This will interest anyone playing Bach, and will especially be of interest to those who have our edition, as there are discussions of the fingerings: why they were chosen, and how to use the hand so that those fingerings yield the musical result that is intended from them.

As always, these tutorial type videos are not meant to make dogmatic pronouncements, telling viewers how it “ought to be done.” Our aim is always to share what we have learned, both in our research and through the process of making the arrangements––with the hope that people will take what resonates and then use it to make their own artistic choices.

As I mention in the video, one of the great things about working with a colleague is that you can shamelessly brag about them and, in this case, I indulged as much as I thought the “said colleague” might let me get away with. The fact is that working with Frank was, and still is, a real privilege for me, and I am always learning from him. One of the reasons I was very keen for us to set up the website, make these videos and write articles and essays, is that I wanted to present a sort of “Coles Notes” (or “CliffsNotes” for our U.S. friends) for some of the fingerings; fingerings that may seem odd if a player is not aware of the musical possibilities inherent in them, or if a player is not using his or her hand ergonomically. This video deals with some of those fingerings.