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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Sinfonia (Arioso) from BWV 156 Mar 5
Here is an update after another day of practice. I'm playing it slower here, trying to pay attention to a few details that need improvement:
- With the right hand, I was trying to alternate fingers better. There is improvement from yesterday, but I am still repeating m too much. I notice it happens mostly when there is something more complex going on in the left hand, which makes sense. I would like to be able to alternate better as a default, without having to concentrate too much on it. Getting there slowly.
- With the left hand, I tried to clean up my trills a bit. I think this was pretty successful. They don't sound refined yet, but at least they are cleaner.
- In the last cadence, I tried to do a simple cross-string trill. It wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either. What I find most difficult is damping the upper auxiliary (in this case, the open G string) while playing a bass note with the thumb.
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Luciano Salvatore Thanks, Luciano. I made a quick video for you, in case it is helpful.
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joosje Thanks, Joosje. Up a fifth will go up quite high. I look forward to hearing you play it. You can't go wrong with David Russell.
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Eric Phillips I’ll try. It’s so hard for me to work consistently these days. Bach’s original is in F. The high pitch in D is beautiful, but quite demanding. Especially the fast shifts and the stretches that are probably easy for DR, but I have to work so hard on it. Maybe better I’ll give your transcription a try….
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Eric Phillips So calm and peaceful, I really like it.
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joosje I totally understand and can relate. Let me know if you would like the score I’m using.
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Wai Thanks, Wai. I love this melody so much.
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Eric Phillips thanks Eric, this is super helpful. I believe I sorted out how to play the trills in my piece thanks to your video. I will shortly post a video of the couple of trills only and the score I am using, so you and the community can help me validate whether I got it right (at least the movement!)
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Eric Phillips beautiful!!! Went straight to the second day of your piece!
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Emma Thanks, Emma! Who doesn't love this beautiful music?
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Dear Community,
my goal for this challenge is working on BWV998 and bring it back to live. I played it last time in 2009. At the Moment, it makes no sense to record a progress, because there still is not enough progress...
Today is the fourth day I`m working on it and it takes me eleven Minutes to play through all 77Bars of the FUGA
... I had some Problems with my Wrist/Arm called "Tennisarm" since August 2021
.... now the Problems are nearly gone, but i do not want to have problems again and I trie to avoid too much stretching and overloading till my arm is 100% recovered, so changed some fingerings in bar 26 and 30 to make a "non stretching version" -
Olli Sounds great, Olli. What a giant of a piece that is! I look forward to hearing you play it.
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Olli I'm in! I thought to work the BWV998 too, but just the Prelude. Like you, I played it many years ago, it's time to take the dust... We can bounce some ideas off!
I hope you can fix your wrist 100%. Preserving it from the hard work is a good idea.
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Olli That sounds great and challenging, Olli. But after hearing your previous progress I know you can do it. The BWV 998 is on my wish list but not for a long time. Looking forward to hearing your work.
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Olli do you plan to play the 3 movements? This is also one of my favorite one!
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Blaise Laflamme Hello Blaise, yes - all movements.... it is still so much work
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Made my choice too, I will practice BWV 997, suite for lute. I will do the Gigue, which sounds really good to me. I found transcription by Frank Koonce, I will use that fingering. I found a nice video from Sanel Redzic which inspired me (link below) even if he uses another fingering. I had a first pass, guess my struggle will be on the trills and speed. Hope to post video soon!
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Luciano Salvatore What a great piece of music. I haven’t seen the score, but it seems pretty challenging. I might do the Sarabande from BWV 997 if I have time.
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Luciano Salvatore Hello Luciano, this is a great choice and I am looking forward to your interpretation
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Luciano Salvatore Great choice! Looking forward to hear you!
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Luciano Salvatore great choice! I found the Koonce version well transcribed overall but the fingerings are weird more than often to my personal taste.
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Blaise Laflamme you are very right Blaise, after a couple of days I looked for another fingering. I am using now the one of Jozsef Eotvos, it is better for me
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Sinfonia (Arioso) from BWV 156 Mar 6
Here is today's update. I am gradually becoming more comfortable with the music, and I hope that makes it more expressive and confident. I find Bach very difficult to memorize, but I'd love to be able to memorize this one.
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Eric Phillips This keeps getting better Eric. This is much more confident and expressive. It is also slightly faster which, I think, serves it well. Beautiful.
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Jack Stewart Thanks, Jack. It's beautiful slow, but the guitar's lack of sustain can make it feel a bit empty when played slowly (especially on my low-quality recordings).
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Eric Phillips Great! Great job, great play! As said Jack, this keeps getting better! Bravo!
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
