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1. Moody Blues, For My Lady, circa 1972

2. Matt Munro's Walk Away, circa 1965

3. Martin Denny's The Enchanted Sea piano cover, circa 1957

4. Bond. James Bond. Piano cover of From Russia With Love instrumental by Mel Taylor and the Magics, circa 1965

5. Piano cover of Sleepwalk Composed and recorded by Santo and Johnny, circa 1959. Also recorded by the Ventures and the Shadows.
Backing track credit to Jose Churacca, found him on Youtube. Many thanks!

6. The Ash Grove Traditional Welsh song, alternate lyrics from Jeremiah 31:12

Hi trooplewis, I really loved this one! So peaceful. Thanks!

Listened to a series of latest posts again and wonderful music along the way.

Greta 99, listened to your new additions. All great and I continue to enjoy all your recordings. Little flowers #7 had an interesting start/stop to it didn't it. Must have been interesting to play.

Zenga, I also loved your Burgmuller. I seem to struggle with all of these and I Love them so much!

Monviso, I really do hope you share recordings sometime.

Barbaram, I'm not familiar with Cry Me A River, but I did imagine myself listening to this in a bar with a drink in hand :-) Good for you for memorizing it. I find memorizing takes me alot of work and feel it is something I should really do more. I can't even remember the last piece I memorized (no pun intended)! It was years ago.

AndresVal, I really enjoyed your latest pieces. I love the Baroque pieces as I find them fun to play (I didn't even know it until I started playing them).

- Zoe

Hi mel_lem, really enjoyed all of these. Yes that is quite a mix of pieces. Mist Trumpet Man sounded so fun to play! Curious what exam level are you preparing for?

Hi bSharpCyclist, loved both #7 and #8. I loved number 7! Again, sounds like more than a practice session to me. I remember learning (or should I say trying to learn) #8 back years ago when I was preparing for RCM exam level 4. I remember not "getting it" at the time! Maybe because it was so different from everything else I was learning at the time. I should go back and see if I get it now that I've heard you playing it again. Nice.

Sisi, you continue to make amazing progress. Well done! Also, looks like you got a new piano, if so that is awesome too!

PS Thanks for the complements on my last 2 pieces. Much appreciated.

Hi Saan, so glad you decided to continue with the challenge. I really like your Chopin piece. The Bach prelude looks so fun to play! Wow! I am nowhere near your level so this was great to watch and listen to. I also find recording makes me nervous (I decided to just do sound, not video for now. And I discovered if I just let the recording go while I try to get a good take somewhere along the way I can relax more and almost forget the recording is going!).

Damn, didn't know about this challenge ! I'm in.
I've got some catching up to do and some pieces to select.

Is it OK if I consider the pieces I've started learning since January ?

Welcome! It's up to you how you decide to set your challenge, but I include pieces I started working the year before if I only finished them this year (where "finished" may be very unpolished but it's as far as I can go or want to go with the piece for now). And at the end of the year I'll have a bunch of unfinished pieces that will carry through to the following year.

Thanks for the lovely "Cry Me A River" comments. My next challenge is to keep it in repertoire! Maintaining repertoire is something I'm terrible at at the best of times, and especially hard to balance with this challenge. Hmm, maybe my personal 40-piece challenge should be 30 new pieces and 10 maintained!

Thank you Greta99 and ZoeCalgary, and actaully, so did I! Those thirds are not easy!

My new piece!

5. Chips and sauce from "A piece a week" by Paul Harris

This week I celebrate 3 months learning piano! I decided to record a popular song to share with my family, specially my grandma who is 94 years old. My grandpa passed two years ago, and he loved the piano. He was very musical, played piano, accordion and guitar. Grandma says when they were young they would throw the best parties at home, he would play until morning for their friends!

Right now, she's in Brazil and I'm in Europe. My plans to visit got canceled due to covid and I hope there's still time for me to play piano for her in person Happy Easter everybody, and stay safe!


