I have to change even more – I’ve written a couple of posts about the way I practice. When I started playing, my strategy was to play all of my songs through, making them all better, then working on the most recent one the most, at the end of my practice session. Well now I’ve just got too many songs to make that practical, and I’ve developed side goals too, like working up a “showpiece” with accompaniment and keeping several of the Book One tunes in playable condition.

My last plan to change the way I practice has been going OK. But I am not leaving enough time to work on my newest song. An hour goes by so quickly – that’s about all the time I can manage during the week. So I think my new plan will be to play two or three random warm up songs, then start working on my new song, then go back to the others I want to work on.

That is exactly what we did in yesterday’s lesson. It was great fun – Teacher picked a couple of random Book One tunes, then I played through the Brahms Waltz, which I’m nowhere near playing straight through yet. She didn’t make anything of my lack of progress (she knows I’m self-motivated just fine as a rule!). We then went back to other songs, and Teacher played fun accompaniment arrangements around them for me.

Playing with someone else helps my playing in interesting ways I don’t really understand. As we play, I try to match her tone somehow, and I meet with some success. I don’t know exactly what happens there, but I like it!

Thanks for reading.

Ryan