New Practice Method

Since I bought my piano I have wanted to know exactly how much time I spend practicing every day. I tried timing myself every time I sat down but I kept forgetting to turn the timer on or off so this method didn’t last even a single day. I thought that I had been practicing a lot—and I was—but I never knew exactly how much. At times I would sit down and play for only a few minutes which as a block of time is probably not much use to me at all.

I came across this piece in the New York Times and immediately saw how this could apply to my piano practice. Now I set my kitchen timer for 30 minutes and turn it on when I sit down. This breaks my sessions into half hour blocks. A half hour, as I’m finding, is a really good amount of time to practice at one sitting. Anything less and I tend to avoid the tougher parts of a song but with 30 minutes to kill I’m forced to face these demons. Anything longer than 30 minutes tends to get tedious.

I only wish that I had stumbled on this trick a lot sooner. Better late than never but I still feel like an idiot for not figuring this out much earlier.

I Don't Even Own an Apron

Whenever anyone accuses me of being a good cook I have to point out that as I walk down the stairs and smell what people below me are cooking I’d rate myself as the 3^rd or 4^th best cook in the building—and there are five floors of possible chefs above me who I’m not even entering in the competition.