1. Morning (Peer Gynt suite no. 1) (PA book 1) soundcloud | youtube
2. When the Saints go Marching in (learn & master piano) soundcloud
3. Musette (from the notebook of Anna Magdalena Bach) (PA book 1) soundcloud | youtube (now in the right tempo too!)
4. Half-time Band (PA book 1) soundcloud | youtube
5. Theme by Mozart (Sonata in A major transposed to G major) (PA book 1) youtube
6. Greensleeves (PA book 1) youtube
7. Egyptian Ballet Dance, Camille Saint-Saëns (faber's studio selections level 2A) youtube
8. Old German Dance, Michael Praetorius (Keith Snell essential piano repertoire prep grade)
9. Two Marches, Daniel Gottlob Türk (Keith Snell essential piano repertoire prep grade)
10. Yakety Yak, The Coasters (faber's studio selections level 2A) youtube (last thing I learned on my own, pre-teacher)
11. River Visla (russian school of piano playing book 1a) youtube
12. Can't Help Falling in Love, Elvis Presley youtube


PS: I do NOT keep plants on top of my piano! This is all a mise-en-scène for grandma's pleasure. She knows I'm a plant killer and I think she will be incredibly proud to see not one, but two living plants in the frame!!

Another quick study piece from Borislava Taneva's "Sound Stories"
This one has a time signature that is constantly shifting between 5/8 and 6/8 which makes for an interesting challenge in an otherwise simple enough piece. It's fine once you are in the swing of it but easy to get out of sync with a concentration lapse!

1. Paso Doble - Catherine Rollin Link
2. Norwegian Dance Melody Op 12 No 6 - Grieg Link
3. Evgeni's Waltz - Abel Korzeniowski Link
4. Oriental Jade - Alison Mathews Link
5. Mazurka Op 39 No 11 - Tchaikovsky Link
6. A Rising Melody - Borislava Taneva Link
7. Cry Me a River - Arthur Hamilton arr. Dan Coates Link
8. A Singing River - Borislava Taneva Link

Thank you Saan. The thrills are indeed challenging, specially for me the sustained one on the left hand. I am still trying to make it more piano so it does not hide the main voice.
I think you did a great job with that prelude and fugue
I second Greta! I would also love to hear your playing Monviso

Great additions Greta. I really liked the Clementi movement. I am working on a classical piece now and they are so much fun to play

Lovely piece and nicely played

Zoe, you have been missed around here! thank you very much for your comments. They are very fun to play. Looking forward to your next submissions

Barbaram, your last two submissions were beautifully played. Great job on those. I liked A singing river the most. Also, than you for your comments on my pieces

Maira, I am glad you are enjoying your learning process. I am sure you will enjoy a lot the russian school of piano playing.

I am adding two pieces myself

1. Jewgeni Tetzel - Prelude
2. Balys Dvarionas - Prelude
3. Alexander Goedicke - Tanz
4. Jean-Baptiste Duvernoy - Etude in C major, Op. 176, No. 24
5. Alexander Gretschaninow - Kinderalbum, Op. 98, No. 1 - Kleines Maerchen
6. Dmitri Kabalewski - 24 leichte Stuecke, Op. 39, No. 10 - Marsch
7. Johann Krieger - Minuet in A minor
8. Ludwig Schytte - 25 easy Etudes, Op. 160, No. 18 in F major
9. J.S. Bach - Two-Part Inventions, No. 4 in D minor (BWV 775)
10. Isaak Berkowitsch - 50 little Etudes, No. 26 in D minor
11. Alexander Purimow - Der Ball
12. Samuil Maykapar - Spielereien, Op. 28, No. 10 - Kleines Maerchen
13. Alexander Gretschaninow - Kinderalbum, Op. 98, No. 13 - Mazurka (Erinnerung)
14. Carl Czerny - Etude in C major
15. Henry Purcell - Air in D minor, ZT 676
16. Johann Christoph Graupner - Bourrée in E minor, GWV 827
17. Elena Gnesina - Etude in D major
18. Jean-Baptiste Weckerlin - Chansons et rondes enfantines, No. 22 - Autrefois le rat de ville

Updating my list. These are mostly quick studies, as I am spending a lot of time getting ready for the piano transcriptions recital. I hope I can make it!


