Picking Up the Pieces: A Piano Practice Journal

February practices are going pretty well, particularly considering I haven't had as much time for piano this month. I've done a pretty good job of balancing things, and my percentage goals have guaranteed that I would spend more time on You Are My Sunshine and Amazing Grace -- two songs that I fiddle around with now and then, each time thinking, "One of these days I need to really work on this." This morning I focused on Amazing Grace. Here is a video where I explore some of my improv ideas. I'm having so much fun.

That's my sweet #34. February started on Saturday. So did the volleyball tournament several hours away. My daughter didn't play until Sunday, but we still had to leave by mid-day Saturday since we had an early team dinner. I managed to log a whopping 40 minutes of practice Saturday morning--22 minutes on the Bible of Blues Riffs, and 18 minutes on Pineapple Rag. We got home from the tournament at about 9:30 Sunday night. I unpacked and changed into my pajamas, and then I went downstairs to practice for a few minutes, even though I was bone-tired. I never made it to the piano. Ruthie Cat was on the couch next to the piano, meowing at me to please come and cuddle with her. So I lay down on the couch to cuddle with her ... and we both woke up an hour and a half later. By then everyone was in bed, so I just went upstairs and went to bed myself. This morning I worked on Liszt (30 minutes) and the Bible of Blues Riffs (15 minutes). Tonight the plan is to work on arranging and improvi...