Starting to practice Bach's Concerto in A Minor

April 27, 2012 at 07:02 PM · You are somewhere further along than beginner. You are not advanced. It is hard to answer very specifically. The "how many years" question is essentially meaningless. It depends on how much you practice. If you practice 8 hours per day, you get to that concerto much more quickly than if you practice 30 minutes per day.

April 29, 2012 at 04:14 AM · The Bach A minor is in Suzuki Book 7. Which means I think you can expect to play it in about 7 years of study. Plus or minus 5.

April 29, 2012 at 04:46 AM · ...and that would be the standard deviation I think. So the 95% confidence limit would be +/-10. Which means some people can start to play it 3 yrs before they began. :)

Don't you love statistics?

April 29, 2012 at 04:03 PM · I would say 6-7 years (depending on how quickly you progress).

April 30, 2012 at 01:03 PM · Thank you for the replies. I was just curious to know where I am at in general. My instructor says that I am learning very quickly but I did not know what that meant. I have been playing for about 2 months now and have had 5 lessons. He gave me Bach's A minor after my 5th lesson as the "real" piece that he is wanting me to play first. I started working on it and have had to start learning 3rd position to be able to handle parts of it. Not sure if he expects me to be able to play it in a few months or in a year but very glad that I know and love the selection.

May 14, 2012 at 10:55 AM · If you can play comfortably up to the fourth position in a relatively fast tempo, handle sharps, flats, finger extensions and an uneven bowing which must be precisely calculated and acrobatic string crossings, then you are good for playing the Bach A Minor concerto.

May 15, 2012 at 07:26 AM · Does he want you to play all movements or the first only? There is a violin 1 and a violin 2, but there are also sheets where those are combined for violin solo, which sheet music do you have? Just to make sure: We are talking about BWV 1041...

The second violin would be possible after a few months, but for the first violin and for the solo version you need to feel save in the second and third position at least. Have a look at the first and second line of the first movement: You can do both lines in the first position, but you would need to cross strings all the time and therefore your bowing would need to be very well. Nobody does this (I think), it is played in the second or third position.

To answer your question: The piece is immensely fun, but I think to enjoy at least the first page you need wait two years. For playing through the whole piece without failing miserably I'd say after three years or later.

By the way, just in case you play twice as much as me: Maybe you pull it off in half the time, who knows? But after two months? I really wonder why your teacher gives you that after this time, that's... exceptionally.

May 15, 2012 at 08:41 AM · I think I played the Bach A minor and the Bach E major concertos somewhere about 2 or 3 years into playing the fiddle. It was more likely 2 rather than 3, but it was a long time ago and I can't remember. It just depends on the player, and I would say anywhere between 2 and 6 years would be average. I preceeded these with the Vivaldi E minor, I think, and probably Handel sonatas. (I expect Heifetz played the Bach after about 3 months!)

May 15, 2012 at 10:08 AM · I think he was first heard to play it using a stethoscope..

May 15, 2012 at 10:36 AM · Do you mean me or Heifetz!! (I was never pregnant anyway ...)