Quantcast

Important Notice

Special captions are available for the humor-impaired.

Pages

Friday, September 15, 2017

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.

Thursday, September 14, 2017

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 3rd or 4th best cook in the building—and there are five floors of possible chefs above me who I’m not even entering in the competition.