Re: easy French baroque keyboard music

Greg M. Silverman wrote:
lariadc wrote:
Greg M. Silverman wrote:
Any suggestions for a good collection of very simple French baroque
keyboard music to use for sight reading practice? I am especially fond
of Rameau's music, but am certainly willing to expand my horizons.

TIA!


How about J.S. Bach's 'French Suites'...


Now that is definitely NOT my idea of "easier!" :-)

Guess it just depends on how 'serious' your
sightreading is--if you are just playing a line
here and there, to see what pieces sound like,
just about anything would work. I actually think
that is a good way to learn how to sightread,
but I don't know if many agree.




I wouldn't call any of the music you or others have mentioned very simple,
though.

I agree, which is why I was looking for "easier" stuff; something at the
level of Ramaeu's Le Lardon, for example, which is at the Grade 3
standard by London College of Music (btw, does anyone know the "source"
for Le Lardon; in particular, is it from a larger suite or from a
collection of student pieces he wrote)?


When doing a google search on
"Le Lardon Rameau *** music,"
I noticed that there are some collections,
likely less advanced, that include that piece,
for example:

<http://www.abrsmpublishing.com/publications/1404>


I realize that while most of the baroque repertoire for ANY instrument
is NOT easy, especially the French, there were certainly student pieces
written by the masters (e.g., the Bach 2-part inventions).

Those are maybe intermediate-easy.
But the 3-part ones are also for students ( I think),
and they sound easy, but can cause the fingers to
get tangled, so to speak. That's actually one
problem with sightreading Baroque--the fingerings
are generally not straightforward, and take some
planning. I believe there are some other easier Bach
pieces though (a few Preludes and AMag Notebook).

In this vein,
what I am interested in is student pieces from the French baroque
masters, which I would love to use for sight reading practice. I also
play lute and have an excellent compendium of French pieces and
exercises that were culled from various lute methods from the period in
question, so I would think that there would also be methods with pieces
and exercises from that period written by French keyboard composers,
such as Rameau or any of the Couperins, et al.

Merci beaucoup!


I just heard someone playing a lute version (on a
video) of a Byrd Volta piece from the Fitz. Virginal
book. I'd say those pieces are probably a little
harder than what you want, but you might look
at them. Perhaps you are playing harpsichord
rather than piano.

C. (laraine)

.

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