The moment we've all been waiting for - it's sign up time for MOYD (Master of Your Domain) 2012. Join in - play every day - and see what a great difference it will make to your piano skills!

MOYD is a personal challenge where you commit to playing the piano for some amount of time every single day. If you miss a day you must come here and say so.

2012 will be the 8th year of MOYD on ABF.


MOYD RULES

1. Participating in MOYD requires you to sit on the piano bench and play something at least once daily. That's it. There is no minimum amount of time required. Five minutes would count... but more is better. Simply get to the piano every day, let it become a habit, and see what good things happen to your piano skills.

2. If you are away from home, you don't have to practice/play. You go to the 'Excused list".

3. If you are sick, you don't have to practice/play. You go to the 'Excused list".

4. If you are home, and not sick and miss a day, you come here and tell us the sad story on what kept you from playing. Once you have come clean and 'fessed up, you then go to the "Back on the Wagon list".

5. You may start late - however no new participants are accepted after September 30th.

6. Those who have reported being away, being sick, falling off and getting back on, or who sign up date STILL QUALIFY to put the MOYD 2012 badge in their signatures on 31 December 2012.


HOW TO JOIN

Simply reply to this thread declaring your enthusiastic willingness to join in and be committed to the plan!

I will check in regularly and update this first page with the information you provide. I will not reply to all the posts.

Signature pictures will be offered to those who are 2012 MOYD winners. Here are the 2011 Sigs.
TO ADD THEM TO YOUR SIGNATURE: Place your cursor on the desired icon, right click, go to properties, copy the Url, go to your profile page signature box, place cursor, click on "enter an image" paste.









Thanks MaryBee for making our badges!!


January 1, 2012

FIRST CATEGORY

Pure MOYD list, those who practice everyday no excuses:
Melody101
Lain
GWood
neildradford
ChopinAddict
zillybug
Joyoussong
Monica K.
Little Blue Engine
Strings & Wood
Venice1
mcasl
nikky
EJR
pg2
raptor
Your Uncle
Woody-Woodruff
big guy
Jazzwee
Latebloomer028
RaEd
Banon07
HeirborneGroupie
MaggieZ
Mandosand
Fernando Almeida
First Eliminator
hegedusmj
BlackNWhiteKeys
SingSong
Molehill
J&J


SECOND CATEGORY
EXCUSED MOYD List, sickness, travel,away from home etc.
PianoStudent88 1 Jan, 26-29 March
WiseBuff 5-6 Jan, 18-23March
beechcraft409 2-4, 20-21 Jan
CMhor 7 Jan 30-31March.1 April
Casinitaly - 5 Jan-9 Jan
SwissMS Jan 15-30, April 18-21, 27
Mark233 5 Jan
Michael Steen 21-22 Jan
AndyPlatt Jan 28-29. April 1 -8
Jaojr Feb 11, 12
Derrek 20-26 Feb
MaryAnn Feb 7,March 5-8,10, 13-14, 20-21 April 27 - May 4.
Thumper49 19 March
Doug F March/29 to April 8.
Stubbie March 22-27
Yuki_Kiki Mar 26-Apr11
ClsscLib various Jan-March
MaryBee April 6-8
FarmGirl Week of April 23 a few days in May
JimF May 5& 6
Lyn in AZ May 10- 26th
BeccaBb May 8, 21, 22
Eglantine May 12
IreneAdler 4-11 May

THIRD CATEGORY - BACK ON THE MOYD WAGON, for those who missed a day for a reason other than being sick or away from home .... but who are back on THE MOYD WAGON with new start date.
polyphasicpianist 21 March
Cyborg March 24
cscl April 8
Tinman1943 16 April
Legal Beagle 1 May
LizAnne 17-19 May

LATE START MOYD: For someone new who wants to join after Jan 1 2012. Note that the cut off date is 30 September!
Dulcetta 6 Jan
tararex 6 Jan
Frank Gera 11 January
MonkeyMark 14 January
WannabePT 18 January
Olj 22 January
Sketches 23 Jan
orangemint 4 Feb
mikel il52 6 Feb
Rusty Foursome 20 March
Gomer 29 March
ragtimefordrones 4 April
SolidG 10 April
Happykah 28 May
*********************************************
So reply to this thread and I'll add you to the 2012 list...

