I have made time for playing my piano and am learning Bach’s Two Part Inventions. I’ve been working on the first Invention for awhile now using a version from an anthology of classical music. I was getting pretty good at it.

Today, I sat down to play using a new version from Alfred Masterworks. It includes a CD, and I was reassured at the speed and felt good that I was able to keep up. But, it also included specific ways to do the ornamentation and there’s where it got ugly. I had made up my own ornaments previously. This version includes the “official” ornaments, the way Bach would have played them. They were slightly different from my version. And suddenly, I couldn’t play it! NONE OF IT: not just the sections with the ornaments but NONE OF IT. The pagination and fingering suggestions were different, too. So, despite most of the notes being the same, all my practice seemed to be for nothing.

I think there is a lesson here for educators: we teach students one way to do something but how often do we challenge them to use that knowledge in new and different ways? If their learning is important and essential, then we need to be sure they can use the knowledge in new and different ways.

Meanwhile, I’ll be practicing…