1. Let the conversation change hands
The pleasure of this invention is that neither hand gets to remain the accompanist for long. Once you can play the notes, a new task begins: let the listener follow the exchange without hearing the effort of passing it from hand to hand.
Starting point: revisit the separate-line work in Chapter 41. Here we use the later passage from Invention No. 13 in A minor, BWV 784, measures 7–8, to make choices about balance, articulation, and phrase direction.
Give each line a destination
Play the RH alone and sing or hum its contour. Find a destination within the two bars, then play toward it without accenting every group of four. Do the same with the LH. The two lines need not breathe or peak at the same instant.
Now combine them quietly. Listen to the line with the running sixteenths, then listen through it to the other line. If the quieter line disappears, first reduce the busy voice; simply making both louder will not clarify the conversation.
Watch out · Silence is still counted
In measure 8 the LH has two eighth notes, a quarter rest, and a sixteenth rest before its next entry. The RH carries on. Keep hearing the LH’s pulse during the gap so its return does not pull the other hand off course.
Try this: record one version with a clearer LH and one with a clearer RH. Which reveals the exchange most naturally? Then choose a balance that lets the musical role move between them.
Source: Allen Garvin, Mutopia 59, Bach-Gesellschaft; public-domain transcription. Notes, rests, and registers retained; layout changed. Fingering, dynamics, and articulation choices above are practice suggestions.
2. An entrance does not erase the other voices
Bach’s C-major Fugue from WTC I, BWV 846, measures 4–7, asks a different question. Can a new voice arrive clearly while the lines already in motion remain alive? This is an advanced listening and coordination study; begin with a pair of voices if the complete texture is unfamiliar.
Rehearse the moment of arrival
- Play the bass entrance alone. Its first C arrives on the “and” of beat 3 in measure 5, after an eighth rest within that beat.
- Add the soprano, keeping its rhythm and held notes intact. Then try the bass with the alto, and with the tenor.
- Restore the complete texture. Give the entrance enough presence to be recognized, then let it join the conversation rather than remaining permanently louder.
In measure 6, hear the soprano’s long C through the movement below it. The alto G tied into measure 7 continues without a new attack. Those details are part of the line even when another voice attracts your attention.
Listen closer · Four voices, two hands
A voice is a musical line, not a hand. In this passage each hand carries more than one line, and four voices do not require four simultaneous attacks. Following the rests and ties can reveal more than counting the notes in each chord.
Source: Shay Rojansky / Andreas Scherer, Mutopia 4, public-domain transcription; underlying edition unspecified. Pitches, rhythms, rests, ties, and registers retained. No fingering or dynamics added.
3. Turn voice control into an interpretation
The earlier polyphony chapters teach how to keep several lines going. This chapter’s final step is to decide what those lines are saying. Choose one short passage you can already coordinate, and use three contrasting passes.
Pass 1: hear the structure
Play each voice in its own rhythm, including rests and held notes. Notice recurring shapes and where they reappear. Mark one entrance or turning point to bring out when the voices reunite. A pencil bracket is enough; covering the score with markings can make the important ones harder to see.
Pass 2: compare articulation
Try a gently connected version and a version with slightly more space between selected notes. Keep the tempo and dynamic similar so the comparison is useful. Which makes the motive and meter easier to hear? Avoid applying one touch to every eighth note simply because it is an eighth note.
For the G-minor Sinfonia in Chapter 40, keep the long upper notes while the middle voice moves. Its close overlaps make a good next test after the two-voice invention. Return to the printed score there rather than inventing a new duration when a hand feels busy.
Pass 3: restore the phrase
Return every note omitted during reductions. Play into the next measure in a complete edition so that the edge of our excerpt does not become a habitual stopping point. If you add pedal, listen for whether it supports resonance or erases the releases you have just learned.
| What you hear | A useful next attempt |
|---|---|
| The new entry swallows an older line | Pair those two voices; reduce the entry’s level after its arrival |
| Every group sounds separately accented | Play a longer contour with fewer points of emphasis |
| A held note disappears early | Rehearse its duration against the voice that moves underneath |
| Hands together lose the character of hands alone | Keep a shorter segment and restore the intended articulation immediately |
Checkpoint: you can follow any one voice while playing the others, and explain why a particular entry or destination deserves attention. Independence is serving a phrase, not merely keeping fingers occupied.