40(ish) Pieces in 2025

Nightowl

The 40 Piece Challenge has been around for a few years, as a way to improve sight reading skills - here is a link to an article which outlines how the concept began:
https://elissamilne.com/2015/02/04/where-did-the-40-piece-challenge-begin/

On a previous thread people discussed their ideas and approaches to tackle this challenge - link attached:
https://forum.pianotell.com/d/1418-new-year-new-approach-40-pieces-challenge-2025

I think that the challenge is manageable provided that the pieces are at a level which aligns closely with a player's existing skill set (or one grade lower). The target number of pieces seems feasible for beginners/intermediate players, as it equates to learning one piece every 9 days. However, this target may not be suitable for advanced players who are tackling complex pieces to pass exams or perform in a professional setting, as they may be unwilling or unable to commit further practice time. Those players might like to tweak things slightly so as to make the target less onerous - perhaps a target of 25 pieces would be manageable - one easy piece every 2 weeks could be a welcome distraction from stretch pieces and is still likely to reap benefits. So, set your own target, choose your pieces and plot your path to sight reading success! 🙂

This thread is somewhere to post monthly updates about progress with the challenge. I aim to list titles/composers of the pieces I have played each month, along with a running total. I look forward to seeing how everyone gets on with this challenge and I hope that this thread will also provide useful information for other beginners looking for easy pieces to play. Good luck everyone.

BartK

Great! Thanks for starting this thread!

My target is as many as possible but realistically one piece every 1-2 weeks. I plan to update this thread whenever I finish a piece and maintain a list. I'm planning to record the pieces just to keep me honest but I don't know if I'll share. Maybe.

Nightowl

Sophia Of course, Sophia! You can sign up any time you want, your own personal challenge can begin on any date you choose and end 12 months later. 🙂 Anyway, I know you're a free spirit and have quite a zig zag approach to learning piano, but it clearly works for you so there's no need to fix what isn't broke.

BartK If you average one piece every 1.5 weeks you'll complete about 75 pieces. However, if you decide to polish and record all of them, you might encounter red button syndrome and end up with half that number. Only you can decide which is the best route for you, but you've no need to prove your honesty here so please don't make work for yourself if it might spoil your enjoyment. I don't intend to polish every piece and I'm certainly not going to record them all... I'd be lucky to manage one a month if I did that! 🙃

Sophia

I was really tempted to sign up, Nightowl, but... I'm not sure if I have the discipline to actually keep track of what I learn. Is it okay to decide a little later? I want this to be a hobby, not stressful, so I'm a little reluctant to commit to a fixed number of pieces. But I do love the idea, so I'm a little torn right now 🙂 I'll probably know for sure in about a month or so, is that alright with you?

BartK

Nightowl BartK If you average one piece every 1.5 weeks you'll complete about 75 pieces.

I wish, but I think your math is off. 😉

40-ish is doable but we will see.

Animisha

I sign up! I will practise both my lesson pieces and quick studies. Quick studies are entered to my list when I needed four days or more to learn the piece, and I have managed to make a nice audio recording.

lilypad

I'm in!

Nightowl

BartK Oops! Thanks Bart, I stand corrected. <blush> At that rate the total would be around 34(ish) pieces. 🙂

Hi @Animisha and @lilypad - welcome fellow travel companions! I'm looking forward to comparing notes as we go through the year. In January I will be working on some tricky pieces at the end of Alfred's book 2, so my total that month might be a bit low, unless I decide to count one of those as being equal to 2 or 3 easy pieces - tempting but not really following the suggested methodology of the challenge. 😁 For this task the benefits seem to come from putting quantity over quality, something that seems counter intuitive but apparently it really works.

ShiroKuro

I am sort of waffling about whether to do the 40P challenge or to focus that part of my practice time on sight reading. There are benefits to both — and as @Nightowl says, the goal is quantity over quality, which fits with either approach …

But I’m really grateful that this has been discussed here. I read about the 40P challenge years ago at PW but had forgotten about it. But now it’s really gotten me thinking about my approach and also I think I’m in a better position (in terms of how I practice etc.) to implement something like this (whether I do 40P or sight reading)

I have a few more days to decide. 😅

Kaydia

Whew, that was a long walk from the other thread I posted in. Turns out I was in the wrong place. But I believe I've arrived at the right spot now for this challenge.

