These workshop-concerts are designed to show the continuous path between the most elementary lessons in musicianship (ex: naming C-D-E-F-G, or DO-RE-MI-FA-SO) to the composition of chamber music.

These 2-part inventions were written by Johann Sebastian Bach exactly for that purpose. In our 21st century Southern California, practically, the musicians (2 string players) begin by “reading the room” and then can adjust whet they chose to reveal to the audience present at the library that specific day.

Priority is given to educating the children in the audience by showing them the rewarding path of musicianship. A typical 1-hour workshop would include five sections: melody, harmony, rhythm, tempo and form. Below are examples of how the two-part inventions make such workshop both entertaining and educative.

Melody: At the very least, the audience, especially the youngest, will be involved in singing along the initial theme DO-RE-MI-FA-RE-MI-DO-SO and see on a screen how their written form relate to each other. Some may be able to also sing the inversion (LA-S0-FA-MI-SO-FA-LA)… Maybe also the counter-subject (DO-TI-DO-RE)? The first 6 minutes of the video below shows how the first 6 measures of invention #1 can demonstrate simply 1- a subject, 2- its inversion, 3-a counter-subject. Once the room is finding its limit in learning on this “subject manipulation” topic, then the musicians play to entertain the room and rest their minds.

Harmony: a string instrument can easily demonstrate how the intervals of an octave and a fifth relate to the 2:1 and 3:2 ratios. This in turn can explain the special status of “the dominant”, which can be demonstrated by the musicians. In the video below at 8:20, this “middle entry” in the key of the Dominant, is described. In the workshop, the musicians would only explain what the audience can hear and undertand (ex: play measure 1 and measure 7 back-to-back to hear the key difference)

Rhythm : in contrast to this Invention #1, in 4/4, the musicians would then introduce Invention # 8, in 3/4 (see below 2-cello video, 19:55). The audience would be prompted to count the beat aloud and feel the difference.

Tempo : varying the tempo on either of these inventions changes the nature of the music. An example is provided by the 2-cellos video with Invention #6 (10:05). It is often played at the same tempo as the other invention. Here, by choosing to play it at a slower tempo, the artists change the meaning of the music.

Form: as a recapitulation of these three inventions, the musicians can point out that the form of many chamber music pieces include these different elements to make something bigger. For example, many pieces include one or two allegros in 4/4 (like Invention #1), a dancing minuet in 3/4 (like invention #8) and a slower movement, adagio or andante, like the 2-cello interpretation of Invention $6.

Invention #1 : 00:00

Invention #6 : 10:05

Invention #8 : 19:55

in conclusion, these fifteen 2-part inventions, in addition to giving a valuable music history lesson, provide the material that 2 musicians can use to adapt their workshop-concert to the specific library audience. They would vary the number of Invention used, the proportion between education and performance, as well as the level of the education provided. The same preparation can yield a 1-hour segment that can be 100% workshop, 100% concert, or any mix in-between. The musicians will “read the room” to make sure that as much education that the audience can take is provided.

Below: Invention#4 in F Major was used as an Encore for the December 2023 concerts.