Three new recordings reflecting my growth – I hope – since beginning to learn piano about eight months ago. I try to do at least 15 minutes a day. Missed a few more days recently when I drove with my son to Pittsburgh (where he auditioned on trombone at CMU).

The Trolley Song

I Want to Be Happy

I Get a Kick Out of You

A few things I’ve recently noticed

  1. Piano has become a habit. I now naturally remember to and generally enjoy sitting down to the piano. I read recently that researchers determined that it typically takes about doing a task roughly 66 days for it to become a habit. I’m way past that, and daily piano long ago became a natural habit, not something I need to be reminded to do.
  2. I’m now enjoying my piano time a bit more than when I began. It feels like less of a chore and more an enjoyable break from the rest of my day.
  3. I suspect I’m practicing a bit more than I did months ago. I don’t measure my piano time but suspect I’m occasionally spending an hour at the piano. And I definitely now occasionally sit down to practice a second or even a third time in the same day.
  4. Certain chords have become automatic. My muscle memory for chords I’ve played many times has become very strong, and my conscious brain isn’t needed to play them.
  5. I’ve developed an (imperfect) system for learning a new song. I try to figure out my fingering early and write down numbers on the score telling me which finger to use whenever there’s ambiguity. I previously waited longer to work out the fingerings but eventually realized how important it is to practice identically each time, which I can only do once I figure our which fingering to use.

With appreciation to Dolo Iglesias for their photo on Unsplash