New Year, New Approach - 40 Pieces Challenge 2025
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)
PACT XL 
(Roman, 10 less than 50)
ShiroKuro 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....
In the monetised forum, people would write lists that they published, and regularly add to their list, making clear which pieces were new ones. I liked it very much because I could see who played more or less at the same level as I did, and I listened to their pieces and got inspired.
*
... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...
Hmmm... The Motly Club sounds nicer than 40PAYC or PACT XL, even though I don't know if I will play more pieces each year.
Should we vote about the name?
And then in January start a new thread in which we tell how it is going, and which pieces we have played?
*
... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...
- Edited
I like the name MOTLY Crew. For those non-English speakers who might not get the reference:
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/motley_crew
That describes us perfectly.
- Edited
Please vote! Copy the list and put your name behind the one you vote for. If I forgot a suggestion, please add it to the list.
Motly Crew -
Motly Club -
MOTLY -
MOTLY40 -
MOTLYchallenge -
40 Pieces of Silver -
40PAYC -
PACT XL -
40P Club -
Piano Forte -
*
... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...
- Edited
I can go first:
Motly Crew -
Motly Club - Animisha
MOTLY -
MOTLY40 -
MOTLYchallenge -
40 Pieces of Silver -
40PAYC -
PACT XL -
40P Club -
Piano Forte -
*
... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...
- Edited
Fair enough, it is clear nobody feels like voting. 
*
... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...
I'm pleased that so many people are interested in joining me for this challenge next year. 
I've been reading a few more things online about this concept and there are many differing thoughts about the criteria for what constitutes a suitable piece, because not all pieces of equal length would be of equal difficulty - e.g. 8 bars of Chopin might be considerably harder than a folk song of 16 bars. My feeling is that for someone like me, who has been playing for just over a year and plays for a minimum of 1 hour a day, the pieces chosen would ideally be 16 measures in length, as a minimum. Many pop/folk songs use 16 measures, which are then repeated, and there are plenty of short waltzes/etudes of similar or slightly longer length which would be good for this challenge.
Looking back at Alfred's AIO book 1, most of the early exercises were simple folk songs or excerpts of classical pieces, just 8 measures long. So, out of the 64 pieces in the book, around 45 would fit my criteria for the challenge. Book 2 contains more complex pieces, so those might not fit my personal criteria, but could be ideal for someone who has been playing for 2 or 3 years. Everyone can tailor the challenge to fit their own needs/preferences.
There are many different ways that people track their progress; some people like to keep things simple, while others might want to record the minutiae of their progress. I'm in the "keep things simple" camp, but if there is appetite for having a thread which contains various online tools to upload all manner of data, that will need to be set up by someone who has a lot more tech knowledge than me - calling all geeks, you know who you are!
I'm not too bothered about choosing a thread title, but if people aren't keen on the word "Challenge" (as it screams "competitive" to some folk) how about "40 Pieces 4 Piano Proficiency (40P4PP)"?
"Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)
- Edited
It's definitely doable. I've done it this year. @lilypad, too, shooting to get a speeding ticket LOL. @Sophia must have done it, too, after recording the Thompson pieces.
But I hesitate to make it a goal. It was more like a by-product for me this year, an enjoyable surprise. Now I am back following my method book, I am letting my progress dictate my study pace again.
iternabe But I hesitate to make it a goal. It was more like a by-product for me this year, an enjoyable surprise. Now I am back following my method book, I am letting my progress dictate my study pace again.
Yes, that's exactly it... This year was hardly the norm of course. The first few months I spent just catching up with the things I already knew/learned in the past (hence the spontaneous Thompson recording which actually even surprised me how quickly that went). I also went through two and (almost) a half Alfred books... and the blues course went pretty smoothly at first. I qualified for several speeding tickets 
Now that the piano is becoming more of a challenge (in a good way!), that also means I just can't make that kind of commitment just yet. This is definitely entering completely new territory for me. I'm enjoying polishing pieces a lot more now that they are starting to sound like music, and it's easier to skip pieces I don't like. Which doesn't count for the challenge 
As for the name, my "suggestions" were firmly tongue in cheek, but any variation of 40P sounds great to me
WieWaldi ha... my feelings as well. I think I've averaged less than 1 hour daily practice. Not much. It is also not well structured. I will only have 1 method book finished this year. And my pieces were not as polished as the records I see/hear in this forum. A bit sad but I still count it as success. I did not give up.
I considered this challenge. But it would be too much for me. I don't think I can spare more time next year. And my method book pieces takes at least a week now.
WieWaldi WieWie that can't be right - what about all those blues lessons you completed, and the videos you posted? Surely each one of those blues lessons contains enough material to regard the finished play through as being one "piece" (sometimes more than one) for the purpose of this challenge? I feel you have underestimated your achievements this year.
I have not finished Alfred's book 2 yet, but some of the pieces in the second half are are such a stretch for me that they could take many hours for me to play reasonably well, so they will be works in progress, as and when I want to tackle them. I'm hoping that by playing a variety of easier pieces my sight reading and dexterity will improve, and I can just enjoy playing, rather than constantly forcing myself to push through difficult pieces which can feel like hard work. I'm looking for easy wins to keep things enjoyable, between working on stretch pieces.
"Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)
hebele Well, the Downton Abbey recital piece you uploaded was very nicely played, so I think you're making great progress. As for method books, lots of beginners take a year to get through book 1 - that's a pretty normal rate of progress. I got through Alfred's book 1 in around 5 months, but that's only because I was practising 2 -3 hours a day back then, which is more than many beginners. Also, I skipped a handful of pieces and did not polish every piece I played.
If you feel that 40 pieces is too high a target to aim for, how about opting to play 25 pieces instead? One piece every 2 weeks is probably manageable if you average 1 hour a day, either something from your method book or from one of the many books of easy pieces that are available.
@Pallas I'm experiencing the same thing, now I'm working on pieces that are between grades 1 and 2, they take a lot more time and effort to play well. That's why I'm not likely to be using book 2 pieces for this challenge - they will be tackled as and when I can face them.
"Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)