Since it's a 40-piece challenge, then that's what I'll aim for. From what I can discern, it should be easier for a beginner like me since my level 1 pieces will be shorter than those of more advanced players.

I'm excited to get started!

BartK

OK, I'll be the first to open the list. Here is what I've been working on for the last week. It's Handel's Passacaille (Passacaglia) from the Suite in G minor. I only had time to do the first half. I had a few hesitations at the beginning because I was nervous in front of the camera but I think the rest went well.

Quick Study List for 2025

George Frideric Handel, Passacaille (variations 1-8).

Nightowl

Wow, you've set the bar sky high with that piece @BartK! Never mind, I can easily fly under it to find something on my level.

This is a perfect demonstration of how much the perception of "easy/quick study piece" varies between beginners and advanced players.

Kaydia

Nightowl Wow, you've set the bar sky high with that piece @BartK! Never mind, I can easily fly under it to find something on my level.

No worries, I've lowered the bar with a 1-page piece that's in middle C position! 🤣

So my first of 40 pieces that I've finished is "A Canyon Deep" by Edna Mae Burnam. It's the first one in her Pieces to Play, Book 2, which is a supplement to her Step by Step, Book 2 course. There are 8 pieces in the book. I may try to work through all of them in order.

(edit: forgot to start my list)

A Canyon Deep by Edna Mae Burnam

Animisha

I made a book. I love making books.

ShiroKuro

@BartK awseome!! And inspiring!

@Animisha that is charming!!

lilypad

Kaydia I have Edna Mae Burnam's Dozen A Day All Year Round technical exercises. I only got part way through level 2 of the original books. I remember the exercises as being lots of fun and never boring with a variety of challenges. I bought a compendium of all the books last year and need to figure out a way to shoehorn it in to my practice routine.

Nightowl

Kaydia No worries, I've lowered the bar with a 1-page piece that's in middle C position! 🤣

Nice work! 😁

Animisha We are in synch - I'm also working on Memory, from the Alfred's Hits book.🙂

Animisha

Congratulations Kadya! The first person with a first piece! 😊

Kaydia

lilypad I have Edna Mae Burnam's Dozen A Day All Year Round technical exercises. I only got part way through level 2 of the original books. I remember the exercises as being lots of fun and never boring with a variety of challenges. I bought a compendium of all the books last year and need to figure out a way to shoehorn it in to my practice routine.

I have the Preparatory book and Book 1 in the A Dozen A Day series. I haven't done anything with them. I haven't looked online yet to see if anyone demonstrates each technique. It's nice to hear they're fun, though.

Animisha

First I was so happy. Then less happy. No actually, more happy!

One of my quick studies is Memory (from Cats). I have this lovely arrangement by Sharon Aaronson, that is just a bit polyphonic. I tried to play this piece years ago, and it was so hard! Just the polyphonic element that I liked so much, gave me trouble.
Now I played it again, and I discovered that at a slow tempo, I can actually manage to read both staffs simultaneously and play these polyphonic elements. I have never deliberately practised this! But I could!
Oh, this is going great, I thought, soon this piece will be ready to put on my 40 pieces list. Such a nice arrangement. Such a pity it is so short though.

I started to look for more pieces arranged by Sharon Aaronson, and I found A time for us, by Rota. Gorgeous! No quick study for me though. Rather the opposite.

And then I found out that I have a version of this Memory that is longer than 32 measures. A grand total of 94 measures - okay, 30 measures are a repeat. But some of the measures in between are more difficult than those that are repeated. So it won't be an easy peasy quick study. More a still rather easy but not so quick study.
But how nice! And yes, I am happy. 😊

Animisha

Pallas When you say polyphony, are you referring to multiple voices in counterpoint?

Yes, but in this case, it is just a second voice that sometimes plays a little melody.

For instance, here in m15-17, LH plays not just the accompaniment, but it plays a little melody of its own. This is an example of what I call for "just a bit polyphonic". If you look at the melody in m13, there are five quarter notes in a first up then down pattern (F G A G F). Then look at the accompaniment in m 15, starting with the second note, there is the same pattern but upside down (B A G A B). It is this kind of finesses that I am very much in love with.

Nightowl We are in synch - I'm also working on Memory, from the Alfred's Hits book.🙂

Yes, that is the one! 😊