Tracking Practice Time

I know I mentioned previously that I'm now tracking my practice time. I've only been tracking it for about a month, but ... wow! I can't believe I've never done this before.

Not Just a Piano Nerd

Friends, I am not just a piano nerd. I'm also an Excel spreadsheet nerd, I've decided to track much more than just how much time I'm devoting to each piece/skill.

Leaderboards

I now have a daily leaderboard so I can make sure I'm not spending too much time each day on the same piece. It's not that I have to spend and equal amount of time on everything, but I do tend to go through phases of focusing on one particular piece while forgetting the others exist, and this will help prevent that.

I'm going to have a weekly leaderboard, too. Just because. And heck, maybe I'll end up with monthly and yearly leaderboards. Because leaderboards are fun!

Also, because I am a nerd, I am marking the "leaders" in yellow highlight.

Other Stuff I'm Tracking

I'm also tracking how much time per month I'm spending on each piece/skill. Total minutes/total hours, how many days per month I've practice them, and how much time per day I'm averaging.

Also, because I am a nerd, I am indicating what's in first place (blue), second place (red), third place (white), and fourth place (gold) as the month progresses.

It's Overkill ... But It Helps!

I know this is overkill. I'm really not this analytical. I just love spreadsheets. But it does help. For instance, as I entered my time this morning, I realized I haven't touched Maple Leaf Rag since Wednesday, and I haven't had a focused practice on it since Monday.

How did I manage to go almost five days without a good focus on Maple Leaf? Even with a spreadsheet?!?

Anyway, I tend to update the spreadsheet twice a day, along with my piano journal, because I'm usually able to grab a a half-hour or so of practice time in the morning before I go to work.

This blog post features my April practice log so far. Of course, I'll post all of the totals at the end of the month!

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Rethinking Bare Necessities

Today's breakthrough moment (there are actually two of them) focuses on "Bare Necessities." As you'll remember, I discovered Jonny May's arrangement back in early March and immediately decided to learn it. I printed out the music, started the course, and proceeded to learn the stride section, posting a few videos of my progress. Ha. I bet those videos make it look like I was making progress. I guess I was ... but not really. And I realized something this weekend that I hadn't before: Because I was thinking of "Bare Necessities" as a "fun" piece, I wasn't practicing it seriously or diligently. I wasn't treating it as something I wanted to master. This mindset might work with an easier piece, but this arrangement isn't easy. The result: despite a little progress at the outset, I wasn't moving forward. I was stalled. Breakthrough #1 The first breakthrough was realizing that if I truly want to learn this piece and play it well,

March Goals Recap/Looking Ahead to April

It's April 1, and time to revisit the goals I set for last month. I practiced a total of 50.45 hours in March, averaging 1.62 hours (or just over an hour and a half) per day. Realistically, I practice about 45 minutes to an hour a day on weekdays, and I usually get at least one longer practice (or multiple shorter practices) in on one or both days of the weekend to bring the average up. CLASSICAL GOALS Chopin, F Minor Nocturne March Goal: Have entire piece by memory and performance-ready. I have about 90% of the piece by memory, but I still have some work to do before it's performance-ready. The only two sections that I don't quite have are "The Agitation" and the "stretto" section with the seventh chords. I'll work on both this week and will have them both memorized before the weekend. April Goal: Finish memorizing, and polish, polish, polish! My focus now is really on phrasing and dynamics. I have the notes down, even in the difficult passages. Fro

Maple Leaf Rag Breakthrough

Oh, Maple Leaf. Where to begin? At the Beginning I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I learned the A and B sections of Maple Leaf Rag back in the 1990s. I can’t tell you if it was early, mid- or late 90s, but it was during those 10 years after I’d graduated college, when I was playing a good bit of piano but not taking regular lessons from anyone. I don’t remember teaching it to myself at all. I just know that, at some point, the first half of Maple Leaf Rag was part of my two- or three-song repertoire of pieces I’d be able to play by memory over the next 25 years. It was always sloppy and I knew it, but people loved it, and so I played it if there was ever a piano around. Back in January, I decided to properly re-learn those two sections, and to finally learn the C and D sections of this wonderful piece. I worked on these over the next month or two, learning (and-relearning) the notes pretty quickly ... but it took time to memorize, and also to get everything to tempo surpassing a

Picking Up the Pieces

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