Teachers, when and how do you practice?

There were many weeks this year that I did not touch my piano.

My mental health suffered.

On December 1, I decided to change that trajectory by playing the first Hanon exercise.

And that’s it.

December 2, I played #2, then #1.

And that’s it.

On December 3rd, I played #3, then #2, then #1, then ran all of them.

And that’s it.

And so on.

So…what happens is, on Day Whatever, you end up not just playing the exercise. Something pops into your head, and then you start working out the chords, and before you know it, an hour has gone by.

You’ve practiced for an hour.

I stole this method from a bunch of sources—James Clear, Danny Seo, Buddhism, mathematics, educational pedagogy, Bruce Lee. Two concepts are at play here:

Do a tiny thing toward your goal.

When you’re doing the thing, just do the thing.

1. Do a tiny thing toward your goal.
   
   If you leave Chicago, and take ten steps every day toward San Francisco, you must reach San Francisco. It might take a while, you may have to walk around pot holes and avoid dogs, but you will get there.
   Same.
   
2. When you’re doing the thing, just do the thing.
   
   I’m not on my phone.
   I’m not playing with the cat.
   I’m not making breakfast lists.
   
   I'm practicing this exercise.
   The only thing that matters right now is making sure I can feel the hammer gently/forcefully/quietly meet the strings.
   I am squaring/relaxing/dropping my shoulders.
   I am minding my breathing.
   My feet are flat/not flat, my toes splayed/taut in my shoes.
   The heel of my pedal foot is comfortable; I am not too close to the piano.
   Like that.
   

Your talent, your performance acumen, your knowledge were hard-earned. Find the time to keep yourself tuned up. Revive that part of you that remembers. Take joy from the forming of chords and the playing of passages, if only for a moment each day.

It doesn’t take much. A literal 60s is all you need to start.

Practice. For you.

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