484 Hours (so far) in 2024!

Today when I opened my practice journal on PWJ, I saw that I've put 484 hours of practice in since joining PWJ on January 30.

My home for 484 hours (so far) this year.

Wow. Four hundred and eighty-four hours. God willing, I should hit the 500-hour mark in another ten or twelve days.

Five hundred hours of practice! At that rate, I'll hit 10,000 hours in just 20 years!

10,000 Hours?

Honestly, I wonder if I've put 10,000 hours of practice in by this point in my life. I've never tracked my practice time until this year, so I have no way of knowing. I have had some years where I've practiced this much (and more), but then there have been years of almost no practice.

(Five minutes later ...)

So, I went into Excel just now and estimated my hours of practice every year since I started playing in 1974. My very first practice session, at age 4, was after church one Sunday evening. I worked and worked and worked at playing "Just As I Am." I have no idea how long it took that night, but once I realized I could play by ear, I was at the piano every spare minute. And that didn't change much for two years, until I started taking lessons and playing became "practice" and I begrudgingly "practiced" for 30 or so minutes a day.

Anyway, my estimate, once I added up all the years, is 10,750 hours. So it's very possible that I've put 10,000 hours of practice in over my lifetime. You'd think I'd be better at piano by now. Ha.

484 Hours = Lots of Improvement!

Seriously, though ... my 484 hours in 2024 have been worth it. I am a much better pianist than I was a year ago, and I have quite a few songs completely memorized:

Maple Leaf Rag
Solace
The Entertainer
Bare Necessities
Jingle Bells Rag
Chopin, Nocturne in F minor
Mozart, Rondo alla Turca
Amazing Grace (gospel blues style)
The Old Rugged Cross (gospel blues style)

That's nine songs! Jonny said it's good to have about 15 songs memorized at any point, so I have six more to go. :)

No recording or video today. It's rare these days that I'm home alone and have the opportunity to record. It's sad because I have so many pieces ready to share! Hopefully soon.

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Picking Up the Pieces

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