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!


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.
    Like 4
    • Luciano Salvatore Thanks, Luciano. I made a quick video for you, in case it is helpful.

      Like 3
    • 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.

      Like
    • 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….

      Like 1
      • Wainull
      • Wai_Ng
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Eric Phillips So calm and peaceful, I really like it. 

      Like 1
    • joosje I totally understand and can relate. Let me know if you would like the score I’m using.

      Like
    • Wai Thanks, Wai. I love this melody so much.

      Like
    • 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!)

      Like 1
      • Emmanull
      • Emma
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Eric Phillips beautiful!!! Went straight to the second day of your piece! 

      Like 1
    • Emma Thanks, Emma! Who doesn't love this beautiful music?

      Like
    • Olli
    • Mr. Pizza
    • Saitenzwirbler
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    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.

      Like 1
      • Moyses Lopes
      • Classical Guitarist and Electroacoustic Interpreter
      • Moses
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      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.

      Like 1
      • Jack Stewart
      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      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.

      Like 1
    • Olli do you plan to play the 3 movements? This is also one of my favorite one!

      Like 1
      • Olli
      • Mr. Pizza
      • Saitenzwirbler
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Blaise Laflamme Hello Blaise, yes - all movements.... it is still so much work 😫

      Like
  • 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!

    Like 4
    • 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.

      Like
      • Olli
      • Mr. Pizza
      • Saitenzwirbler
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Luciano Salvatore Hello Luciano, this is a great choice and I am looking forward to your interpretation 😉

      Like
      • Moyses Lopes
      • Classical Guitarist and Electroacoustic Interpreter
      • Moses
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Luciano Salvatore Great choice! Looking forward to hear you!

      Like
    • Luciano Salvatore great choice! I found the Koonce version well transcribed overall but the fingerings are weird more than often to my personal taste.

      Like
    • 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

      Like
  • 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.

    Like 2
      • Jack Stewart
      • Retired
      • Jack_Stewart
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      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.

      Like 1
    • 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).

      Like
      • Moyses Lopes
      • Classical Guitarist and Electroacoustic Interpreter
      • Moses
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Eric Phillips Great! Great job, great play! As said Jack, this keeps getting better! Bravo!

      Like 1
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