Hi there,

Just as last year you can tell here what your musically piano goals are for 2013. I will remember you on 26 december 2013. Many of you looked last week at their goals of 2012. It was nice to read what you realized. Remember2012

My goals:
- Learn more about the Suites of Händel....
- Play more of classical composers (classicistic period ~1750~1820) like Cimarosa, Benda, Haydn, Kuhlau....
- Play more of the baroque composers like Zipoli and Telemann....
- Perhaps purchase a new dp or grand....
- and of course I play the organ of the St.Willibrorduschurch at Kloosterburen during the summer-open-church-days....

So guys.....what do you promise yourself for the next year....tell us....

Best regards and best wishes for 2013,
Johan B

What timing! I was just writing out my 2013 piano goals
1. Achieve RCM 7 technical proficiency
2. Improve hand position: fix thumb, raise the bridge
3. Continue working on relaxation and arm movement )in out, up down, side to side)
4. Well voiced chords and even attack
5. Sight read at grade 4
6. Play in all 4 AFB recitals
7. Post to the piano bar once a qtr.
(Wish list: a Prelude and Fugue from WTC; Scarlatti Sonata in F# Minor K25. A girl can dream, right?)

SwissMS,

.......I really like your dreams......I have many of them....

Johan B

I'd like to average 2 hours/day of practice. Usually I don't make that specific a goal publically, but I made my goal of 1.5 hrs/day average last year, and I think this one is going to take some work.

And I'd like to play Happy Birthday regularly It's so easy to forget, and then I botch it when I need it on the spur of the moment

What I get from practicing: More musicality. More repertoire (I'm aiming for 2 hours of tunes from the late 1800s thru about 1946 one of these days. I have 2 hours of tunes, but they're in a broader category.) Learning tunes faster. More facility all over the piano. I can reach an octave in both hands fairly easily, which at one time I couldn't. More freedom to do variations (I can do rhythm variations more easily than I can do melody variation, or add frills - I'd like to be able to do more of all one of these days). More up-tempo. And, ultimately, more gigs - pizza parlors anyone?

So we'll try for 2 hours/day, average. And Happy Birthday.

(The "Royal We" sounds good, no?)

Thanks, Johan, for this thread!

Cathy

My goals for 2013:

- practice 4-5 days a week, at least 1 hour a day
- start Alfred's AIO book 3 in February and finish it by the end of the year
- practice sight reading once a week (ideally Bartok's Mikrokosmos I-IV)

I also have in mind to get an acoustic upright, but that might have to wait a bit more.

My goals:

1. Play/practice every day (except when sick or away from home)
2. Play longer pieces
3. Further improve sight reading, reading in general
4. Develop techniques which allow me to play faster pieces.
5. Get started on the jazz and blues!!!

Things I'd like to do but which aren't 100% up to me...
a) play in a live recital
b) play some duets

Thanks JohanB - these ongoing goal threads are really great for yearly reviews!

Remarkable.......everyone talks about daily practicing.......seems we need more time for our second love.....

Johan B

Ah for 2013 my goals include:
1. practice 1-2 hours a day
2. memorize 3-5 pieces (they can be short easy pieces)
3. bring a level 6 (I guess it could be a 7 or 8 for that matter) piece up to speed
4. play scales with smoothness and speed
5. upload a piece for each e-cital
6. sight read more fluently
7. Go to Summerkeys and enjoy

Funny it sounds a lot like last year...but just a step higher

1) Practice and self teach over 10 hours every day with 99% effort and concentration
I'll lock myself into my own room with my own will and play happily into the night if i have to, for the sake of my tenacious passion and happiness
2) jazz/pop music theory
3) Write six mandopop demos (an album) by Christmas and send it as a present to my friends and family
4) explore guitar, cello, and drums
6) meet other musicians!
7) perform live

looking forward to seeing everyone's goals being accomplished by Christmas 2013,
kev

Some goals for 2013:
- Buy a grand
- Get my body into better shape so I can loose some of the tensions
- Improve my memorization (to be more reliable)
- Improve my concentration skills
- Keep improving my touch and make it more even in quality

The first one will be the easiest but one can always dream

As for repertoire:
- At least 3 more Scarlatti sonatas
- At least one new Chopin piece, maybe 72-1 if teacher agrees
- Something totally different to what I have played so far
- Keep improving some of the nice ones I have already played to the level that I can play them anytime without messing up

Outo,

Wow.....very ambitious..but very nice........post the pics of the new grand in this forum please.....

