BTW, in my day job, I'm an academic and in addition to the research that I do, I teach Japanese as a foreign language to undergrads and I teach graduate students about foreign language pedagogy.

A few years ago, the idea of "tadoku" got a lot of attention, and basically it means "read a lot." The idea was that Japanese language learners can benefit from reading a lot, and reading a lot more than most Japanese language teachers think they're capable of. Quantity over quality, and reading just below one's level.

The reasoning and the ideas behind tadoku are basically the same as those behind the 40-piece challenge.

Of course, the forty pieces can be both our regular pieces that we polish until our teachers are satisfied, plus a number of easier pieces. In that way, the endeavour would be to play more pieces than we would do without this challenge.

Now we are all different in all possible ways except for being committed to the piano. So if one of us plans to learn 40 regular pieces, the other one plans to learn 40 easy pieces, the next person does 80 pages, I think all of this should be fine. As long as the challenge helps us to practise more pieces than we would without the challenge.

But, if you feel unsatisfied with the music that you make, if you feel that you would like to spend more time on each piece to polish it, and to work on technique, then this challenge is probably not for you! 😎

*
... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...

    ShiroKuro Because the point, as I understand it, is that in order to learn a lot about music, to become better at learning new pieces, and to get better at reading (and read-playing) widely across piano literature .... to do all these and do them better, the recommendation is to learn a large number of discrete pieces, different pieces. Because it is that activity specifically, moving through a lot of music, a lot of individual pieces, that is the key.

    Exactly. As much music as possible and as varied as possible - different composers, different styles, different moods, slow pieces, fast pieces, etc. The more variety the better.

      Animisha the endeavour would be to play more pieces than we would do without this challenge.

      Yes, to me, this is at the heart of the challenge.

      And I believe that the last time I tried to do it, although I'm pretty sure I didn't get to 40, I did get to more than I would have otherwise, and that's why it was beneficial.

      So as a starting point, my goal will be to push up the number of pieces I learn. Once I get started, then I'll see how it goes and whether it makes sense for me to put a numerical goal on it or not, etc.

      To me, this challenge meshes nicely with the goal of increasing and improving one's sightreading as well.

        This project needs a name 😃 PACT is already taken, but what about 40 Pieces of Silver? 40P Club? Piano Forte?

          Oooh I hope not, because that would basically mean I'd be FORCED to join! 🤣🥳🤪

          Pallas are you secretly a Very Silly Person?

          I am an openly Very Silly Person.

          😃

            @Pallas but, joking aside, I love MOTLY because it's perfectly descriptive (play more pieces than last year) without excluding someone by, for example, imposing a pre-set number of pieces they have to play.

            I'm in. Even though my main focus is pieces at my grade level, I like to always have a quick study to going. They are my only hope to play my way through all the piano music I've acquired over the years. I'm almost out of grade 1 pieces but have around 25 books with one or more grade 2 pieces.

            WieWaldi I strongly vote to count an advanced piece as more pieces with a simple rule: Each movement section/part/chorus/whatever counts as a single piece. This does not address easy vs difficult, but it addresses short vs long. About the difficulty level, this challenge is to master 40 pieces in a year, meaning you must do whatever is easy enough for you to reach 40. Remember - the concept behind this this challenge is based upon the "surprising power of quantity" [see link in original post].

            I like that idea, it's a way of tweaking things so that people who are playing more advanced pieces can credit themselves for tackling longer, complex pieces. For instance, a Chopin piece might easily be 3 or 4 times more difficult than a piece from Alfred's book 1, so could justifiably count as 3 or 4 pieces for the purpose of this challenge.

            @BartK I see the reasons why you recommend sticking to the original rationale of the concept to gain the maximum benefits, but I can also see why people might like to adapt the concept to suit their own playing level/preferred practice methods - it's rarely the case that "one size fits all".

