570 hours

Last year I started logging my practice time with a goal of averaging 1 hour a day for the year. I added up the time for 2009, and voila! I had reached 570 hours! This includes piano and cello time, rehearsals, and basically any playing time. I figure that even performances are 'practice' of some kind - just the kind where there are no 'do-overs'.

I'm happy with the results, and have begun logging my time for this year. I still have the same goal - averaging 1 hour a day. This year I expect to travel more than last year, which really impacts my playing time. Last year I traveled 50% less than the previous year, and didn't travel at all for the first 5 months of 2009.

I didn't set specific playing goals last year because I'm not sure how to quantify 'playing better'. I am happy that my playing has improved, and the longer I play the more amazed I am at how much there is still to learn.

Some of the things I'm working on now -
--arm weight, all the time!
--vibrato, getting more control over speed and width
--crossing strings, making the sound more even and reducing the gap in sound
--an even sound..working towards being able to really control dynamics
--getting rid of all of the pain in my right thumb

and a random one, just because
--reading through all of Beethoven's piano sonatas

Why? I've played many of them but not all 32...so I started from sonata number 1 a few weeks ago and have been working my way through. I played sonata number 8 yesterday. I hope to make it through by the end of the year...am now starting to hear him enter into his middle period and losing the heavy Hadyn influence of the early works. I'm also hearing how much playing chamber music has helped me steady out my rhythm. I'm finding that playing the slower movements is much easier because of all of the practice counting.

So here's to 2010! Happy New Year to all!