I've noticed some of you lovely ladies are a little behind in your posting of hours. Please update today as it is the last day of the month.

If the Dudes win, we will NEVER hear the end of it. You know how they like to rub it in. :rolleyes:

Regards to all (even the Dudes). But remember, if you want to consider this a contest, consider it one against yourself. Have you increased your minutes, gradually over the months? If so, then you are winner...so matter what!!

Kathleen

I expect to log 1440 minutes today. =))

Being a lawyer, I long ago learned how to log 2880 minutes in a day. Beware!

You all truly make me laugh out loud. That's very funny!

Nancy

Looks like I will be lucky to get in 10 minutes for the Moyd today. Next month tho, next month. =)

Nah, everyone who contributed did a great job (even the dudes ) ... this place is great and the practice club is great fun, too.

I always check the computer in the morning, then play the piano in the afternoon, so the next day, when I turn on the computer again, the first thing is to add the practice time for the day before. But, fortunately, my country is always one day before your country, so today is the 1st of February here, but is the last day of January in the USA. that means I still can log for 'the last day', and it's legal

By the way, how to check my total points for a month?

Hmmmm. Yes, but when do you log the first day of the month?

Hehe, of course the second day of the month. I'll charge free for the answer

LOL.

OK. In case you didn't notice, you and I have been bouncing back and fourth around 13 or 14 on the list -- sometimes you're ahead of me, sometimes vice versa. I find it amusing.

I still have a big lead

Thank you for telling me, that means we have the similar practice habits, what a small world

LA: The number of hours you practice is indicative in the quality of your playing.

I think we have to come up with a very special award, just for you.

What would you like? Perhaps a T-shirt, saying something like:" "Champion of MOYD"...?

Let me know. I'm serious!!

Kathleen

I find logging my practice a bit embarassing. Although my teacher says the progress is evident, when you start from so close to zero although there is progress it doesn't always feel like it is getting anywhere. Especially when I hear the "beginners" here play. But, I logged my hours for the month. Go Chicks!!!

I would like to remind all beginners here that any feelings of inferiority or worthlessness can be easily assuaged by listening to my contribution to recital no. 4. I would love to claim that I purposely played a piece that was way too easy for me to encourage other beginners but... hey actually, that's a good story, I'm sticking to it! :p

Well, the dudes got lazy in the last 3 days. The secret weapon didn't work, and now we're back down to about 1 LA. However, we're about 1.7 LA's of January 15th.

Never trust an ever changing unit of measurement.

brojek.

Hold on to that idea until June.

Why! What's happpening in June?

Kathleen

The dudes are coming up with a very evil plan for June J/K

I like to challenge myself from time to time just to see what the possibilities are. This time my challenge it to maintain this high intensity practice for 6 months, and I'll see what I can achieve at the piano.

Congrats to the chicks for beating us dudes in Jan. I think this is the first time I see the team total more than 40,000 minutes with only 19 members. Keep up the good work everyone!!!

LA: I am worried about you, really.

You are going to do some serious damage to your back, arms and fingers. My Lord, you're practicing 4-5 hours a day now. YOU CAN'T KEEP THIS UP.

I am speaking to you from my heart. :2hearts:
Kathleen

Don't worry. I watched the video "Rubinstein remembered" not too long ago. He talked about how he was able to learn and memorize music very quickly, but he was a sloppy player when he was young. He made an example of how he played the Chopin winter wind etude by banging the left hand really loud and fudging the right hand all muddy. Then he said when he was in his 40s after he got married, he wanted to make his wife feel proud of him as a pianist. He practiced 8-10 hours a day everyday for many years.

If Rubinstein in his 40s could do 8 hours/day, I am not even 40 yet so I am sure I can do 4-5 hours/day without hurting myself. My day time job punishes me more both physically and mentally. Playing/practicing piano is stress relief for me.

LCTM,

As long as one has good technique, a decently regulated piano, and common sense, practicing 4-6 hours shouldn't cause any problems. Think about concert pianists-- they practice more than that and still do fine (well, most of them, anyhow). Emphasis on good technique, though-- one has to learn from a good teacher.

--c5

I am just wading through Rubinstein's autobiography (about 1,000 pages in two volumes). He was an exception. Really.

The man lived to be in his 90's and had a life of smoking cigars, wine, women, rich French food, night life, and all the rest. Nothing wrong with this, mind you.

He just had an exceptionally strong constituion. Think about all of those concert pianists you hear about who have done serious damage to their hands and arms.

