1. The Cuckoo

To make this piece sound impressive, the key is to increase the tempo. Although it is in 2/4 time, it is safe to assume that two-beat measures in the Baroque era were very fast. Naturally, playing at a fast tempo brings forth many technical challenges. Let's look at the first measure. Looking at measures 1-3, the melody line consists of G and E, not H and C in the right hand. Therefore, G and E must sound louder and clearer than H and C; in other words, H and C should be played quite softly.

The human thumb (finger 1) is the strongest, so playing H with finger 1 tends to make it too loud; this must be watched. However, fingers often don't cooperate easily. Here's a practice method:

• Assign finger 1 to H and finger 2 to C. Place these two fingers on their respective keys and keep them on the keyboard without lifting them (i.e., with the keys depressed).
• Next, while maintaining that position, strongly strike the E key with finger 4 two or three times.
• After that, similarly strike the G key with finger 5.
• Once you can produce sufficiently strong sounds, try playing G and E alternately and quickly.
• Once you can play G and E quickly and loudly, incorporate the C key held by finger 2. With finger 1 holding H, try playing ECGC ECGC as fast and as fortissimo as possible.

Next, release finger 1 and try playing normally, but this time, quickly rotate your wrist from side to side. This is like turning a doorknob. Use your wrist as well as your fingers. This should enable you to play considerably faster.

Other technically challenging parts of this piece are the trills. For trills, you must choose the easiest fingers and play them quickly and accurately. If the trills are heavy or slow, the mood of the piece will be ruined. As a tip, let's say there are three notes. Taking measure 4 as an example, it's E-F#-E. Practice so that the first two of these three notes are played without any force, and only the third note is played strongly. Start slowly, then gradually increase the speed. If you can't play this trill as desired using fingerings 3-4-3, it might be an issue of finger independence. Try placing finger 1 on C, finger 2 on D, finger 3 on E, finger 4 on F#, and finger 5 on G. While maintaining that position, keep fingers 1, 2, and 5 on the keys and try playing the 3-4 trill. If you find this difficult, it's highly likely an independence issue. No one wants to practice when their fingers don't move as desired, but try to persevere, thinking of it as medicine.