MOYD 2011 THREAD
MOYD 2010 THREAD
MOYD 2009 THREAD
MOYD 2008 THREAD
MOYD 2007 THREAD
MOYD 2006 THREAD

(There doesn't seem to be a 2005 thread!)

Are you in? - What are you waiting for - Sign up!

Please sign me up!

Please sign me up. I've set some goals for this next year and I'm sure this will help.
Thanks
Lyn

Sign me up! Thanks for starting this thread!

I'm in! Sign me up for 2012.

I'm ambivalent. I'm already practicing every day. I'm afraid if I join it will make practice feel like a burden. And I'm not motivated by the badge. And I'm going to be out of town on Jan. 1, with no piano, which is an annoying way to have to start. On the other hand the camaraderie of joining the thread might be fun.

Anyone want to talk me off the fence one way or the other?

Please sign me in Cheryl.

I'm in, thanks.

Well, I would hate to think you feel it a burden. (-1)
However, you already do play everyday. (+1)
Having a start dates of 2 Jan is not a big deal. (+1)
Sharing in the camaraderie is just good fun.(+1)
The badge isn't "important" - but it is a symbol of being part of the group, which comes back to the camaradiere.(+1)

I'd say joining in wins 4 to 1. But it's up to you!

i will do it this year.
gw

Count me in please, this will be my first year learning piano, so any motivation is a benefit.

Neil.

I am in again!

Please sign me up. I just returned to piano and lessons last winter after 45 years. I already practice every day.
Thanks, zillybug.

I enthusiastically sign up for 2012! Maybe this will be the year I will get on the "pure" list. Thanks, Cas!

Sign me up too!

It worked really well for me to publicly declare a commitment to running, so I'll try it for piano, too. Please sign me up.

OK, casinitaly, you've convinced me. You may as well put me on the Excused list to start out, because unless I somehow wangle some playing time at my sister's church on New Year's Day, I won't be at a piano until January 2.

Please sign me up.

Sign me up. One of these days I'll make it to the "pure" list, but so far I've managed to make it to "excused" every year.

Count me in.

I'm in. Although I already know I have to be on the excused list from Feb. 23 to Feb. 27 due to travel plans that don't include a piano. And probably again in the fall. I don't think I'll ever make the "pure" list!

Pat

PianoStudent88 - glad you decided to join us!

Thumper - I've put you on the 1st list for now - pls confirm your dates after you've been on the trip!

I declare my enthusiastic willingness to join in and be committed to the plan!

Please add me to the list.

Doug, you sound so enthusiastic and willing! I'm inspired

CMohr - my pleasure ... and I hope you make it to the "pure" list this year.... .(I doubt I will, but even so, as long as I am legitimately excused I'm going to feel great about my dedication!)

Please sign me up, Cheryl. And thank you for doing this!

My pleasure MaryBee...I've been watching for your name to pop up here! I see you've already added your siggy badge...I'm tempted to do so as well..... but I think I'll wait

The "pure" list is unattainable for me, but I have made the excused list two years running... let's go for three!

Please sign me up. Grazie.

Fatto. Prego!

Yay! It's up! Sign me up!

hi there - please sign me up also.
I've only been learning for a few months, but signing up for this will help me with my aim of practicing every day

Me too please!

please me up again It does help thanks, pg2

Sign me up too please.

I'd like to join in!

I'm working out of town the 8-10 of January...but I will be bringing my book along just in case I find something to practice on!

Bob S.

Hi Bob,
Perhaps a perfect opportunity to visit the local music stores depending on where you happen to be to test out the keyboards with music in hand.

Exactly my thought!