Playlist in Soundcloud

1) Walter Carroll - The Reef: No. 5 from "In Southern Sea" (ABRSM G4)
2) Edward Elgar - Chanson de matin, Op. 15 No. 2 (ABRSM G4)
3) William Gillock - Holiday in Paris (ABRSM G4)
4) William Gillock - Mister Trumpet Man (ABRSM G5)
5) Heather Hammond - Changing Times (ABRSM G5)
6) Walter Carroll - Shadows: No. 3 from "River and Rainbow" (ABRSM G3)
7) Cornelius Gurlitt - Allegretto Grazioso: Op. 205 No. 11 (ABRSM G3)
8) Carl Reinecke - Prelude: Serenade in C, Op. 183 No. 1, First Movement (ABRSM G3)
9) Ben Crosland - I Hear What You Say: No. 4 from "Cool Beans!" Vol. 1 (ABRSM G4)
9) Kuhlau - Sonatina, Op. 20 No. 1, First Movement


barbaram - Thank you very much! The Jazz Waltz rhythm is very tricky and it took me quite some time to get it right.

Saan - Thank you! Mister Trumpet Man is not in the book with the blue cover. He has a total of 3 books for "New Orlean Jazz Styles. Hal Leonard released a version with all 3 books combined.

Greta99 - Thank you! I enjoyed your soundcloud tracks very much as well!

ZoeCalgary - Hi Zoe! Thank you! I am currently not preparing for any exams, but I would say I am around Grade 6 level. These are the exam pieces mostly from Grade 3 to 5. I have updated the pieces with their grade level.

Finally updating my list. Got back to working through the Faber Adult All In One book and also recorded my first few pieces from the Russian School of Music book 1 that I got a couple of months ago. The short pieces in this book are quite challenging and fun to play. After fiddling around with a lot of the earlier pieces I settled on starting with #70 (as per Greta's suggestion; Greta you made a very good guess about where to start I am impressed! :)) and going from there. The book is in German so I used an online translator to get the English names of the pieces. Hopefully they are accurate.


1. Greensleeves (Faber Adult All In One, Book 2)
2. Finale (Faber Adult All In One, Book 2)
3. Canario - Joachim Von der Hofe (Faber Literature Book 1 )
4. Procession in G - Michael Praetorius (Faber Literature Book 1)
5. The Highlander (La Montagnarde) Jean-Joseph Mouret (Faber Literature Book 1)
6. Sonatina In C (First Movement) - Cornelius Gurlitt (Faber Sonatinas Book 1)
7. Sonatina In C - William Duncombe (Faber Sonatinas Book 1)
8. Tantalizing Tango - Catherine Rollin (Dancing on the Keys 1)
9. Hava Nagila - Faber Adult All In One, Book 2)
10.Broken-Chord Etude (Faber Adult All In One, Book 2)
11. 7th St. Blues (Faber Adult All In One, Book 2)
12. Land of the Silver Birch (Faber Adult All In One, Book 2)
13. C Major Etude (Russian School of Music - Bk1, #70)
14. French Song (Russian School of Music - Bk1, #75)
15. Childrens Songs (Russian School of Music - Bk1, #79)

Hi mel-lem22, thanks for doing that. I'm always curious about grade level. I am just doing quick studies too as I am also hoping to be ready for the piano transcriptions recital in time. I joined the last quarterly recital and had so much fun for that. Now that I recorded the short pieces I am back to some longer ones I am working on. Good luck to you in getting ready for the recital.

Hi Maira713. What a wonderful idea to do this for your grandma! I am sure she will play this a lot and appreciates it very much! I also hope your wish comes true!
- Zoe

+1 Maira, what a lovely gesture for your grandma and I really hope you get to play for her in person

Beautiful submissions Zoe!! Listening to your submissions from RKS brought me beautiful memories of going thought those pieces myself some months ago ... You definitely made them sound more musical than what I remember achieving back then I am sure you will enjoy that book as much as I have. I hope also that my submissions do not spoil for you the surprise of discovering a new piece from scratch once you get to that part of the book Looking forward to your next selections.