Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Achieved your musical goals 2021..??

Well, I didn't set any specific goals (at least not publicaly ) but I did achieve a lot of things this year. I played my first Chopin etude (op. 25 no. 2) my first Rachmaninov (op. 3 no. 2) and learned over 50 pieces this year (most of them much, much easier than these two). I think I made some good progress and things feel much more natural lately.

Wow, I got 3 out of 3!

1) Take part in every ABF online recital and themed recital in 2021: I played in every online recital - all 8 of them.

2) Learn some Chopin: I learned and performed the Military Polonaise. Not exactly what I had in mind, but I'll take it.

3) Keep playing clarinet/piano music with Tootles, my wife: Five different pieces in 2021! This is where most of my piano study effort went. I seemed to be constantly trying to keep up.

Sam

I only participated in the last PW recital this year but managed to submit a piece I wanted to learn. It's an orchestral piece with few piano versions so worked on my own arrangement during the lockdown and finished the piece by November.

Normally I'd be too busy to arrange music but stick to piano pieces or the ones with a piano version at my playing level. I wouldn't be spending so much time on the computer moving notes around from bar 1 to 63.

Here's how mine came out:

1. Join Piano World forum. That was sort of a given or I wouldn't have been able to post my goals on this thread. It was still a big step for me after just lurking for years. It's been great to join in the fun.

2. Improve condition of repertoire. Most of it needed either polishing, had fractures or even needed relearning.

I consider this one a mixed success. First of all, I culled it down by over half. I'd started with 25 pieces, attempting to follow Charles Cooke's Playing the Piano for Pleasure suggested starting number of 25. I discovered that I couldn't maintain them by merely playing them once a week. Increasing mistakes would creep in and the pieces got worse and worse. I ended up using a variation of a popular home organizer's question - 'does this piece spark joy?' and got the repertoire down to 11 pieces. Entering more than half of them in ABF recitals was incentive to get them in good order. Sadly, I haven't played most of them since mid November due to various other projects, so I have a fair amount of work ahead of me again for this goal.

3. More practice in music arrangement. I did spend more practice time on improved my skill, but I didn't complete any new arrangements.

4. Put my sight reading practice to good use by starting to read through my sheet music collection.

Only read through 5 of the easiest books from my sheet music collection, so that's clearly a start. Most of my collection isn't easy enough for sight reading practice. I ended up buying a bunch more beginner level sheet music books for sight reading.

5. Learn how to use the record feature on my new digital piano. Did it. That goal was probably too easy.

6. Submit at least one recording for the ABF Piano Bar.

Did it. There was only one Piano Bar (back in July). I claim extra credit on this one for submitting six other pieces for the Great American Songbook themed recital plus various others for additional ABF recitals and the holiday music thread.

2021 Goals

1. Work on a concerto piece (Grieg) with teacher. I think this is a unique opportunity, so I'd like to take advantage of it.

Did not happen

2. Challenge Piece - Sonata Pathétique. I learned Mvmt 2 and played it at my teacher's workshop, which was recorded. I'm happy to share if you want to review and trash ;0.

This I continued to work on, including Mvmt 1.

3. Continue with easier pieces, work on musicality, relaxation, reading efficiency (not sightreading!). Additionally, I feel like I have learn things over again with the new grand piano.

This I worked on the most, simply playing easier pieces with more relaxation. I found this year to be a breakout year in terms of speed and relaxation.

4. 1st quarter 2021 - Machine Learning II (SMU class) .. meaning I'll have less time to work on the above

And this as well consumed a lot of my time. I finish in April though. Capstone is on Quantification of EKG Instability prior to Cardiac Arrest in Patients with Single-Ventricle Physiology.

Not to sound cheeky, but I really had one goal: stay alive as vaccines weren’t that widely available yet. But did end up passing 3 exams, unplanned. It’s been an erratic year to stay consistent. Better than 2020…and need to think about 2022…hoping for smoother sailing…

The Goals:

1. Prepare and sit AMEB Level 4 Theory exam
2. Sit AMEB Grade 7 exam in the June/July sitting
3. Actively work on improving my sight reading; read daily and read longer pieces

The Excuse:

My father passed away in early July and I flew to Scotland to be with my family. What was to be a 2 month visit turned into a 4 month stay, as Australia cancelled my return flight and just about every international flight until 1st November.

The Reality:

1. I did not take the theory exam but did quite a bit of study
2. I did sit and pass AMEB Grade 7 performance exam.
3. I did return to regular sight reading practice in the first half of the year; until my best made plans took a turn.