I remember someone (maybe my mom) saying to me: instead of coming up with excuses why you can't do something why don't you come up with solutions for how you can do it. Whenever I come up with excuses I think of that idea...I don't always follow it but I try!

Bob S.

Cas,

Sign me up for another year also please.

Thanks,
Woody

Is anyone else unable to add the 2011 Sig picture? I'm on Mac (Snow Leopard) so that may have something to do with it. When I right click, I don't get a properties option. The choices I get are 'View image,' 'Copy image,' 'Copy image location,' 'Save image as...,' 'Send image...,' 'Set as Desktop background,' 'View image info,' & 'Block images from pianoword.com.' I've tried all of them (except, obviously, the 'Block' option) & all I get showing up in my signature is code. Strange, because I loaded the Alfred 1 with no problem (although, that may have been pre-Snow Leopard). Someone, please, help!!

I normally just lurk and absorb information, but this is something I can participate in! Sign me up please.

Help has arrived.

Just use "copy image location" - that is exactly what you need. Then go to your siggy and add the image, paste in the location you copied. It should work.
PM me if it doesn't!

I'm in, sign me up... only two days of slacking left.

And thanks, CAS, for serving as "headmistress" of our domain.

Headmistress - hmm, picture me looking very matronly and stern. On second thought... don't.

Did I sign up yet? I can't remember! !

Anyway, yes but I now realize, after the last year I can't really be master because my wife sometimes has other ideas

But, yes on days where I can!!

I want to join again! My skills are improving. I am having trouble putting the signature for 2011's contest on my signature. The only thing that shows up is the URL, not the actual picture. How do I make the picture show up?

As always, I'm in.

Thanks Cas and MaryBee! I just added my new "badge" to my sig.

Very nice badge indeed!

I'm in; I was doing fine this past year until about May.
I fell off the wagon. I more dedicated now.

you have to click "insert image" and then paste the url into that ... or just type [ img ] before the url and [ /img] after. (without the spaces on each side of "img"

Please add me to the list. I did the work everyday in 2011 but failed to sign up correctly.
Thanks

Got it! (I think...) thanks, Cheryl. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Yes, you did! Yipee!!!!!

Happy New Year to you too!

Hi. Please add me to the list. 2011 got away from me practice wise but I am recommitting myself in 2012.

Thanks,
Carol

Thanks Cas for adding me to the list. I'm looking forward to year #5.

Woody

Great idea. Sign me in!

Good for you! This will be #3 for me!

Here's my enthusiastic response and commitment for 2012. Will be in hospital for 3 days Jan 5-8 so already need to ask for excuse. :-)

Best wishes for your time in the hospital WiseBuff - we'll be waiting for you when you get back!

Ok...I'm confused. I think I have the first part of the instructions and can get the URL but can't figure out how to do the "enter an image" to get the 2011 icon on my signature line. I tried the "copy image location" too and all I got was the URL showing on the sig line. What am I doing wrong?

Just put this in your siggy :
[ img ] http://www.pianoworld.com/forumpicts/MOYD_2011/MOYD_1.gif[ /img ]

then remove the spaces on each side of "img" and "/img"


(I posted up above about inserting image, but in your siggy you don't have the prompt.....)

please sign me up for MYOD 2012 as I need to work on it daily and hope this will keep me at it.

I want in!

Hey,

I would like to be part of MOYD 2012. Is the cut off date September 30th of the prior year like 9/30/2011 or the year of the MOYD 9/30/2012?

If I don't qualify for 2012, then sign me up for 2013.


thanks,
Mark

Hi Mark,
the cut off date always refers to the MOYD thread in progress.... so for example, if someone wants to join in at the end of Sept in 2012, they can.

It all runs on the honour system, and I though I didn't set up MOYD or make the rules, I like the idea of being really encouraging to those who arrive ....albeit late!

You're on the list!

I'd like to be in for 2012. Hopefully, this year, I can remove all the asterisks from my 2011 MOYD participation!

