A Fresh Start - Year 8 of Piano

I've decided a good plan for going forward in 2026 with piano is to withdraw from Grade 5 class and revisit things I rushed through and never really understood or mastered. I am going to start going through select Grade 1 and 2 pieces and then moving on through Grade 3 and 4. I plan to learn the piece to a fairly decent standard and make recordings to post here on the blog.

I am going to review some genres and periods in music and post blogs as I go with some of the information that I've learned during these studies. My plan is to record a performance of each piece I revisit for this next year so I have a running record of progress throughout the year in 2026!

I have a few goal pieces that I have tried to learn in the past unsuccessfully and have made plans with practice actions and milestones to work through.

Some broad goals I am going to work on this year are:

• Stop Looking at Hands! Practice Sight Reading and Eyes Closed Practice.

• Learn pieces with attention to musicality from the start and be able to play them well enough to record after 6-8 weeks.

• Learn a simple Jazz Standard each Quarter of the Year.

• Build a Repertoire of memorized pieces and work on maintenance practice to keep them ready to play.

• Pick and prepare pieces well in advance of piano performance group meetings!!!!  Choose pieces BELOW level and play them musically.

• Reflect on each practice session and week and note PROGRESS and ACCOMPLISHMENTS!