40(ish) Pieces in 2025

Nightowl · 2024-12-27T21:45:28+00:00

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 concep...

lilypad

Here are the pieces I finished in August. Minus all those quick studies, I'd be at 24. I started "Pure Imagination" way back in May. I'm pretty sure I spent a lot more time time polishing it and getting an o.k. recording than I did learning the notes.

43 Muller - Lyric Etude, John Thompson's Modern Course for the Piano, First Grade Classical Piano Solos (quick study)
44 Maria Case - Cloud Dance, RCM 4 Piano Etudes (regular piece at my level)
45 Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley - Pure Imagination, The Best Piano Solos Ever (stretch piece - unknown level)
46 William Gillock - Summertime Blues, Accent on Solos, Early to Later Elementary (quick study)
47 Haydn - German Dance in G Major; Hob. IX 12, no. 1, Celebration Series Level 2 Piano Repertoire (quick study)
48 Samuel F. Smith - Fanfare on America, Piano Adventures Level 5 Lesson book (regular piece at my level)
49 Duke Ellington - Satin Doll; The Best Jazz Standards Ever - Easy Piano (regular piece at my level)
50 Elissa Milne - Spells Trouble, Little Peppers (quick study)
51 Tansman - Lullaby (Chant a bercer), Happy Time- Book 1-Primary (quick study)
52 Clementi - Waltz in Eb, Piano Adventures Level 5 Performance book (regular piece at my level)
53 Miles Davis - So What (arr.), My First Jazz Standards Songbook (regular piece at my level)
54 Yuuji Nomi - A Hilly Town, Studio Ghibli, Recital Repertoire Vol. 1 - Beginner (quick study)

ShiroKuro

lilypad this is fantastic! So, so far you've done about half quick studies and half more challenging repertoire? That's great.

How does this compare to last year? About the same, or is it a big increase?

I ask because I'm curious about what you think of the impact of the quick study pieces, whether you'll keep this approach etc.

lilypad

ShiroKuro Last year I was only at 43 at this point. I was in a community college Piano III class for 3 months and pretty much dropped everything but class assignments. The year before (2023) I was at 56 by the end of August.

I think the quick studies help me with reading because I make myself play them while reading. Normally, I memorize all the pieces that I work on at my level, so I don't get much reading practice after I've learned the notes.

I'm not sure how much benefit you'd get out of doing quick studies, since I'm pretty sure you're already a good reader and read/play is your normal method.

ShiroKuro

That's great @lilypad ! You have a very impressive approach!

lilypad read/play is your normal method.

Read/play is indeed my normal method. I started the year wanting to do the 40p (ish) but I don't think I'm going to get anywhere near that number (I need to count to see where I'm at), so I was curious about how you've been approaching it.

Nightowl

Here is my September update:

Let It Be (Lennon/McCartney)
Autumn Leaves (J Kosma)
Minuet in C, K6 (W Mozart)
Dialogue (N Miaskovsky)
Russian Folk Song (Beethoven)

I have also played through 3/4 of the pieces in Alfred’s AIO book 2, to consolidate my skills (but they don’t count towards this exercise as they are not new material for me).

I don't know if the 40pcs exercise is helping my sight reading but at least this list is a progress log of sorts. I probably work on most pieces for several days before moving on, I only polish about one piece a month. Well, I say polish, but for me that doesn't mean 100% note perfect at the right tempo - it's when I can play mostly correct notes at a steady tempo. Many people seem to upload videos of every piece on their list, and they all seem pretty polished, but I just can't do that.

lilypad

Nightowl I have also played through 3/4 of the pieces in Alfred’s AIO book 2, to consolidate my skills (but they don’t count towards this exercise as they are not new material for me).

I'm planning on doing something similar just to enjoy some of my old favorite classical pieces. I won't be counting them for 40 pieces either.

I've been re-reading Charles Cooke's book "Playing the Piano for Pleasure". He recommends accumulating a repertoire of 25 pieces . He recommends building it in groups of 5, but I must have not noticed that part when I tried to do all 25 at once and got overwhelmed.

I already have 8 non-classical pieces that I keep in more or less playable condition, but I'd like start a classical list and eventually have a dozen non-classical and a dozen classical pieces to make a similar sized repertoire of 24.

lilypad

Here are the pieces I finished in September. Minus the quick studies, I'd be at 27 for the year.

55 Elgar - Pomp and Circumstance (arranged), Piano Adventures Level 5 Lesson book (regular piece at my level)
56 Tansman - Popular Air, Happy Time Book 1-Primary (quick study)
57 Bill Boyd - Jazz Waltz, Think Jazz - Early Intermediate Level (regular piece at my level)
58 Joe Hisaishi - Mammaiuto, Studio Ghibli, Recital Repertoire Vol 1 - Beginner (quick study)
59 William Gillock - Holiday in Paris, 20th Century American Composers-Intermediate Level Piano

Nightowl

Here is my October update:

Born Free (J Barry)
Hymne a l’amour (M Monnot)
Summertime (G Gershwin)
The Windmills Of Your Mind (M LeGrand)

My own target for the year is 48, but I am only intending to polish around 8 pieces. I seem to be on track to manage that.