I want to do it. Here is my first problem. I am in Denver, I live in Waco. Day 1, I'm already on the excused list. I will be able to play the night of January 4, and hopefully every day after.

Please sign me up. I think I'll be an Adult Beginner for life.

Mike

Hello everyone,

I will receive my DP on January 11th, and I would very much like to be registered as a player from then! The MOYD scheme is a terrific idea!

If, like me, you can't fit everything into the 300 character limit, you can drop the initial part of the URL since HTML rules about relative paths will do the correct thing. This is what I have:

Please add me in this year.

I'm In!

Please count me in! I spent several hours on the piano yesterday and today also. No slacking yet, this year! WOOHOO!

We are a couple of days in now! I had to squeeze in the first few practices but today went really well. How's everyone else doing so far?

I think this is really going to be helpful. I'm setting the time aside for fundamentals - so it's been scales and chord progressions so far this week. Hopefully it will help me to focus and to utilize the time spent to a better advantage than what I have been doing.
Lyn

so far so good. getting several hours per day of play and practice. gotta go - the piano is calling.

gw

Pretty good so far.. I have a little notebook that I record my practice in.. its nothing fancy like I've seen some others using. Mine is more to keep track of the amount of time spent practicing. Things will change when I go back to work next week

Please add me in again for 2012. Actually, I've been practicing all along, but am just now getting around to logging on the 2012 forum.
2011 was my first year of MOYD, and it has really made a difference. There's many a night I would be heading for bed, remember I hadn't practiced, then go at least play through something before turning in. But for MOYD, I wouldn't have bothered!

Last year I also started with a teacher in group lessons. Sometimes we spend more time talking than playing, but I think the group experience keeps us all motivated. Some of the group members also have children studying with the same teacher, but I'm just by myself, so I need all the encouragement I can get.

Average of 2.5 hours per day (that was easy, were' only 4 days into 2012).

Wish me luck...I got in 1/2 hour of playing time this morning and now am off to the cardiac cath lab. I'm hoping I'm one of those who gets sent home in the morning.
Make beautiful music everyone.

I'll be thinking of you and hope to see you back tomorrow! I am one of those who didn't get to go home....

Best wishes!

Sign me up for MOYD 2012. I've been practicing everyday so far in 2012!

Just back from Christmas hols. Please add me to the list.

Please add me to the list. Thanks!

I'm in for a third year, please add me directly to the Excused list due to work travel (missed Jan 5 so far).

Thanks!

I love this thread! It has really made me accountable for practicing. Thank you for keeping it going. Yesterday I did not want to practiceas I was very tired. My plan was to sit down for 5 - 10 minutes (Just so I did not have to report I missed a day). Two and a half hours later I am still practicing. Not only that but it was one of my most beneficial days. Thank you again!

The cardiac ablation went very well and may really work to eliminate the afib. I came home last night and was too exhausted to do anything but today I'll make some music. So only missed a day so far this year. Shall I start with the Chopin or the Gurlitt? Maybe the Webber...

It's great to see all the new people signing up over the last few days! But just an FYI:
Casinitaly is on the excused list from January 4-9, so she probably won't be updating the list until she gets back.

Wisebuff, I don't understand the medical terminology, but it sounds like good news! Wonderful! Enjoy that piano.

Thanks Mary Bee.

Hi! Please add me to the 2012 MOYD!

Like Tinman1943, I've have been practicing but didn't find the extra time to add the new icon to my sig. Thanks MaryBee for the great art.

Being accountable to this group has also made a big difference in my playing, so thanks to all, but especially Cas. Really appreciate you taking on the job again.

I'm back. I actually managed to get in a bit of playing before we left on the 4th so only missed five days.

The list is caught up. Please let me know if I've got it right. I wasn't certain if some of the recent sign-ups have been playing since Jan 1 or are late starts.

Molehill... it is my pleasure to help out!

Welcome back Cas! How was your trip?

