Using MIDI
Files in MIDI--an acronym for "Musical Instrument Digital Interface"--can be played on most Windows-based PCs, assuming you have a sound card, as well as on many Macs, as some Mac users have informed me. (For more Mac-specific information, try The Macintosh MIDI User's Internet Guide.) I have a somewhat more elaborate setup than other users might, since I have my computer attached to a Roland E-16 synthesizer and play out MIDI that way. PC users who don't have this kind of setup, but who have a sound card, should try playing the files on this web page through an application such as Windows Media Player. AOL users who click on a MIDI file generally will see a little control panel pop up that allows you to start and stop the playback, and not much else; I'd recommend saving the file instead and playing it back through Media Player or a specialized program like those I use (see below).
The files are in type 1, General MIDI format, with anywhere from one to six channels employed (Ch. 1-5 plus Ch. 10 for drum tracks). I created them using Midisoft's Recording Session and Studio software, with some use of Cakewalk by Twelve Tone Systems; if you have software like this, you can manipulate the volume of each track, or change its channel or instrument, as desired. Sometimes this produces better results, especially if your computer uses small external speakers.
The files
The files I have done are generally based on good reprint editions like those of Dover Publications, which reprints works from the great "complete works editions" of the 19th century for J.S. Bach, Mozart, and other "big-name" composers, and from other reliable old editions in the case of other composers (e.g., C.P.E. Bach, whose sonatas Dover reprints from Le Trésor de pianistes [Paris, 1861-72]). For J.C. Bach I have been able to use a facsimile by Fuzeau, a French publisher, of the original 18th century editions. These have manifold mistakes, some of which are pointed out by Fuzeau's editorial preface. I have undertaken the correction of those which remain, and occasionally have stuck with a reading that Fuzeau considers an error.
In some of the files--specifically, the ones of sonatas by C.P.E. Bach and J.C. Bach--I have employed varied repeats, for the taste and musicianship of which I take full responsibility. The first time a section is played, the notes stick to what the composer has written down, but on the repetition I have often embellished on the printed text, as I understand was generally done in the late 18th century. Even so, I have tried to throw in only as much variety as seemed warranted, rather than taking every opportunity of adding extra trills and turns simply to show that it can be done. And I have not ventured to do this with J.S. Bach or Mozart, both of whom seem to have been stricter than Emanuel and Christian Bach regarding obedience to their written notes. I hope the reader will find what I have done to add to, rather than detract from, the performances, and that my embellishments give the files more of a "human" touch.
(Revised September 30, 1998)
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