WEEK 3: Heavenly Harmonies of J.S.Bach! 
Welcome to the Main Thread for the third week of the J.S.Bach Challenge! This is the place to post submissions of the third 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! ↓
-
BWV999 "Prelude for the Lute"
-
Olli Beautifully played, Olli! So musical!
-
Eric Phillips thanks Eric
-
Olli Great Olli. You maintained a beautiful consistency throughout.
-
Olli beautiful Eric! I loved the base, how carried the melody so well, very good tone and very clean. You played fast! very good congratulations!!!
-
Olli Excellente playing Olli! Your arpeggios are so steady and consistent. Very beautiful and musically played.
-
Olli well played! and I saw the Julian Bream record on the floor
-
Olli bravooooo
-
Olli Beautifully played Olli! This is the first Bach piece I learned way back, and I never get tired of it. Thanks for posting it!
-
-
Here is my first video for this challenge. I took Sanel Redzic's masterclass and I hope I have incorporated his advice along with Enmanuelle's in his tutorial. Sanel's advice touched on the most difficult parts of this piece for me, making really legato the scales, and give the emphasis in the right places. I suppose I have to play it faster, what do you think? I like it slow... and please any more advice is super welcome! I try to make this piece as good as I can...
-
Emma That was very good Emma. You have this down. I would suggest making it more 'dance like', with more rhythmic emphasis.
I just listened to a YouTube of Petrit Çeku playing these. He did play them a bit faster (though I don't think your's are necessarily too slow). He also made the rhythm punchier which I thought really made them stand out . Check out his video - it is the entire suite but septic links are provided for each piece.
-
Emma Excellent, Emma! You've been at these gavottes for a long time, your hard work is really paying off. You're playing them virtually flawlessly, and everything flows very nicely. Great job!
-
Jack Stewart thank you! I heard the video, wonderful thank you , I like how he does not roll the last chords of the repetitive motives, I have been looking for a performance that I liked and there are not so many. You are right, thank you, I will keep practicing it and see if I can let the dance emotion flow through me, be more relaxed about not doing any mistakes. and get in the Bach dancing mood.
-
Eric Phillips yes I have… this year my goal is to build a repertoire and improve my technique. I want to nail these Gavottes! I am doing less pieces and try to play them as well as I can . My new one is Torija to improve my legato. Still a long way but although they still don’t sound as I imagine them in my head there has been an improvement I think . My goal like yours is to sound elegant, and also crisp, effortless and with stamina, haha … one day….
-
Emma great performance Emma
-
Emma love it Emma. Great pulse, and I think pulse is more important than speed. Great trills btw, light and natural. There are a few places where you could add some more
-
joosje thank you! So happy you tell me about the pulse! Many time I am not very rhythmical in my playing, it is something I am trying to solve. About the thrills, they are not always clean but I am practicing them apart in exercises, hopefully to add them . Thank you Joojse!
-
Emma excellent job Emma! You’re sounding great and have these gavottes down. Nice flow and nice tempo.
-
Emma great Emma! you have improved a lot! your melody is more clear and the rythm....your basses also more "realzados" outstanding (?) Great and hard job! congratulations and thanks for sharing it..
-
Emma Nice work on these Emma! I really enjoyed listening to your beautiful playing. Thanks!
-
-
Prelude BWV 997 measures 1-34 Mar 24
Today, I was able to increase the speed from 45 to 50 on the metronome without too much problem. (My metronome tells this is no longer largo, but lento. Whoo hoo!) And just for fun, I added two measures on to the end of what I had been playing, which takes me to the end of page one on my score. It's an odd place to stop, but baby steps ...
-
Eric Phillips you are a good inspiration to work well today, bravo!
-
-
BWV 996 Allemande 1st half 1st video
This is the first half of the BWV 996 Allemande. I thought I would pick this up quicker than I have. I have added trills as well though they are a bit hit or miss. I hope to record the entire movement over this weekend. We'll see.
-
Jack Stewart this is sounding good Jack! Especially the thrills are sounding so well, bravo!
-
Jack Stewart I agree with Emma - you play trills very nicely! They fit well into the texture of this piece.
-
End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
