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/
This is the last year thread, many people committed and finished successfully:
https://forum.pianotell.com/d/1457-40ish-pieces-in-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 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 and often a link to the free sheet-music 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.
