I'll be Bach

Well, this day has almost completely gotten away from me, so the bigger post I'd had planned for Bach's birthday will have to wait. But, good news. Whereas I've spent most of my life thinking of March 21 as Bach's birthday, I guess there is also reason to celebrate on March 31. I mentioned this on Facebook, and a friend said he and his family had taken to celebrating eleven days of Bach, from the 21st to the 31st. Brilliant!

So, I'm gonna try to Bach-blog every day to the end of the month (giving me a flimsy excuse for my post title), beginning today with a new little reveal.

This "adaptation" of a famous Bach work actually debuted last March with not so much fanfare. In short (with more explanation to follow tomorrow?), I simply added an intentionally disruptive left hand part to a solo line originally written for one violin. I really liked the way it came out, and have listened to it happily many times, but had posted a version that only shows the original violin part. Because my left handed addition plays lots of metrical tricks, it's not so easy to notate, and it was only on March 1 of this year that I set out to make it look right. There were lots of interesting and unusual decisions I made along the way, and what you see below combines my interests in arranging, deranging, engraving, and score animating.


As I'll discuss more, it's not necessarily intended to be performed by a person which is one of its disruptive features. But it makes my brain dance in satisfying ways, and though it is not pure Bach, it definitely flows from a love for what his music does to my mind. Happy Birthday, Bach!

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J.S.P.S. Might as well include this as well:

Oh, and a playlist that shows the many, many ways this music has been re-imagined.