Best regards,
Johan B

Record and post the larghetto from Chopin's op 11 concerto, and Chopin's nocture op 9 nr 3.

1. Take part in four ABF recitals.
I joined in my first one this year and learnt the inestimable value of recording myself, listening and knowing that others would hear. It has been a significant addition to my practising.

2. Learn 20 new pieces.
I've been back at the piano a year now since I gave up in April '95 to become a (conscientious) father. I continued to play sporadically until we moved to Ireland in '97 but I'd stopped learning. I did about two weeks two Christmases ago but it didn't last. I've learnt 20 new pieces this year though some of them I'd started back in '95. I should manage the same again next year, there are still some half started pieces lingering near the rack but I have a sizeable (and growing) list of brand new pieces looming.

3. Do scales, arpeggios or broken chords every weekend.
I've kept up my scales in double thirds this year but thought I was too good to bother with regular material. I've noticed some sloppiness in my broken chords when playing Beethoven - thanks to recording - and have decided I need more technical work done at weekends.

4. Add four new exercises from the Gradus.
Technical work is not my forte but I think Clementi's Gradus ad Parnassum is beneficial (for me). One more exercise per season is enough for me to continue with for now.

5. Keep checking in to the forum.
My sight reading has improved beyond all recognition this year from tips I've picked up here, I'm using a metronome much more deliberately and effectively now in my practise from tips I've picked up here and I have had dialogue (and am continuing to have) with people I count among my friends here. I think finding this place and signing in regularly has been the biggest boost to my playing and my practise since I first pressed a key. My thanks to all involved.

2013: The year of the open heart

#1 Have more fun playing.

#2 Practice properly! Rather than going playing a few pieces I can play already very well then trying something new for a bit.

#3 Getting my timing a bit better and not cutting off notes so quickly.

#4 Increasing my speed and accuracy for both playing and sight reading, right now I can only 'buffer' one bar ahead. Which means I play in a jerky manner unless I've memorised the entire piece.

#5 Learn the dark art of page turning. I am completely unable to turn pages and have multiple music stands for this purpose.

#6 Stuccatto properly. I tend to hold notes far too long.

I am slowly working through the tunes in Book 1 of John Thompson method. I think in Book 2 fur elise or a version of it is one of the pages. If I could play that, I think I could retire as an accomplished pianst, but I am enjoying the tunes I have learned so far so I am in no rush to play anything in particular, just that I play them musically and as beautiully I can.

My goal is not necessarily quantifiable because what I need to work on is more 'how' I play a tune rather than 'what' tune I can or cannot play.

Aspiring to play more advanced pieces over time is certainly a good goal, the only thing is I haven't been able to perform my current stuff to its fullest potential yet.

My goal is not to be able to play more and more advanced pieces over time. Instead, my goal is to play my current repertoire much nicer with a lot more attention given to how the piece is played; or rather performed.

Much of the music we listen too is not that difficult to play. A lot of it sounds so nice due to the inherent beauty of the melody of the piece itself, not necessarily how technically advanced it is. To be honest, (at least for my simple mind) music that is too technically advanced can become fatiguing to listen too after a while.

So, for the record, my goal is to put much more meaning, expression and control over everything I play. Even if I don't learn anything new, that will be a significant accomplishment in itself that I will be very happy with because ultimately it's not what you play, but rather how you play it that counts.

Yeah, thanks for the thread, Johan.

