Every January, I sense the familiar siren song of reinvent yourself! New year, new me: new systems, new promises, and a new list of challenging piano pieces I want to master. Now that I'm well into middle age, I'm finally learning that the grand declarations and the twelve-month master plans don't lead to my best work. I think I need to focus on smaller, well-chosen containers.
So instead of plotting all of 2026, I’ve decided to focus only on the first six months.The Guiding Question
My guiding question over the past few months, and for this year, is simple: What kind of musician am I becoming?The answer is not “a virtuoso” or “a concert pianist.” It's not even "a performer." No, I am first a songwriter, an arranger, and maybe even a composer--someone whose greatest joy is creating, shaping, and finally sharing music. I want to play engaging, expressive, rhythmic piano music for myself and others. I'd like to be someone who can sit down at a piano in an assisted living facility, a restaurant, or a casual gathering and make the room feel warmer, happier, and more energetic.
To support that goal, my piano work from January through June will fall into three deliberately limited categories: Core, Creative, and Maintenance. Technique is there too, but it will be a daily given (like brushing teeth). While I'll keep track of it, I'm not going to count it toward my percentage goals.
Core
Core practice will make up the bulk of my time and attention ( about 70%). This is structured learning through the Piano With Jonny curriculum, which uses a three-pronged approach of Foundations, Skills, and Styles. I'll be treating this work as a single, integrated track rather than three competing priorities.Over the next six months, that means continuing to build fluency with lead sheets and seventh chords, working deeply through stride and ragtime styles, and adding a skills component focused on harmonic and lead-sheet analysis. Much of this analysis will happen at the piano, some of it away from the instrument, but all of it feeds the same goal: understanding what I’m playing well enough that it becomes ingrained--and therefore flexible.
Within Core, I'll rotate focus rather than touching everything every day. Some days will lean heavily toward style work, others toward foundations or analysis. Over the course of a week, everything gets attention without any single day feeling overloaded. This rotation has already proven more sustainable than my old habit of trying to “do it all” daily and then burning out or dropping things.
Creative
Creative work is intentionally capped at about 20% of practice time. I have two projects here, and only two. One is finishing my You Are My Sunshine arrangement, which I expect to complete early this year. The other is a longer-simmering stride arrangement of "Hey Look Me Over" (a.k.a. the LSU Fight Song).For this second project, I've set no deadline and no pressure. It exists as a lab where ideas from my Core work can gradually migrate into something personal.
By limiting Creative work, I’m protecting it. I don't want it to feel like an obligation, where I feel guilty if I skip it for a few days.
Maintenance
I have a mountain of maintenance pieces, but I'm keeping this category deliberately small (about 10%) small by design. Nearly all maintenance work will be played casually rather than polished obsessively. I'll rotate pieces and, instead of re-climbing the mountain every Saturday, I'll pair just one maintenance piece with technique as part of my warm up.That will gives me two maintenance pieces most days, and I can do more on the weekends if I feel inclined.
Maintenance supports my plan to volunteer at assisted living facilities on a monthly or bimonthly basis this year. These performances won't be something I “prepare for” so much as something I learn through.
Technique
Finally, technique: scales, arpeggios, hand yoga, casual blues improvisation in different keys, weekly-or-so improvisations of simple tunes in ragtime. Not everything every day, though! I'll spend 9 to 12 minutes daily on technique. I won't obsessively track it, but it will be non-negotiable, as always. It’s simply part of showing up.Seeking Depth and Development
Altogether, this plan favors depth over breadth. I'll also be focusing more on the hard work of understanding music rather than the *different* hard work of learning difficult pieces. (In fact, I have no formal "Pieces To Learn" list this year!)I think this approach leaves room for lopsided weeks where I focus intensely on one area and neglect another, and it creates space to apply new skills to creative projects.
Most importantly, I'll be focusing on developing music rather than performing established pieces. That, more than any specific repertoire or tempo goal, feels like the right direction for 2026.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO MY THREE READERS!
I'll close by wishing a Happy New Year to my three faithful readers--Mom, Husband, and Daughter. I so appreciate your patient attention to my ramblings, and you each deserve a wonderful and prosperous 2026. Here's a ragtime "Auld Lang Syne" (an exercise in rag rolls) to kick off the new year!
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