I promised myself I would never suggest how to practice again in this room, but this one is so good I couldn't resist.

I already wrote how busy life is for me, that my practice is suffering. This came to me just a few weeks ago so hopefully I say it correctly because it's a powerhouse.

I'm sitting at the piano back then and I'm practicing "walking bass" on standards. Just can't get into it today! Why don't I try something else. Started on the musette music. Still not working for me. I hit gold dust when I began working on bass lines for 50s/60s tunes (Bonie Maronie, Pretty Woman, etc). That felt the most comfortable.

That started me thinking about how animals function. They do what comes natural at the moment....eat, sleep, move around etc. So....why box myself into something that's unnatural for ME "at the moment."

Ever since then I notice when I sit at the piano, if I take the time to see what kind of mood the old brain is in today then I know what to practice. Today is was Latin riffs, yesterday, the tricky passages on my musette music. What a difference! It's like when meal time comes, you just know what your stomach wants this time around...a nice steak, a pizza, a healthy salad, fast food, etc. If you don't eat what you're body/mind is telling you "at the moment" whatever you do eat is not going to work in the tummy. Same with music on the car radio. What do I feel like listening to today? Easy listening, talk, news, Latin music, PBS, etc. Same with exercise. If you stop to think and listen to your body you'll know whether today's exercise session needs to be light or heavy.

So back to the piano. If what I'm playing is difficult for me on a certain day, I move to something else. Today the "bass lines on standards" was not as comfortable as it was yesterday, so I started playing jazz runs on jazzy songs. They fit in the pocket like a hand in a glove.

This has helped me to make better use of the limited time I have these days. Music goes off in so many directions now you just don't know what to practice anymore when you finally get to it. Now I follow my instinct as to what feels "natural" to me today. Been three weeks now and this new system hasn't failed me yet!