The small Preludes and Fugues, as they are not unjustly entitled, reveal with their various differences of quality and origin the didactic side of Bach. Both the early works, i. e. Bach's own studies, and also the later compositional models and individual pieces written ad hoc for purposes of instruction (including, as documents of this teaching, the "student works") point the real way to Bach's great works.

Inclucles the famous ornamentation table (Explication) from the Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach in which Bach explains the performance of the most common ornaments