            I think it's fine to adjust the target number down a little, to take personal circumstances/difficulty factors into account. Maybe I should change the thread title to read "40(ish) Pieces" or "30-40 Pieces"?

            @Animisha If you prefer to work on stretch pieces I can see why it might be hard to reach the target of 40 (easy) pieces a year in addition to those stretch pieces. Perhaps you could set your own personal target lower - how about 25 a year? Is it doable to play one easy piece over the course of 2 weeks, as well as your other pieces? The easy pieces might be a refreshing break from the stretch pieces.

            "Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)

              Pallas More Than Last Year: MOTLY. 😝 We can then be a "motley crewe." ARRRR, matey.

              I like motly as a description for exploring a variety of music, but since I somehow got to 70 pieces in 2023 and am at 70 pieces right now, I'm not sure I can keep doing better than last year.

                  Gooseberry But I would like to make sure that we are free to define by ourselves what we consider as “a piece” and to what degree the piece should be “learned”.

                  Of course - tweak the concept in whatever way works best for you. 🙂 Be as fluid or rigid in how you define a piece, and how far you polish it, as you want to. Jot down the names of pieces as you complete them, or record every minutia of the process in a mega complex spreadsheet - whatever floats your boat! 😁

                  Sophia I can see where you're coming from, because you are already juggling many things at once, so might not have time to do this as well. Anyway, whatever you're doing is clearly working for you. 🙂 This is just my way to move forward, but if I find I'm floundering, there is always the option to buy A's book 3.

                  "Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)

                      lilypad since I somehow got to 70 pieces in 2023 and am at 70 pieces right now, I'm not sure I can keep doing better than last year.

                      Yes, Motly will be a bit difficult in 2026, not to mention 2027...
                      (We are here for the long run. 😊)

                      *
                      ... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...

                        Pallas

                        No way could I do 40 Level 3 pieces in a year. I'll be lucky to do 12. But I might be able to use a lower level sight-reading book like A Dozen A Day to do one piece per week, which was going to be one of my goals for 2025. But I won't be able to record them until I get my data storage situation sorted out. My file management is a mess, and another project for 2025. Anyway. I'm a yes, but only if I can do one or two new LINES of music to count as a piece, such as one might find in an easy sight reading book.>

                        Do whatever works for you Pallas, no set rules here, just adapt the basic idea to suit you. 🙂 I won't be recording every piece - that would drive me nuts! I will just record my favourite pieces, and note down the titles on this thread at the end of each month.

                        "Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)

                            Pallas But I won't be able to record them until I get my data storage situation sorted out.

                            I can help you with that. Just built myself a storage server that can hold decades of piano practice recordings 😉

                              Nightowl I won't be recording every piece

                              Nope, me neither.

                              I will write down the piece titles... Hmm, maybe I'll make a form that shows title, date started, date finsihed (or date at which I decide to move on?) and maybe like a general comments column....

                              I'm trying to think of what would be helpful to know... Oh, maybe the length of the piece (or number of measures). And my own internal ranking of its difficulty?

                              Hmmm what do you all think about that? What kind of info would be helpful?

                                  ShiroKuro I had the feeling you might go down that route... I can picture you drawing up a mega spreadsheet as we speak! 😁 Meanwhile, I'll be scribbling the titles on any random scrap of paper I can find, probably using one of my coloured gel pens that I bought for doing crosswords.

                                  Maybe I will start a new thread before New Year, where people can post their monthly updates. I could include a link to this thread so people can read all the suggestions and adopt whichever approach suits them, but the new thread would be the place to log our progress.

                                  "Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)

                                    Sophia This project needs a name 😃 PACT is already taken, but what about 40 Pieces of Silver? 40P Club? Piano Forte?

                                    40PAYC (40 pieces a year challenge)
                                    and after successfully finishing, you can count yourself to the
                                    40PAYC (40 pieces a year club)

                                      PACT XL 😄
                                      (Roman, 10 less than 50)