I'll just edit Cheryl's list slightly:

1. Practice every day (I think I'm most productive in the morning) - and find more enjoyment in doing so
2. Play [some] longer pieces / Learn at least two movements of any one classical sonata (or sonatina?)
3. Further improve sight reading
4. Harness a greater control and understanding over technical development and learning pieces (personal and pedagogic interest)
5. Learn not only more about jazz and improvisation, but also how to apply already-known ideas/principles better in both practice sessions and actual application

Hadn't considered them before, but thanks to Cheryl:

a) Hold a recital (possibly near the end of the year) either for family and/or a nearby assisted-living facility including two favorite Christmas arrangements
b) Play with others (even if it's just practicing more with a backing track)

-get both Mysterious Barricades by Couperin and Debussy's First Arabesque under my fingers.

-submit Rachmaninoff's Prelude 32/12 for an ABF recital.

-play Mendelssohn's Songs without Words 30/1 and 85/1 in the upcoming Themed Recital.

-keep working on Ocean and Winter Wind Etudes. (not sure of specific goals re tempo and memory for those pieces). Maybe submit Ocean Etude as a work in progress to one of the ABF recitals.

-start on Liszt's un sospiro (don't know about specific goals for this piece...will be a long term project I'm sure).

-practice in ways that get the harder parts going instead of working on the stuff that is easier to play. But I'm not sure what this will look like.

-I'd like to learn more about music analysis but i'm not sure where to start (the threads on these topics are way over my head.:P). Seems like it would help though in learning some of my pieces.

-What to learn for other pieces?? Maybe Chopin's Nocturne 9/3, or Rachmaninoff's Prelude 32/5 or Liszt Consolation D flat major No. 3..or...Chopin's Etude 10/3...or....?????? I'm open to ideas!!!

I want to perfect my harmonics, reading and aural abilities. The lady with the large hat gave me the harmonics advice I think. I'd like to buy a guitar in 2014.

I'd like to branch out from classical and learn some Broadway/jazz standards. Learn some generic jazz progressions to make them sound halfway decent, too (or maybe just make them sound generic).

Certainly!
Hopefully not later than May...

Since my play/practice time might be significantly reduced this year, my only goal in 2013 is to play when I can, let the keys fall more naturally under my fingers, and just get more comfortable and relaxed at the keys - like strumming a guitar.

I was 33 when I started learning piano, with the long term goal of being awesome (relatively speaking, of course) by 40. I think, perhaps, one year to consolidate and "hunker down" might do wonders.

Here's to 2013!

(1) force myself to record and play in front of others
(2) focus on playing musically
(3) practice 2 hours a day

1+

and Happy Birthday, Farm Girl!!

Farmgirl,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY and many years full of music.....

Cheers,
Johan B

more or less a continuation of last years goals:
- more consistent practice (daily)
- focus more a a couple books of music (mark harrison's blues piano and a couple of vince guaraldi peanuts books). use these more as method books and work through them piece by piece kind of like people do the alfred's method books. this will probably take more than one year.
- work / improve sight reading
- post a few pieces to the recital threads
- stay focused.
- re-review existing pieces regularly to keep them in my fingers (and head).
gw

My goals for this year are:

1. Hopefully take and pass grade 4 ABRSM in the Spring
2. Learn to play I Giorni - Ludovico Einaudi
3. Try playing infront of more people without going to pieces (I'm rubbish at that!)
4. Learn and understand Theory - Not sure why it just doesn't stick in my head!
5. Improve my sight reading - I find this the hardest - I rely to much on playing from memory!

I think thats it for now

1. To be a helpful voice in these forums.

2. To dip a toe into Classical waters and overcome my bias towards that genre.

3.To think about my posts before sending, do I have to say something or do I have something to say? (a biggie)

4.Be honest in my commitment to MOYD.

5.Increase my playing/practice time by at least 25 percent.

6.Honor other's efforts no matter their stage of the journey, and not compare to mine.

My list of goals:

1. practice every day (signed up MOYD)
2. learn 10 new pieces (I'm a very slow learner!)
3. improve sight-reading
4. learn how to record myself and submit something for one recital
5. play in front of a small public of friends (I have problem also with my teacher!)
6. practice on scales/ arpeggios at least once a week