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  • PianoTell's 2nd Annual Practice Accountability Challenge - Team 2025 (PACT2025)

Animisha except for the cake that I will bake on Friday.

I would rather practise Hanon for a month than baking cakes! I almost managed to ruin the entire cake by forgetting the crème fraîche in the batter. The cake was already in the oven when my husband asked about it - and then he took it out immediately and rescued it. Everything turned out fine, but I was distraught by my failure.
Today is party day! Looking forward to it and already wishing I was back at the piano at the same time.

*
... feeling like the pianist on the Titanic ...

    I would like to join please. I practice every day I am home but I will have missing days as my daughter has twins(1 month old and cute as they come). I stay overnight when I visit.

    Absolutely @judanne and welcome to the PACT 😃

    Congratulations on the twins.... girls? Boys? Identical? There are "post pictures of your pets" and "post pictures of your piano", as well as "post pictures of your piano room" threads, now I'm thinking perhaps there should be "post pictures of the babies in your family" as well 😄

    Ha! Ha!

    Identical boys 😍
    Thanks for the welcome

    5 days later

    Happy February y’all! I practiced every day in January, yay! Hopefully I can do the same this month. It might be tricky because I have two big presentations this month… but looking at the success of January is pretty motivating!

    😊

    9 days later

    I had a busy day Saturday and was tired but I heard the inner nag and sat down at 8.30 pm and managed an hour. I would have passed without this pledge! Missed one day in January due to visiting my daughter

    I'm on a business trip Monday to Wednesday so I will not be able to practice.

    @judanne I know that feeling all too well 😃

    @BartK I have added February 10th-13th to the E-list 🙂

    I think if one loves playing the piano enough, one doesn't need some external source to practice. The only time I may have had to force myself to practice was when I had to learn something quickly, like 200 page score of a musical comedy, because of a deadline.

    To me, this is similar to those who feel they must "practice" sight reading versus those who became excellent sight readers because they did it a lot because they had a lot of music they wanted to explore.

      Waaaaa, and here I got all excited thinking we had you for a new recruit 😝

        pianoloverus I think if one loves playing the piano enough, one doesn't need some external source to practice.

        Well, you seem to be an advanced player with many years of experience behind you, so perhaps it's hard for you to remember how steep the leaning curve can feel for players during the first few months/years of learning to play.

        I love the instrument and usually enjoy my practice sessions, but there are days when I question whether it's worth the many hours of effort required just to play some simple beginner piece that a talented 8 year old could probably nail in half the time. So, perhaps that's why some people sign up to this accountability thread - it's not because they "don't love playing the piano enough", it's more that they're looking for encouragement from others who may also find piano practice a bit of an endurance test in the early stages.

        "Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)

          Different people may need different approaches to stay motivated. Nothing wrong with that!

          I'm not a PACT member but I appreciate the sense of community here and it's great to see everyone supporting each other!

            pianoloverus I think if one loves playing the piano enough, one doesn't need some external source to practice.

            I think it would help if you would read the room and think about the context before responding to posts. This is a thread for people to support each other in being accountable to their own schedule, not a debate about whether one should need accountability to practice.

              pianoloverus who feel they must "practice" sight reading versus those who became excellent sight readers because they did it a lot

              Interesting.
              Well - this is exactly how I felt when I had the need to practice sight reading. Turned out, it wasn't for me. But playing accessible music, that is easy enough to not program it entirely into muscle memory, having the need for read-playing, seems to do the job. Slowly, but with fun, and without the pressure to get better at sight-reading!!! Whhooaa 😱

              Sophia a new recruit 😝

              Hahaha. No.

                    WieWaldi I'm hoping the 40(ish) pieces challenge will have a similar effect on my sight reading. I think it has improved gradually over the past year, but once I've finished A's book 2 I will need to keep the momentum going somehow. Variety of pieces seems to be the key to success. Along with staying power. Piano is a demanding instrument.

                    "Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)

                        rogerch I appreciate the sense of community here and it's great to see everyone supporting each other!

                        This! 👏

                          WieWaldi Hahaha. No.

                          LOL I know right? It started so promising about loving the piano enough... and I was rubbing my hands, yay, another victim participant. But it turned out our forum uncle was just reminding us all of the error of our ways 😂 Oh well, all in good fun, right @pianoloverus? I know that deep down inside, you mean well and I appreciate your thoughts 🙂

                              Nightowl WieWaldi I'm hoping the 40(ish) pieces challenge will have a similar effect on my sight reading.

                              Yes - I think so. Unfortunately, I am only at 2 at the moment. (The recital pieces). But I can play those 2 songs only with sheet music. Call it read playing.

                              Anyway, it is good you reminded me to my pledge, I told you "I am in!". (Did I really submit to the 40 pieces challenge? Seems so, but why? Sounds like hard work!)

                              I've found a wonderful source with free sheet music, ordered by difficulty. I guess I should start with the "Beginner level 2A"-book. (This is one step above the bloody beginner level 🤪 and needs to be played hands together. I reckon level 1 was only one hand at a time, but not both together.)

                                Sophia and I was rubbing my hands, yay, another victim participant.

                                I wouldn't be the victim, this would be you. Telling you every day I am off, and then on again, would make this thread a full-time job for you. This means, you would have no time for practicing any longer. Slowing your progress down drastically. And the worst scenario - this thread could become the #1 thread with the top most posts in this forum. No, ain't not happen. No way.

                                    OMG. You are sooo right. Thank you for sparing me that agony! Besides, we can't have anything overtake the top most thread of threads, right? Nono. You are banned for life from PACTicipating