Bach keyboard/piano listing

[jonnybutter]

Hi Taxi

I wasn't sure if I should note this here or write to the head screener? Not a complaint so much as an issue worth raising (I think) which has abided for several years.

There's a new Dispatch listing for Bach piano pieces - it's # D200306BC.

It calls for pieces 2-4 minutes in length. But - and this is a problem I've run into before - a large chunk, probably a majority of Bach movements which would be appropriate for use in media are less than 2 minutes long. To make them last 2 minutes you have to take both repeats, which is often not a best practice, and to play them at a slower tempo than they should be played just to stretch them out.

It doesn't make sense to me to choose for length rather than syncability,. The listing party should know that >2 min criterion really is very limiting for Baroque music. Individual movements/pieces in this period, particularly written for the keyboard, are usually very short. I know there are exceptions, but for media use, long complicated fugues are probably not what they're looking for! (the first a la is only 1 minute long, btw!). And long drawn out arias from Bach cantatas (other than 'Jesu') are not so likely to get used, since people don't know them.

Instead of the same pieces which are used over and over, there is a ton of other syncable Bach music, especially stuff already for the keyboard, that would be fresh. But so many - most - of the movements are shorter than 2 minutes long.

Don't know if anybody cares, but if I were the publisher, I would favor pieces that are syncable and fresh over pieces that are an arbitrary length. 5 years ago the minimum length cue or song everyone asked for was generally 90 seconds, and now everybody asks for 2 minutes. It's arbitrary. It's one thing when you're talking about original music, but for existing pieces, it can be a problem.

fwiw