<p>My S, a jazz bass player, will be auditioning at Eastman for placement or exemption from piano classes. He has to play something Baroque. Any suggestions? He played the piano from the second to the eight grade, more or less, but doesn't really play now except to compose. However, I'm pretty sure he can learn something appropriate in the next six weeks.</p>
<p>It is difficult to recommend a specific piece without knowing where you son is at. </p>
<p>He may want to consider some of the easy Bach dance pieces (minuets etc.) or any of the Bach Six Little Preludes or Twelve Little Preludes. They come in a variety of levels of difficulty from very easy to intermediate. The Bach inventions and Sinfonias are probably too tough for someone that has been away from classical piano for that long. Much of the stuff from the Anna Magdalena Notebook might also be at an appropriate level of difficulty.</p>
<p>There are a variety of books with titles like Easy Baroque Piano that would have pieces that would be appropriate.</p>
<p>Great. We’ll check those out. I emailed the piano person and he suggested a Bach Two Part Invention or a movement from a French Suite. Movement from a French Suite seems kind of vague to me. Could you elaborate?</p>
<p>Bach wrote 6 French Suites (BWV 812 to 817). Each has from 5 to 8 movements (all include an Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, and Gigue and all contain at least one other movement). The movements vary in their difficulty so yes, there is some vagueness there! </p>
<p>Generally the French Suite movements are shorter and easier than the movements of the Partitas. You can purchase all 6 French Suites in a single volume (I got one at Costco a couple of years ago for $3.89–you’ll be lucky to duplicate that price). </p>
<p>Suggestions for easier movements from the French suites: the Menuets are all relatively easy, the Airs are, and the Gavotte and Bourree from the G major suite are also very approachable.</p>
<p>If you son chooses to do a 2-part invention, #1 in C major is usually considered the easiest. Most non-pianist musicians find the inventions quite difficult because they are entirely polyphonic and therefore require complete independence of the hands.</p>
<p>Thanks violindad! That helps a lot. I’m off to the library…</p>