Week 1: A New Hope
Starting on May 4th...
Welcome to the Unfinished Business Challenge — and the beginning of our four-week musical adventure!
Every great journey starts with a first step (and some hope!) This week is about choosing your piece: something you’ve always wanted to learn, something you started and left behind, or something unfinished that keeps calling you back.
This Week’s Mission
Choose one piece (or excerpt) to stay with throughout the challenge.
A few ideas:
- A piece you’ve always meant to finish
- Something abandoned years ago that deserves a second life
- A new piece you’ve been waiting for the right moment to begin
- A small excerpt from a larger dream piece
Big or small, all choices are welcome. What matters is that it feels like your unfinished business.
This Week, Share:
- What piece did you choose?
- Why this piece?
- Is there a musical challenge or goal you hope to work through this month?
If you’d like, post a recording of where you’re starting from — even a rough first read. We’d love to hear it.
Over the next four weeks we’ll build momentum together!
346 replies
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I want to use this challenge to finish relearning my own composition from 1987. I have started it already and can play it somehow, but I want to bring it up on a stage-performance-level.
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As we are about to start on this journey into the galaxy on May the fourth, should we perhaps take with us this quote from master Yoda: “do or do not, there is no try” ? Looking forward to hear everyone!
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The 3rd mvmt of the Ravel Piano Concerto in G is my ongoing challenge.
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I'm working on the Liszt Eroica etude (i.e. doing LOTS of RH arpeggio reps and octaves lol), but I really ought to finish the Scriabin prelude op 11 no. 11. I learned the second page a while back and made a little headway on the first page, so it shouldn't be too hard to wrap it up this month!
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I am playing Chopin's Mazurka in G Minor Op. 67, no. 2, and probably also his Waltz in E Major KK IVa/12.
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what an amazing list so far! this is my first participation in this community and I'm excited to join. I just restarted working on Beethoven's Sonata #30 op 109 as part of a real return to piano the last few years. I stopped being satisfied with a SERIOUSLY uneven skill set, and with new attention to dynamics, pedaling, voicing I want to see how far I can go.
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I'm working on Schubert's Standchen "Serenade" arranged by Liszt. S.560 No. 7
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Having been inspired by the Live-stream today, I must say in regards to one of the points from Dominic that boredom has never been an issue for me (as a reason for leaving pieces). The main issue is always that the Unfinished Business list is long and keeps growing and can distract. The contributing factor in this is Tonebase as everyone here (yes I'm looking at you) keeps reminding me of pieces that I want to work on or need to revisit. Let's just say, Sindre, is the latest example of this as you will see shortly (thank you very much!).
I have a list of four pieces. I am going to pick one for this next month. The others will follow hopefully in the time left in 2026. It is time to remove the cobwebs away and revive the past and take care of unfinished business!
1) Beethoven: 32 Variationen in c minor
2) Schumann: Fantasie Opus 17 in C major, 1st movement
3) Rachmaninoff: Moment Musical No. 1 in b-flat minor
4) Chopin: Scherzo No. 2 in b-flat minor (yes, this one is Sindre's fault. Thanks for the reminder ;-))
It will be a struggle session today. I'll test out the waters today and see which way my mood will take me. Hopefully, I'll know soon.