40 Pieces Challenge 2026

WieWaldi · 2026-01-02T17:54:33+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 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.

ShiroKuro

P.S. I wonder how many pieces I’ve worked on this year… probably not 20… I need to count.

lilypad

ShiroKuro The title of the book is pretty much what I listed and is published by Zen-On Music. There are several books in the series- Elementary Vol. 1 & 2, Intermediate Vol. 1 & 2 and Advanced. I have Vol. 1 of both Elementary and Intermediate books. I read about them somewhere on this forum. Amazon says I purchased them in September of 2024.

Animisha

I know, long time no see. I will fail gloriously this year as well, but for the best of reasons. My teacher told me that it was time for a challenge, and I immediately said: Bach's 6th invention. Since then, I have spent about 90% of my practice time with this piece. My! This piece messes up my mind so badly. But it is also great fun.

But I hardly spend any time practising my other pieces, and as for quick studies, I have no time for them. 😊

ShiroKuro

Animisha that’s an excellent piece to get lost in! 💓

KevinM

Animisha well done for taking it on. Bach has a way of breaking our brains so we have to build how we process musical info all over again.

Nightowl

During June I played these pieces:

Russian Folk Song - Beethoven
Menuet - Johann Krieger
Right Here Waiting For You - Richard Marx

That brings my half year total to 19, so I'm behind schedule. I must admit that due to the heatwave I skipped playing for a few days, because it was so humid that I broke out in a sweat after just 5 minutes of practice - not very enjoyable.

I am still tinkering with a Chopin piece that I'd like to submit for the next recital, but it might be beyond me to master the tricky note runs. I'm not sure whether to try for a recording or just move on before I spoil it for myself due to overplaying it. No worries though - it's just a hobby.

lilypad

Here are the pieces I completed in June. Most are the usual quick studies.

19 Christopher Norton - A Summer Day, RCM Celebration Series Piano Etudes, Level 5
20 Alexander Goedicke - Op. 6, No. 4., 20 Little Pieces for Beginners (quick study)
21 Robert D. Vandall - Amen Corner; Celebrated Jazzy Solos Book 2 (quick study)
22 Robert D. Vandall - Courtly Dance; Celebrated Piano Solos Book 2 (quick study)

Nightowl

lilypad I was curious so I took a look at that grade 5 etude - very nice piece! I'm not familiar with Christopher Norton but that is just the kind of piece I enjoy, so I'll keep him in mind when buying my next music book.

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