Piano Goals for March 2024

Here are my piano goals for March 2024. I'll divide them into categories for easier reading. For those items that are nearing completion, I'll also include a "what's next" to show that I'm already thinking ahead to the next goal. Both my classical and ragtime goals are pretty ambitious, so I may end up selecting one or more easier pieces as alternatives.

Classical

I know Chopin is Romantic, not Classical, but anyway ... my goal for March is to have the entire F Minor Nocturne by memory and performance-ready by the end of the month. My "performance" will probably just be a video that I post here.

What's Next: Hopefully Mozart, Rondo alla Turca

Ragtime

As with the nocturne, my goal is to have "Maple Leaf Rag" by memory and performance-ready by the end of the month.

What's Next: Either "The Entertainer" or "Solace" ... or something else.

Seventh Chords

Dominant Sevenths! Just as February was a deep-dive into the major sevenths, March will be devoted to dominant sevenths.

What's Next: Minor sevenths

Scales

I've started playing scales again, alternating between major and minor each day. By the end of the month, I'd like to be able to play both scales in all keys, similar and contrary motion, at 80 on the metronome. I can already do this with most of the major scales, so I may go past 80 on those.

What's Next: Faster major and minor scales! Also, modes.

Styles and Improvisation

I really didn't spend a lot of time on styles and improvisation in February. I'd planned to, but then I took on the advanced "Misty" challenge, and that took up a big chunk of my piano time last month. Since I am going to be living with dominant sevenths all month, I would like to delve into playing/improvising blues style. But we'll see.

What's Next: I don't know. Both the jazz and blues styles seem so far beyond where I am now, even though I've made a lot of progress.

Practice Time

I practiced a total of about 38 hours in February. My goal for March? Forty hours. That's just over an hour a day, which I think will be very doable, as long as I keep up with my pre-work practices and am able to put in a few extra hours most weekends.

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Rethinking Bare Necessities

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Picking Up the Pieces

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