I need to go on the excused list starting on Saturday. I am going to the US to visit family and set up everything to import my horse and dog to Switzerland. My dog has been staying with my Mom until we found a suitable place, and my horse has been with a friend. I can't wait to see them! I will be back on Jan 30.

Thank you Becca. The trip went well, or at least as well as can be expected. We had to make an unplanned trip to Canada as my mother-in-law passed away.

Oh I'm sorry to hear that. My condolences. Glad you made the best of it though. Where did you travel to here in Canuckville?

Thank you Becca.

We were in Ottawa. Fortunately the weather wasn't too brutal, and our flights all went smootly.It wasn't a "fun" or "easy" trip by any means, but it was the right moment to be with the rest of the family.

Ottawa is very beautiful. This winter is extremely mild for us so very luck there. Glad you were with family. Bet you can't wait to get back to practicing!

Cas, So sorry to hear about your mother-in-law.

I missed Saturday, Jan. 7th. (So much for going for the pure list). We had a funeral to attend out of town. My brother-in-law's mother passed. It was a short trip, but an all day affair.

i'm still pure as of jan 11. i also start lessons tomorrow evening so hope to stay regular. just hope i don't stress out too much. in the past i did some lessons and always kind of freak out with the commitment of regular lessons. need to change my mental attitude this time. i had a few lessons with this teacher several years ago and i believe she is a very very good teacher and easy to work with.

gw

Thank you - and my condolences to you and your family. It seems the last two weeks have been sad ones for many.

Cas
I'm sorry to hear about your loss. Hope that you enjoyed the time and memories with family. Blessings to you.

Thanks very much Wisebuff, although it wasn't a "happy" time, we did have a lot of laughs remembering the best of times with my mother-in-law. I was also fortunate enough to get to spend time with my own parents, which was very comforting.

Hi Casinitaly- not that it matters, but I have been playing since the 1st, and the past two years on MOYD. Could I be put on the Excused list for the work trip that I missed? Otherwise, feel free to leave me on the late addition. I just hadn't logged on to PianoWorld in a while and missed the "end of year" even though I've kept the playing up.

Thanks for keeping this tradition alive! I know it's a lot of work to moderate. It really helps to motivate for practice on some days!

Hi Mark, I'll fix it. Sometimes it isn't clear to me when people say "sign me up" if they mean "as of today" or "I've been playing since the first".
I have no problem with people nudging me if I make a mistake or misinterpret!
I'll move you to excused!

Woo hoo! Many thanks!

How's everyone doing?
So far no problems for me making time to practice, I've averaged 4 hours a day, thanks to my shift work pattern. I get plenty of time home alone with no distractions. Just started lessons, new book to work from so I'm fully motivated and have a road map.

Hope you're all doing good,

Neil.

so far so good, for me. I've only clocked about an hour a day. I need to stop getting sick and i need to stop watching TV.

I'm having less issues practicing now than I did at the beginning! I'm getting at least an hour a day at the keyboard (sometimes much more.) Knowing that I have to answer for my time here, keeps me pushing for time at the keys!

If it's a good quality hour, that can be fine. I usually play until I've made adequate progress on everything I'm working on, which usually works out to at least an hour and a half or two hours. But the other day I sat down, went through everything, worked on the problem spots, and felt like I'd done well, and, lo and behold, it only took an hour.

I've been told that even 15 minutes a day is good, better than skipping several days and then having one marathon session.

So here'a big HOORAY for all MOYDers.

I'm out of town for a funeral. Please put me on the excused list.

Ah, that's a sad reason to go on the list. My condolences to you.

casinitaly, CMohr, and tinman - my condolences as well. May the good memories sustain you over the coming year.

Cathy

My condolences as well. I had a family funeral this past weekend also, although it was local.

@ Neil: Four hours? Insanely jealous. Want to trade jobs?

MOYD going along swimmingly here. Why didn't I do this last year?

Sign me in please

Thanks Cathy and Legal - and Legal, my condolences to you too - what a year this is! Barely 2 weeks old and I've already heard of so many deaths.

