The title tells it all—Oh but wait! There are also exploding rockets!

Seriously though, players and audiences alike are irresistibly attracted to the virtuosity and bravura of fast playing.

We all love to be dazzled!

Most fast music happens in sort bursts, but there is a difference between playing a flurry of speed and an ongoing fast section. The challenges are also different between playing fast scales or fast arpeggios in an extended passage. Being didactic in nature, Bach's collection of Sonatas and Partitas provide us with just two opportunities to play these types of extended virtuosic passages—one in fast scales throughout (in the double to the B-minor Corrente), and one in sustained arpeggios (in the D-minor Ciaccona).

Aside from the physical challenge of playing fast, which is addressed in this video, there is also the mental challenge.

And so, in addition to giving concrete and helpful practice tips on how to develop that kind of speed, the video also teaches us something about how to attain our “inner guru” so that we can do it well, and do it easily.