WEEK 1: Discovering J.S.Bach! 
Welcome to the Main Thread for the first week of the J.S.Bach Challenge! This is the place to post submissions of the first week!
- Make sure you've read the guidelines before replying (<- click)
- Watch the kickoff livestream for help with the first section!
If you want to describe your process (optional), feel free to use the following template.
- Things you found easy:
- Things you found difficult:
- (Optional): a video of you performing it!
- (Optional:) questions
↓ Reply below with your submissions and questions! ↓
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This week I concentrated on performance run -throughs of the first two movements from BWV1007, the Prelude and Allemande. I'm adopting a performance practice approach mentioned by Sanel Redžić in his recent masterclass that involved getting about 20 - 30 run throughs on two or three movements over the course of a day. I'm doing two movements each week for this month in the hopes of being able to improve the whole suite at the end.
Playing in front of a camera has certainly helped widen my awareness of the relationship between each movement. I need to pay more attention to phrasing and evenness of pulse, and I think I could play the Prelude with a bit more energy - but the overall sense of comfort and consistency improved this week. In the second repeat of the B section of the Allemande, m. 21, I had a memory slip but quickly recovered. It alarmed me at first, but then I realized my muscle memory jumped right into the next measure - a very good thing! Next week - Courante and Sarabande.
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Jack Stewart Thanks for the encouragement Jack. As I listen again, I think the Prelude could benefit from a slightly faster tempo - but I hesitate when people play it too quickly. Your BWV1002 Sarabande/Double and 995 Gavottes are really sounding great. What transcription are you using for 1002?
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Rick Lord Thanks Rick. I originally used the Noad Baroque Guitar and now use the Koonce transcriptions of the violin Sonatas and Partitas. I'm also using Koonce's Lute Suites transcriptions for the BWV 995 (though I also started on them w/ Noad.)
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Rick Lord Again, great performance, great sound, great production! I can listen to it all day.
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Rick Lord Rick, this was simply amazing. I don't know what else to say, but wow!
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Rick Lord Congratulations Rick. You are playing this amazing music beautifully. Like an expert...!!!! Probably you are!!!!!
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Sarabande BWV 997 measures 17-32 Mar 12
So, today I worked on the B section. Surprise! It's really difficult! Practically every measure requires my left hand to contort in ways it does not like, and it felt like I was fighting my left hand the entire way.
At this stage, I am leaving aside issues of musicality. I'm just trying to get the notes under my fingers, but this section will need a lot more practice to get there.
One measure I am really struggling with is measure 31 (see photo below). The best fingering I can think of is written in. Can anyone think of anything better?
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Eric Phillips you're right the second part has not the same difficulty level. I never played it so proposing an isolated fingering is not always the best advice, without knowing the whole section or based on ideas you previously crafted your fingerings on. But you can try these if they can help you, you can keep your fingerings on the second beat (C+D#) as both solutions connects ok to me, but you'll have to play the D# more thin to connect with the open E.
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Eric Phillips You're right, Eric. Bach is a sly devil - he lures in with accessible first sections and then hammers us after we have already made a significant investment in time and energy.
I think you are doing great on this. I haven't played this Sarabande, or any of this suite, so I don't have any suggestions on fingerings. Fingerings usually require a lot of experimentation for me.
Anyway, here is the Turek/Isbin transcription. There are some fingerings in addition to considerable ornamentations.
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Blaise Laflamme Thanks, Blaise. I tried what you wrote, and it is definitely a viable option, but I think I'll stay with what I was using (at least for now). The jump to first finger on the first bass note is tricky, and I found it difficult to smooth out the sound difference between the D# on the 3rd string and the open E string. I really appreciate that you took the time to look at it and share your ideas.
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Jack Stewart Wow, what a score! Those ornaments are pretty intense. I'm not sure I will have the chops to execute any of them, but I'll give them a try. She uses drop D tuning (as does Sanel Redzik), but I have decided against that. In my opinion, the added low D does not come into play enough to justify the much more challenging fingerings this tuning necessitates. Isbin and Redzik, obviously, can handle those more difficult fingerings much better than I can. Thanks so much for passing that along!
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Eric Phillips Not something better, just another perspective from a small hands player.