I'm panicking about a couple of upcoming business trips. Not just because of MOYD, but because I don't want to miss 2 weeks of practice in March. I found a piano shop near my hotel in Chicago--it's a short jog away. I could try to arrange to practice there at least a couple of times the week I'm in Chicago. I thought of asking the hotel about a piano, too, but if they have one it's probably in a public space. Maybe I should just bring a theory book to read, or buy an iPad and get that sight reading app everyone is on about.

Two weeks is a lot to miss when you are in love with your piano time! The shop idea is a great one - you may even find that the owner is a PW member
Ask at the hotel too - sometimes they have pianos in suites or in "penthouse" lounges, not necessarily in very public places.

and of course the alternatives of reading up on theory or using your iPad for sight reading are also good ideas. (just not quite as much fun! )

Good luck!

MaryAnn, check into churches and schools in the area of your hotel. I have had extremely good luck this way when travelling, as both types of institutions have pianos that are typically sitting idle and abandoned in the evening. Best to call ahead and get permission, but I've also had luck just showing up and speaking with the janitor. Actually, I've never been turned away.

We're heading up to the mountains for a week. But, I am taking my keyboard so will not miss a day! We are getting together with a bunch of our musical friends, and there will be djembes, bongos, guitars, harmonicas - (maybe a banjo or mandolin). It should be fun and a lot of laughs. Hmmm, maybe I should record us? That would be good for the blooper reel!

A bit OT here, but I would be interested in, aside from a badge at the end of the year, a thread as to what we have accomplished and the kind of progress we made from playing daily...or is there already one that I just missed? I think it will be very encouraging for me.

Is there something like that from the previous MOYD people?

So the good thing about all the snow days here in the northwest is that I'm forced to stay indoors and practice.

There is such a thread..... Your musical goals for 2012.... it is in this forum. There was one last year too and Johan B was the thread starter...he followed up with us in Dec to get us to see if we'd met our goals! Lovely thread!

Sign me up, but with the stipulation that "some," in the "some amount of time every single day," is equivalent to 4 hours.

-Polyphasicpianist

Welcome Polyphasicpianist! My "some" is equal to two songs a day, but I usually play for 1 to 4 hours. Not bad for a beginner I think.

Actually it'd be interesting to hear what everyone elses "some time" is to them....

ok, my bare minimum requirement is 1 hour but i always really shoot more for 2 hours; on weekends / holidays, i try to get at least 3 hours each day. on most week days, i manage around 1 1/2 - 2 hours depending on the number of evening work teleconferences i have to attend. i did have a 20 minute practice day this week due to illness. spend about 1/3 time playing through or polishing existing pieces, 1/3 working the details of pieces in progress, and the remainder randomly sightreading some easier pieces (try to alternate material so i don't play the same thing within a short period of time).

gw

PPP: Four hours minimum a day? I've done 3 to 6 hours some days, but I admit, I don't think I could do it every day, much as I would like to. I already feel guilty because everyone thinks I don't have a life and never get to go out (they don't know that piano is my life )

I don't know what my shortest practice day is. Maybe today is one of them. I only practiced about 1.5 to 2 hours, because I was made to do chores that lasted the whole day, when all I wanted to do was get started and put in my daily hour quota with the piano. :~( I feel so abused.

Do you guys ever get so sick of the sight of the piano that you have to get away from it for a day or two? I've been that way in the past...maybe for 1 to 1.5 weeks. Those days, I just read a book and play computer games I worry I might not make it with MOYD because of this little trait of mine, but we'll see at the end of the year!

Hi, Please count me in ! didn't see this thread before but this is really a great idea

Olivier

I suppose there are some days where I've played for 4 hours - but certainly with a lot of breaks. I don't have the stamina to play for much more than 90 minutes at a time - and most of the time I'd say I play for about half a hour before getting up to take a break.

Daily - I try for an hour, on the weekends it is more, it varies.

