I'm 55 and did most of heavy lifting as an organist back in the 70's and 80's. After a very long hiatus (2.5 decades), I re-engaged with the piano, and have been slogging away under my instructor (a very nice lady) for the last 3/4 years. With my day job and 3 kids, my practice ranges from none to sporadic.

While I've played some difficult pieces, I need to build piano technique to do justice to what I play, and I'm willing to start as far from scratch as necessary. I'm most comfortable with Bach (the instrument doesn't matter), but I'm more challenged with pieces and composers that are more piano-centric.

Right now, I'm between teachers and need to spend some technique building time. I'm drawn to Czerny's exercises as they appear to include both technical skills and musicality. They are also short, so I can do things without getting totally bogged down on something major. They also are not all in C major. Any thoughts on how I might spend the next few months (maybe longer) productively? Thank you very much in advance!

1) Build a sight-reading routine. These could be sight-reading methods, songs that are below your level, a collection of hymns, whatever.

2) Build a technique routine, to include: scales (in 1, 2, 3, and maybe even 4 octaves), chords (to include inversions with 3 notes, broken chord patterns, and cadences/progressions), and arpeggios.

3) Choose 4 'main' pieces you'll work on, one from each period: Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Contemporary. These should be at your level, or perhaps 1-2 levels below. Work on these in little sections over the months to bring them to performance level. I'd suggest:
-Bach Little Prelude
-Clementi or Kuhlau sonatina
-Schumann or Tchaikovsky Album from the Young piece
-Kabalevsky Op 27 piece

I don't think there's much value behind Czerny as a whole, as in, I don't think it's worth buying collections and just working through them. Not that it could necessarily hurt, but I think there are more beneficial things to do.

Thank you, kayvee.