(sorry for forgetting the attachment when posting this comment) -
Eric Phillips Despite the fingering difficulties it sounds great to me. It's not one I've ever tried playing and I suspect my left hand would not have the the flexibility or stamina!
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Wai Thanks, Wai. I did try this a bit. The stretch between the low B with 2 and high A with 4 is really difficult. I'll give it another try this afternoon when I have time to practice.
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Ron Thanks, Ron. I chose this one because the tempo is reasonable (and it's really beautiful). Still very difficult, though.
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If you are working on any of the music from the Bach “Lute Suites”, be sure to check out the Bach Lute Works recorded on guitar in historic Baroque Spanish churches by David Russell on the Omni Foundation’s YouTube channel.
https://youtu.be/FUnJBR5kR0I BWV 995
https://youtu.be/5fG6gDStP14 BWV996
https://youtu.be/NTB0EABbMw8 BWV 997
https://youtu.be/OosoIH6osS0 BWV 998
https://youtu.be/DZh8rcIkNEY BWV 1006a
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OK here is my video for where I'm at with the prelude for BWV 1010. Still really rough but I think I've got the form of the song at least even if I can't execute the hard parts yet. I'm really excited about this piece. Hoping to make a lot of progress this month!
Things I found easy:
I don't know if any of it is easy but I really enjoy when the bass melody kicks in on top of the arpeggios around bar 9. It's what initially attracted me to the piece. I'm hoping to be able to shape that melody better as I improve.
Things I found difficult:
The single note runs starting at measure 59. It's hard for me to keep track of the beat. It's also hard to finger and land on the chords cleanly.
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matt You have a very good start. The arpeggios sound really good and you have the runs under your fingers. I 'm looking forward to seeing your progress.
That's a really nice piece. I am not familiar with it even though it is one of the cello preludes. It's nice to hear someone taking on one of Bach's Cello Preludes that is not in the regular repertoire.
BTW I just listened to a Youtube of Petrit Ceku playing BWV 1010. It was beautiful. It might provide some insight into the runs - or some discouragement (he is flawless) No - only inspiration!
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Jack Stewart Thanks for the encouragement. I will checkout Petrit Ceku's version. I'm actually unfamiliar with him. Thanks for introducing me to someone new.
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matt That was great, Matt! Like Jack said, this is from a cello suite we don't hear very often on the guitar, and I really liked it.
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matt This is really a beautiful piece, Matt. You're doing a great job so far. I also love that you chose something out of the ordinary. Very inspiring!
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matt Matt that was very very good. It's not one of the preludes I'm familiar with, but it's certainly a beautiful piece. Well done!
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matt This is great Matt! I've never heard this piece before. You got this!
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Steve Pederson very good Steve! I agree with Jack about listening Petri Ceku. This is the Suite N. 4 for Cello and the partiture is coming to me on monday!!! But of course I am not going to be able to play it for this challenge...but I will follow you!! you are doing very well already. Thanks.
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Here is a video of my first week's practice of the first 16 measures of the Prelude 1st Cello Suite. My nails are still pretty much gone, so sorry for the poor tone and a few inaccuracies.
I took my time and worked through the fingerings for the first two days. I really liked Sanel Redzic's Tonebase lesson and learned a lot from it. Too bad he doesn't play through the whole piece but I found him playing it on YouTube and got a lot of right and left hand fingering ideas.
My approach the next four days was to play very slowly taking each section of a few bars. I made sure I could play at least ten times in a row without a mistake, starting over if I did...then I moved on the the next few bars, etc, etc. Measures 9 and 11 were the hardest. Sanel's transcription here is more challenging with the moving bass line but I think it's worth the effort.
Everything needs more practice and polish but I'm happy with my progress so far. Constructive feedback is always welcome!
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Debbie Debbie, you are doing great on this Prelude (a lot of first there!
). The section you played seemed very solid. I was glad to see your submission and am looking forward to your progress. I am humbled by your discipline. I force myself to do slow practice and after about 2 times I want that (false) gratification of playing up to speed.
I have continually deteriorating nails, especially M and A. I have to use fake nails on them exclusively. I will probably start using fakes on my I nail soon.
BTW, I checked out your Youtube channel. Nice Johnny B Goode and Sultans of Swing! Very impressive.
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