I would be surprised if many of us here could get in 4 hours - or even if we had the time, that we would be physically be able to so.

OK, I was doing very very well last year from January until about June. Then everything fell apart.
We found a vacation home we wanted to buy, went to an out-of-town wedding for a week, focused on the vacation home, bought it and spent every spare minute working on it to fix it up, and . . . goodbye, piano.
But now I'm coming back. It's almost like starting over again because I've missed about 4 months, but it will be nice to try.
You'll have to put me on the excused list right away, though. The vacation home has no piano, and it's not likely to for the forseeable future.
I'll fess up when I'm there, though.
Other days, even if it's just for a short while, I'll be at the keyboard.

I missed Friday and Saturday I went to visit some friends in Austin

Speaking of practicing a certain number of hours a day, I picked up Just Practice, an iPhone app that was mentioned in one of the threads about logging your hours. It's really helpful! It makes logging time easier and more accurate.

I think I will try to join poly on his 4 hour a day endeavors as an ideal. I don't think I can do it everyday, but I will do my best. we gotta dream big and work hard!

Late starter here but from here on out, every day is a must for me. Hopefully I can make everyday from here to the end of the year.

I'm back in the saddle (that is, on the piano bench) after being out of town for a funeral and then sick a couple days.
But I must confess my "some" is nowhere near 4 hours every day (even though I'm retired and have "plenty" of time!) Some days it might be more like 4 minutes! When I get to the end of a day when I "forgot" to practice, I might just do one time through the pieces I'm working on. I really need to start keeping a log of practice time.

A teacher once said, it's better to commit to practice just 5 minutes EVERY day
than to an hour or more "when you can".
Because you can always squeeze in five minutes.
And quite often that 5 minutes will turn into an hour or more.
But on the other hand, the time will come when you won't have time for your "hours", and so you'll skip practice altogether that time. Then it will happen again, and again, and eventually you won't be practicing at all. And I know from experience in other things that he is right.

Tinman: That's a good way of putting it! The idea of putting in even just that 5 minutes actually made me feel better. For some reason, I was quite distracted today and couldn't focus on those scores. I did force myself to put in about 2 hours (it's probably less), though! I wonder if putting in 2 hours of forced mindless practice (and just flipping from page to page) is worse than 5 minutes of concentration?

What do you guys practice or do when you're tired, or bored, etc., but want to keep to your playing commitment and continue improving? Mindless exercises? Play an old score? Take a break?

I'm impressed that people manage to put in 4 hours a day at the piano. On weekdays I try to do one, and on weekends, I try to do more, but I break it up into chunks.

I've never wanted to walk away from the piano even for a single day, but there are definitely times when I have to end a practice session because I'm getting too frustrated.

If you manage to stay on the wagon, that would be quite an accomplishment!

Do you know something, thus far it hasn't been nearly as difficult as I assumed it would be. Something odd happens when you commit to 4 hours a day; namely, you (or at least I) loose that feeling of time constraint. Before, when I was doing two hours a day, I would sit down to practice and think to myself "I have to do a bit of this, and this, and this, and that," which would inevitably result in me having to stop practicing a certain thing, before I felt comfortable with it, in order to make time for something else. That is the one aspect of practicing I have never really liked since it becomes so easy to either spread yourself too thin or to waste too much time focusing on one thing at the expense of other more important things. Now I feel free to take as much time as I need, go as slow or fast as I need, and play as many or as few repetitions of something as I need.

I usually play through all the songs I know. First I do a run through of what I have memorized and then what I'm want to memorize then I get out my sheets. I don't actually focus on practice just playing. The first week of January that was almost the only thing I did because I still had family staying over for Christmas and no time for myself at all!

I only just started self teaching a couple of weeks ago. Waiting to order alfred's book but using something else for now. Often only get 15 - 30 minutes a day right now due to a baby, but hope to steadily increase that when I start to get that elusive sleep back again.

So, do I qualify to join? Think something like this will give me the extra encouragement to ensure I practice (learn) daily.