I am going to learn the Well-Tempered Clavier Book One by J.S. Bach this year.  I thought at this point in my life I’d be exploring music by living classical composers, finally learning the language of jazz, or even on my way to achieving my dream of being the next Joan Baez. Instead — a dead white guy?  One of the deadest, possibly most over-exposed white guys of them all?  Really?

But.  It is this music that I’m most drawn to these days. My fingers experience a unique joy as I play it, my brain is extra stimulated as I read, analyze, and listen to it, and it makes me sigh deeply and often for its emotional content. I feel a strong need to learn the entire collection (book one, that is).  Now.  This year.

For weeks I’ve been sightreading through WTC book one and reading commentary and analysis on the preludes and fugues. Starting August 1, I’ll begin some sort of disciplined process to learn on a new pair every two weeks with the hope that I’ll know all 24 within a year.

What is a disciplined process? What does knowing mean in this context?  Why do my fingers like this music, what does it do for the intellect, why does it make me sigh?  What thoughts about learning, teaching, leadership, relationships, politics and more might emerge while my brain and hands work through it?  These questions will be part of the experience, which I will process on this blog.

If others read this and experience the process in some way with me, I’ll be grateful to a very dead white guy for enabling that connection.