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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!
This is the official signup and participation thread for the 2015 "40 Pieces A Year Challenge"! We'll use this thread for signups, tracking progress and recordings (if you're making them) and discussion and support.
The Goal: To see if learning 40 piano pieces a year can make us better players.
The Method: Participants will aim to complete 40 pieces a year of various skill levels. Most of these will be under your current skill level, which is up to you to interpret! These pieces can include classical, jazz or any other genre. These pieces do not have to be completed to a completely polished final standard - they are about skill building, learning, sight reading, exploring new music and having fun.
For more details about the inspiration and source of this challenge, please read these pieces by Elissa Milne:
Tracking Your Progress: Please check in with this thread when you complete your pieces - we'll keep a running total for everyone at the top and edit it as needed. Please feel free to also upload any recordings that you're making (if you're comfortable with that) and ask any questions, get support or just suggestions for more music!
Some Notes About Skill Levels and Competition:We all have many different backgrounds and skill levels, so this challenge will look different for each one of us. Our goal is to support and foster people's drive to complete the challenge, no matter what skill level they are at. Please be kind and refrain from bringing negative attitudes into the thread, whether towards yourself or towards others! This is about meeting the challenge (and the piano) where you are rather than comparing yourself to others.
Can't resist the temptation to be 1st sign up. Count me in, Anne. (Note/Disclaimer: my weekly throwaway program probably has a lower standard of "completion" than many of you have suggested for this thread, which is fine with me as my program is well-suited for its intended purposes - play lots, have fun, read lots.)
I didn't finish a nice arrangement of Silent Night until early January, so that is #1 for me. Because I have a lot of new assignments and missed some lessons we have delayed weekly throwaways until next week.
Jim
Liebestraum 3, Liszt Standchen-Schubert/Liszt arr Sonata Pathetique-Adagio LVB Estonia L190 #7284
Count me in too. I'm still working through a method book- I'll probably get about half my pieces from Alfred's #2. Here is what I've signed off on so far this year:
From Alfred's #2: Dark Eyes Swinging Sevenths The Polovetsian Dances (Theme, arrangement) Arkansas Traveler
I'm in I won't have a "completed" until the end of the week, because I plan on doing 1 or so a week, and I just started last weekend. But I plan on playing it in a gig on Friday!
Cathy
Cathy
Perhaps "more music" is always the answer, no matter what the question might be! - Qwerty53
Sign me up. Most of mine will probably be from Melodious Masterpieces book 1 or Easy Classics to Modern except for a few harder ones that I work on with my teacher but they take months of work. For this year so far, Song without Words by Fritz Spindler 2nd movement of Beethoven Sonata no 25- I started this in 2014 but was still working on it in 2015. Old French Song by Tchaikovsky
I think I will really struggle to complete this if I sign up. I guess I can attempt, but I only have the 1 piece completed this year so far. What I submitted for ABF recital was something I learned mid last year.
Add me to the list please (completed 5 pieces). Last years challenge ended for me in November and I then took a rest before restarting early January. It has been good to get back into the saddle for another year but it's going to be even better now with company.
All my easy pieces will come from Joy of First Classics and I will be really brave and post this recording which I think is the first of the group so far. Considering one of my main pieces for the year is Bach's Invention No 1 this should be easy, but no this took 17 days to get to the recording stage (might only play through twice daily) and this is what I put in my "challenge" notes "Not difficult but not easy either took a while to get the bass line to sync with the melody which is a fairly common problem for me".
One of the big surprises of the challenge, while it was fairly easy to incorporate into my daily regime and complete, little pieces I felt I was too good for could be so challenging. That is why it is such a great system.
- Schumann, The Wild Horseman from op. 68 - Bertini, Etude op. 116 no. 18 - Ludvig Schytte, No. 25 from 25 Melodious Studies op. 108 - El cant des ocells, traditional catalan song arr. Marshall - Gershwin's Summertime arranged as accompaniment for clarinet
Count me in. I posted my list in the other thread.
So far I have completed 6! I haven't set the bar very high in terms of difficulty. I consider a piece complete once I have recorded a note perfect rendition. I expect others will spend much longer polishing these pieces. For me, the fun is in discovering and playing lots of new music.
Count me in as well. This is going to be fun. The milestone for me for each piece will be to record it. Since my assigned pieces for the year are grades 6-8, the remainder of my pieces will come from Celebration Series 4-6 (RCM), Masterworks Classics (4-6) plus a few Dan Coates arrangements of popular pieces. So recorded so far this year:
1. Kuhlau Sonatina in A minor "Burlesco" 2. Chopin Prelude 20 in C minor
Just two, but there will be more to come. I have some catching up to the year to do! The first piece is my recital piece. Here is the second.
Count me in too please! Nothing on my "completed" list yet - my ABF submission was a polishing up of a previously learned piece and everything else is WIP
I will be really brave and post this recording which I think is the first of the group so far.
Bravo! Thank you for sharing.
My plan is to record and share my challenge pieces. I hope others will as well. I truly believe that the more you record and share, the more confident you become with the entire process.
I thought I could edit my posts. Looks like there's just a small window for that. Anyhoo...
I have a page in my WordPress blog that I list the pieces and recordings (if one exists). I'm still trying to catch up with recording last year but will soon get to more of this year. I'm fearing that some of the stuff on my to do list is beyond me right now but we'll get to that when it arises.
Count me in. A couple weeks ago my teacher and I were actually talking about doing 1 or 2 "easier" pieces a week just for exposure to more music. The club just makes it more fun and will help to stay on track!
So far, I have 3 pieces: Bartok's Rogue Song and Wedding Song (I'm in a Bartok phase...) and Scarlatti's Aria, K.32.
Add me to the list please (completed 5 pieces). Last years challenge ended for me in November and I then took a rest before restarting early January. It has been good to get back into the saddle for another year but it's going to be even better now with company.
All my easy pieces will come from Joy of First Classics and I will be really brave and post this recording which I think is the first of the group so far. Considering one of my main pieces for the year is Bach's Invention No 1 this should be easy, but no this took 17 days to get to the recording stage (might only play through twice daily) and this is what I put in my "challenge" notes "Not difficult but not easy either took a while to get the bass line to sync with the melody which is a fairly common problem for me".
One of the big surprises of the challenge, while it was fairly easy to incorporate into my daily regime and complete, little pieces I felt I was too good for could be so challenging. That is why it is such a great system.
This is a really neat little piece! You play it with lots of energy and style.
Works in Progress: Rachmaninoff: Prelude Op 23 No 4