The Bonus:

A four month break from the piano has proven to be something I needed, but hadn't realised I needed, I used my time in the UK to indulge another one of my hobbies by hiking two of the UK's most famous trails, The Cape Wrath Trail and The Pennine Way.

If it had said archived, rather than achieved I would have a contribution to make.

My 2021 goal assessment
1. build scale speed and flow up to 88 bpm
*my scales are faster, smoother and more relaxed. Can work my way around the circle of fifths when I can't fall asleep
2. complete the RCM level 7 etudes (I'm halfway through the book)
*Not complete b/c I set it aside to work on other music
3. enter at least 2 ecitals
*I didn't make this happen but did record one Christmas piece for a group video at the end of the year
4. play for two zoom groups once per month
*I played with 3 groups this year on a monthly basis working up new pieces and playing them for each group. I gained confidence in playing for others. One group returned to f2f in fall 2021.
5. memorize one level 6 or 7 piece
*I didn't master memorization past a few lines but continue to believe that it is possible.
6. study theory
*I continue to gain knowledge on theory and acquired Mortensen's book on improvisation which is really theory put into practice. I'm still working on it but it's a slow go. I wish I had a group to work with on this.
7. find a new piano teacher when f2f resumes
*After my piano teacher died last December, there was a long period of mental transition and grief. I interviewed and found not one but two teachers to work with. One is available for weekly lessons and I'm enjoying her style of teaching. The other is available to me when another student is absent. She is an expert in Taubman technique. I'm learning a Haydn sonata with her.

8. Goals evolve as a year goes by. I've learned and performed more pieces this year than ever in my life.

I'm sorry I am very late for this - I spent Christmas - Epiphany with family and am only just catching up.

It's exciting to see so many people having met their goals, especially when life made it particularly challenging.

I'm proud to have achieved mine for 2021. I worked diligently, and I have made some progress. My reading is more fluent, and my playing slightly less sloppy.

My main goal was to practice regularly, and indeed I only missed a couple of days when I was home. I listed a number of pieces I wanted to learn, and I managed them all and more besides thanks to the 40-pieces-a-year challenge. I even tackled my nemesis, learning some Bach Inventions! I did a considerable amount of reading, and I can feel the benefits. I even began to learn some theory - although there is much more to do.

I had said I wanted to learn the Pathétique. I enjoyed the work I did on it immensely, but eventually realised that my progress was slow and that Henle 7 is far beyond me. I may try again next year.

My main regret is not encouraging my son to make better progress. I am glad that he still loves the piano, but am very sorry that I have failed to ensure that he makes better use of his natural talent.

Thank you Johan for posting the initial thread and this opportunity to assess one’s journey. I have found it extremely motivating.

Now to set my goalposts for 2022!

I did not set any goals here, but I have acquired a piano on the new year, so I'll consider that my musical goals for 2021 fulfilled. 2022 may be a bit more ambitious than that. Fair?

So, I'm kind of (very) late in this self-assessment, but better late than never! 😊

My score for 2021 stands as follows:

• Learn (more precisely: memorize, and comfortably play) 475 measures of classical music
  This was overly ambitious; in reality 311 measures entered my repertoire, whilst another 70 were learned, but those pieces were dropped before being learned completely. All in all I am quite happy however, because my repertoire increased dramatically in 2021.
• Learn two works at Henle level 6
  Sort of, maybe, nearly. I did learn one, and I did learn 75% of another one, but that only amounts to 87.5% completed.
• Learn one Beethoven sonata movement
  No, I dropped that, but I did learn two Beethoven bagatelles, and 75% of another one. I am quite ok with this.
• Re-learn three currently lost works
  Virtually, yes. I re-learned two works, and then learned one that I had almost learned earlier, but failed at the time to make into repertoire.
• Listen to each of Schuberts impromptus and moments musicaux, while following along in the score, twice during the year
  Yes, did that.
• Listen to each of Debussys preludes (book 1), while following along in the score, twice during the year
  Yes, did that.
• Listen to each of Beethovens bagatelles (opus 33, 119, and 126), while following along in the score, twice during the year
  Yes, did that.

In retrospect 2021 was a fabulous piano year for me, the major achievement being adding many pieces to my repertoire (despite being burdened with a house move during the year, which was a stressful time unfavourable for learning new works).

Thank you, Johan B, for creating these yearly personal goal threads! They help me plan, and steer my progress.