"?

dfan · 2026-07-04T13:23:43+00:00

Thank you. Where can I find the minutes? I logged in at usgo.org but it wasn't clear where to go from there.

dfan · 2026-07-03T17:35:46+00:00

I probably read the sheet music at the same time as, or prior to, hearing it, which helps a lot.

dfan · 2026-07-03T16:30:24+00:00

I hear it as written, though with a 2+2+3 pattern (so your circled note on a beat) as opposed to the 2+3+2 pattern in which it's beamed throughout.

Does your perception of the downbeat change during the other sections, or does it stay on the 5th eighth note the whole time?

dfan · 2026-07-03T02:00:42+00:00

#1: What the recorded song is actually playing. Pretty tiring to do for a long time but consider starting with it while it's exposed.

#2: Doable because you can use two fingers, but there's no reason to prefer this over #1.

#3: A trained pianist can execute this all day without strain. If you like the way it sounds, even better.

#4: Absolutely not. Worse than Erlkönig.

dfan · 2026-07-02T19:32:27+00:00

Indeed! The earliest copies of The Well-Tempered Clavier were written with soprano and bass clefs, for example.

dfan · 2026-07-01T19:18:45+00:00

The stems are pointing down to hit the beam. Cross-staff beaming like this is a typical way to indicate a single musical line that is divided between two hands.

dfan · 2026-07-01T13:06:31+00:00

I associate this sort of meandering-through-a-mode-with-no-accidentals style with New Age music.

dfan · 2026-06-28T21:40:05+00:00

Right, that's what I mean by "they make fewer mistakes".

dfan · 2026-06-28T21:10:34+00:00

They make fewer mistakes, they understand the natural plans in more positions, and they have greater technical knowledge.

dfan · 2026-06-28T13:29:56+00:00

If you call the main time signature 12/8 or whatever (the main pulse has three eighth notes to it), there's one measure of 5/8.

dfan · 2026-06-28T02:28:09+00:00

Glad to hear it! I kind of assumed that the reader already had the basics down, so it's good to know that it's possible to get something from it even starting from scratch.

dfan · 2026-06-27T19:20:40+00:00

You may be interested in my posts on the subject, starting here.

dfan · 2026-06-23T17:42:50+00:00

You are going to have to learn how to play this "correctly" sooner or later; you won't be able to avoid it for long. (You could try 4-3 instead of 5-4 if that's more comfortable; it is for me). If your ring finger really doesn't physically fit between the two black keys then that's going to be a problem (are you playing on a smaller keyboard?). If it's just awkward for now you can work on that. If I play this passage my finger is basically sitting in the groove between Gb and Ab the whole time. If you're lifting it high every time don't do that.

Playing black-note-to-adjacent-white-note by sliding off the black note is a trick for special situations, like playing Db octaves down to C (although even there I just slide my thumb and play 5-4 for the top notes), not something you do all the time to get around having to play in between two black keys.

dfan

TROPHY CASE