I know you are determined, and I admire you for that.

It rather reminds me of these highly-paid football players (hey, go Bears!!). They have 4 or 5 great seasons and then they retre and spend the rest of their lives in more pain than you can imagine. But they all say that it was worth it. Sure, I guess, for all the money they earned. But still, spending every waking moment in agony is a high price to pay...for anything.

Take care,
Kathleen

Dear LCTM,

"Think about all of those concert pianists you hear about who have done serious damage to their hands and arms."

Not trying to pick an argument here, but I am still of the opinion that these pianists did something "wrong". They didn't take care of themselves, or played on not so good pianos, etc.
(Sometimes, as a professional, you can't be choosy about what instruments you play, or even which pieces to perform how often. So there IS a risk that you may hurt yourself, despite your best intentions and care. That's unfortunate.)

As for Rubinstein, yes, he may have had strong constitution, but it's also true that he had good understanding of natural movements of playing. It's evident in the way he plays--his posture, arm movement, the relaxed and open hands. That's what I mean by good technique. Strong constitution is not a subsitute for good technique-- the sturdiest person will get tendonitis if he/she plays against what is natural for the arms.

In terms of common sense, resting, stretching and not overpracticing are important. I usually break up practices in 2 hour blocks, not more than that. Besides, my mind can't stay focused for that long. Mindless practice is a waste of time.

Anyway, my scattered two cents.

Have fun Liszt Addict,

--c5

Hi C5; You do raise very good points. Of course, common sense is probably the most important factor, all things considered.

I guess my heart breaks a little when I think about some very famous and wonderful pianists who had their careers cut short by terrible physical deformity or disorder. But then I guess I have to think of all of those who have been playing for years and years, with no obvious problems.

Thanks for your very "organized" two cents.

Kathleen

I almost didn't recognize the Practice Log when I checked the February totals and saw someone besides LisztAddict at the top. I thought I was at the wrong website!

I imagine he's been practicing too much to log in. It makes it very hard to calculate how many LAs we're ahead by, though, if he doesn't log his time!

Nancy

:D

Oh, NO!!!!

Please, uh, get well soon!

Geeeessseee LA: It's rather spooky because what happened to you (although not from the piano) is sort of what we were talking about.

Please feel better soon.

Kathleen

I feel a disturbance in the force....

I was to log in my 2 minutes on Thursday. I really did play for about 2 minutes but my finger was in so much pain, it couldn't even push the key down so I stopped. It's all good today.

Talk about an ever-changing unit of measurement! We can really get ahead by lots of LisztAddicts if he remains at 2 minutes per day!

Seriously, LA, please take care of that finger. A jammed finger hurts A LOT. And you don't want to risk having joint problems later by overusing it now. I sure hope you're feeling much better soon. I guess you can't claim workman's compensation if the injury only disrupts your hobby, but maybe they'll change the rules for you!

Nancy

LisztAddict,

I hope your finger heals quickly. I must say though, this practice log thing is rather addictive....

LCTM,

Thanks for your reply. It would be very interesting to interview concert pianists in the world about their practice regimen, and if they've ever had any hand/wrist/arm problems (including arthritis) due to excessive praciticing. Maybe there really is a siginificant risk of injury from practicing above a certain number of hours. Someone must've done a study like this....?

--c5

New plan -
I pledge to practice more than 5000 minutes this month.

5000 minutes in 28 days = 178 min 35 sec each day.

You need to do 295 minutes this Sunday. I know you can do it.


cerulean5 - in this video (being a concert pianist)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=IzTpFQ6gSe8
Kaplinsky said concert pianists practice 4-5 hours/day.

I think that one has to be super gifted to do well as a concert pianist with just 4-5 hours/day. Dang Thai Son, the 1980 Chopin competition winner, said he practiced 8-10 hours/day everyday for 2 solid years before the competition.

yeah i will. Who wants to watch large men named after animals chasing and stealing a dead pig instead of practicing???

We always care too much about things that are not important...

Matt

Wow LisztAddict,

You are vaulting up the PW practice log! Not that it's a surprise, really...

About 4-5 hours: actually, I am NOT surprised that the professionals average about there. When one is in the process of BECOMING a professional (prepping for competitions, for instance)-- that's when the young artists really stack up the hours.
So much of the meat and potatos repertoire pieces are learned at this stage.

I think the older a professional gets, the more ruthlessly efficient he/she becomes during practice.

--c5

Frycek - I am coming for you

LA - 5 hours today... gotta get above 5000.