READ ME: The Month of J.S.Bach! 
Discovering one of the greatest Composers!
This month we want to focus on the music Johann Sebastian Bach! There is probably no musician out there who doubts the genius of this composer, all of his pieces are masterworks, from the shortest solo works who his great concertos. Who doesn't know the Chaconne? Who hasn't stumbled upon the Christmas Oratorio? This month, we'll follow this composer with the classical guitar!
What makes the music by Johann Sebastian Bach so special for you?
Some Lessons to get you started:
Find here all our lessons and Live Sessions on J.S.Bach!
The What:
- We are going to explore the genius of Bach!
- We will be sharing the exciting with fellow members!
- The aim is to practice them every day and post progress updates!
- You choose how much time you will invest , but you commit to practicing them regularly.
- A watch party featuring your submissions will take part at the end (date below!)
The When:
- Challenge start: Monday, March 7th
- Watch party:Friday, April 1st
The How:
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Start by choosing a piece by Bach you always wanted to learn!
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After some practicing, go to our Updates thread and post a video, an audio or simply a text about it!
↓ What do you love about Music from Bach? Let us know! ↓
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I actually do not play a lot of Bach. Don't get me wrong, I love his music. It just seems a bit intimidating, and some people have such strong opinions about Bach's music and how it should be played. When I get that stuff out of my headspace, however, and just sit down and enjoy playing some of his music, I do love it.
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Eric Phillips I think it's generally good practice to get that stuff out of your head, haha
But you are right, the vast spectrum of difficulty of these pieces make a decision sometimes very hard, but - same as you - the Sarabandes from each of the Partitas are just so sublime that it would be a shame not to try them 
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I still work on the spanish pieces, but I want to watch and follow and to look after Material. I play a lot of Bach on Flute and Cello and practiced a lot for that over a Period of 17 Years but on guitar I only know some transcriptions that miss a lot of the music or are too complicated to play for mee...so...I want to see what you work on. I love the surprising Intervals that cut right in my heart, I really love the clarity and greatness of that music. But: my absolutly favorit composer is CPE Bach. He has so many little phrases and Ideas, Melody etc. I love it to the moon and back. I never saw anything arranged for guitar.
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Stefanie Mosburger-Dalz Wow, that would be interesting to see CPE Bach on the guitar! I've been recording some flute music with a traverso player and a harpsichordist, absolutely heavenly music! I'd love you to dive into some of the Bach productions that we have on tonebase, maybe you find something that inspires you
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Stefanie Mosburger-Dalz Drew Henderson has recorded an arrangement of CPE Bach’s ‘Solfeggietto’ for 8-string guitar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpPIDWfSi20
This is an old ‘made-at-home’ video. It is well worth having a look at his more recent work - the standards of performance and production are absolutely top notch!
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David Krupka Yesterday I saw a Book with arrangements for guitar, I look if I can get it
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Martin I dont have that level ....but I keep working....because its so damn hard on guitar someone once said....I bought some score, we will see if I could try. I could get a Probepartitur of a swiss arranger, 2 Bourre´s, the first looks doable, reminds me totally of Telemann G- major sonata that Emanuel Pahud plays with Trevor Pinhock at his Fluteking cd 2014 or15) that I love to the moon and back, but at those times there was no issue in using musical ideas of colleages, and as I read that CPE Bach Probepartitur, took out the flute and yes, its something like that mentioned before, slicely different but lovely. Absolutely lovely. Now Im waiting....
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I am interested in this challenge. I have only learned a few of his pieces: Jesu Joy (Per-Olov's Version), Prelude in D minor BWV 999, Bouree and Allemande from the first Lute Suite. The only one I still currently play is the Bouree. I'm trying to decide if I should use this challenge to relearn the others or learn something completely new. I've always wanted to learn the 1st Cello Suite. It's such a classic and everyone loves to hear it. So that's an option. Looking forward to whatever happens!
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Debbie All of your pieces are incredibly beautiful choices! Why not go for both, re-learning old pieces and discover something new?
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Nice to be back and see what's going on with tonebase. Excited to see the Bach challenge as he's my favorite composer but too hard for me on guitar so I'm only going to participate in piano this month but looking forward to following everyone's guitar submissions. Sprained my finger in Dec. so no instruments for a few months, but fully healed now.
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Brett Gilbert Nooooo! Just share your piano videos here as well, I won't mind!
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Brett Gilbert Good to hear from you, Brett! Sorry about the injury, but glad you're better. Like Martin said, I'd love to hear something on piano from you.
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Bach was responsible for making me play acoustic guitar. I started playing electric guitar as a teenager, as I wanted to play rock n' roll and fast solos. My first teacher made me study Bach first to make it easier for me to approach rock. I hated it at the beginning, but after sometime my passion for classical guitar overcame the electric guitar and since then I have been playing as a hobbyist. I am beginner/intermediate. Similar to Debbie, I had a couple of pieces I could play, but nowadays I only play the Bourreé.
I am so excited to have this opportunity as a push go dedicate myself to learn more Bach pieces. Once I was able to play Jesu Joy of Man's Desire, and Gavotte II (BWV 995). Nowadays only Bourreé is left and fresh in my memory. I will probably use this to either return of one of these pieces I played before or learn a new piece such as BWV 999.-
Fernando Ruiz Diaz Wow, thank you for sharing that story! So you went from Rock'n Roll to Baroque'n Roll
Please keep us updated, the list of pieces you have already played and your planned piece are excellent choices! -
Martin Vielen Dank! I see that you have a live on BWV 999 and Tonebase has also a lesson on it. I'll probably start with this. I need to improve technically to be able to play again the Gavotte II (BWV 995) at a good level.
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Fernando Ruiz Diaz yes, that was a fun one and Isaacs production is absolutely awesome! Hit me up with any questions you have!
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I've always wanted to play the Chaconne, and I'm sure it will be a multi year project! Does anyone have a suggestion for which transcription to look for?
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Palmer Hello , I have used several and I recommend this edition as it has so much to offer. A standard go to for your library. Carlevaro’s editing and practice/ performing notes for each variation in modern print and includes a facsimile of the manuscript .
Available from sheetmusicplus.com
Carlevaro Masterclass: Bach Chaccone BWV 1004
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Michael Carlson Thank you Michael! I just downloaded it and can see what you mean. It really does have a lot to offer. I look forward to diving in! Thanks again!
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Palmer you’re welcome.
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Michael Carlson ah, I saw a book of Carlevaro about that, as I looked for editions. But now I bought a transcription of Hoppstock. I will see.
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Michael Carlson Thanks for the reference, it's hard to find Carlevaro's works published as PDF!
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Blaise Laflamme you’re welcome,
I’ve had the hard copy for years so I’m happy to know the PDF is available. Great $ price and instant.
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Michael Carlson right, I'm mostly using PDF on the iPad lately and I try to get clean PDF instead of printed music, so yes great price for the content you get!
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Bach is one of my favorite composers. I have always been completely fascinated with counterpoint - and where else to satisfy that interest than with Bach. I am also deeply immersed in Beethoven (listening and studying - not playing) and he was very influenced by Bach, especially his counterpoint.
I also find that Bach (as well as Beethoven and Stravinsky, another favorite) tends to be a motivic composer rather than a melodocist (sic), which is another facet of his compositions that I really relate to.
Mostly I will be using this challenge to reclaim some of my Bach that has fallen out of practice. Some of the pieces are fairly recent but some I haven't played in decades. I am also beginning to work on the Tempo di Borea from the BWV 1002 Violin Suite, which I have never played.
End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
