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I am a pretty basic beginner and my teacher got me started with this Bach song and I’m getting kind of confused in the first measure. I don’t think it adds up to 4 beats and I don’t know how to play it. There’s this weird squiggly line I think I called trillo I don’t know what to do with it. Sorry if this is a dumb question.enter image description hereks

ViviRukisha
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Big boy 5647 9
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  • For the "squiggle", see [Trill in Bach fugue WTC 1 BWV 851](https://music.stackexchange.com/q/15205/70803). The notation is different, but the execution is the same. – Aaron Dec 14 '22 at 02:52
  • [Squiggly Line Above Note](https://music.stackexchange.com/q/33573/70803) may also be helpful. – Aaron Dec 14 '22 at 02:56
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    And general tip: Ask your teacher; the whole point of having a teacher is to help explain these things! Anyone who is impatient about explaining the details is maybe not a good teacher. (A specific tip: Learn the left hand first; it can help you count the rhythms of the right.) – Andy Bonner Dec 14 '22 at 03:05
  • Another point to remember - 1st bars do not always have to add up to full bars - they would be anacruces. Not this one though. – Tim Dec 14 '22 at 07:40
  • The upper staff has two "voices," as they're called. The upper voice has a half note (2 beats), an eighth note (0.5 beats), four thirty-second notes (4 times 0.125 beats equals 0.5 beats), a dotted eighth note (0.75 beats), and two thirty-second notes (together worth 0.25 beats). This adds up to 4. If you don't like fractions or decimals, you can count the 32nd notes and compare the result with 32. The half note is worth 16, the eighth note worth 4, etc. The lower voice in the right hand is easy: eighth note, eighth rest, quarter rest, twice. The left hand is even easier: sixteen 16th notes. – phoog Dec 14 '22 at 08:54
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    Player self-describes as 'pretty basic beginner'; teacher assigns the Prelude of BWV 855. Something doesn't add up... – AakashM Dec 14 '22 at 08:58
  • As a 'pretty basic beginner', your teacher shouldn't really be giving this sort of work out, without a lot of explanation. – Tim Dec 14 '22 at 09:04
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    I've never seen a key signature with a sharp sign on the low F of the treble clef before. Who published this? – JimM Dec 14 '22 at 09:18
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    @JimM the source manuscript is in soprano clef with the F sharp indicated on the second space. It's odd not to move it to the customary position for the treble clef, but the edition looks to be over a century old, so editorial conventions may well have been different then, or at least more diverse. – phoog Dec 14 '22 at 12:37

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