WieWaldi

Congratulations to the ones that succeeded the challenge.

plop_symphony

It's been a while. I've added recordings for #12, #13, #16, and #20 that previously didn't have recordings. I have at least three more somewhat difficult pieces that I think I can get to a good spot by the end of the year, so combined with a couple more quick studies, we'll hit 40.

"Footsteps in the Snow" by Angeline Bell
Aria in D minor, K. 32 by Domenico Scarlatti
Minuet in Bb major, BWV Anh. 118 by Johann Sebastian Bach (attr.)
Minuet in D minor, BWV Anh. 132 by Johann Sebastian Bach (attr.)
March in D major, BWV Anh. 122 by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
"Once Upon a Frozen Winter" by Heather Hammond
"Pleading the Fifth" by Chilly Gonzales
Andantino in A minor, op. 137, no. 8 by Henri Bertini
Ballade, op. 100, no. 15 by Friedrich Burgmüller
La petite réunion, op. 100, no. 4 by Friedrich Burgmüller
"Late Night Subway Platform" by Jeremy Siskind
Innocence, op. 100, no. 5 by Friedrich Burgmüller
Minuet in C minor, K. 40 by Domenico Scarlatti
"Trucking" by Christopher Norton - quick study from his Level 1 'Connections' book
"Dots and Dashes" by Christopher Norton - quick study from his Level 1 'Connections' book
Fugue in C major, P. 144, T. 264 by Johann Pachelbel - who says fugues have to be difficult? Not that this one was a walk in the park, but it's definitely a "beginner fugue", easier than the Bach inventions. From Trinity College's Grade 3 piano syllabus.
"For River (Johnny's Version)" by Kan Gao - posted to Recital #4.
"Onward and Upward" by Rick Robertson - from 'Circle of Friends', 24 early intermediate pieces in all keys.
"A Moray's Clock" by Akira Miyoshi - short and sweet.
Invention no. 8 in F major, BWV 779 by Johann Sebastian Bach - a big one.
"Along the Potomac" by Carol Matz - second movement of a suite whose first movement I posted back in an earlier recital. For some reason I always finish these America-themed pieces right around 4th of July.
Leçon d'arithmétique by Alexandre Tansman
Jazz-Invention no. 1 by Manfred Schmitz
"Suspense" by Fons van Gorp
"Innocence" by Fons van Gorp - These pieces are from a book that cheekily calls itself "Beatmuller", because it's a modern-styled homage to Burgmuller's opus 100.
Romance in C by Akira Yuyama - from "Piano World 2", second in a three-book quasi-method series for Japanese students.
"Lost in Thought" by Victor Labenske - from a set of miniatures in all keys.
"Waiting for Summer" by Naoko Ikeda - from "Seasonal Scenes at the Piano"
"Blues" by Barbara Arens
"Prelude IV" by Barbara Arens
Prelude (In Memoriam), op. 116 by Dianne Goolkasian Rahbee - this is a tribute to the composer's student who died in the September 11 terrorist attacks.
"Chinatown Rag" by Melody Bober - from "Jazzy Rags".
Sonatina in A minor, no. 3 by Jiří Antonín Benda
"Prelude V" by Barbara Arens
"Prelude VI" by Barbara Arens - all the Arens pieces are from a collection called "21 Amazingly Easy Pieces".
Pièce pour l'œuvre du Vêtement du blessé, L. 133 by Claude Debussy - I'll post this to the November recital.

hebele

When I saw this thread first, I did not want to commit the challenge. But I liked the idea of practicing many small/short pieces. So this year I've been going through John Thompson's first method book. And I am on piece 36! I think I will manage 40 before the end of the year.

lilypad

Only 3 pieces finished in October. Bogged down with a couple of labor intensive pieces.

60 Traditional Shaker Song - Simple Gifts, Piano Adventures Performance book (regular piece at my level)
61 Hawkins, Johnson, Dash and Feyne - Tuxedo Junction, Piano Adventures Fun Time Piano Jazz & Blues 3A-3B (quick study)
62 R. Faber - Carillon Fantasia, Piano Adventures Level 5 Lesson book (regular piece at my level)

WieWaldi

Update — still 40 days to go... fingers crossed 🤞

👇🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷👇

rsl12

What happened to Wwyamc?

If you need more pieces, the classical PIYW that will be announced tomorrow is short and pretty easy!

WieWaldi

rsl12 I'll include it after I list it as public in YouTube. This means, you have to wait until rogerch opens up the Christmas recital. Sorry.

No classical for me. Spring was already a stretch.

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