Piano

I began learning how to play the piano about five years ago, right after I saw a pianist performing live. I was immediately attracted to this instrument due to the nature of its sound, and I knew that i had to master it. About a year after I began to play, I decided to take the ABRSM  piano exams because at the time, I believed that this was the way to prove that I was improving in my playing. I progressed up to the grade 4 exam, which I passed last year.  However, I have decided to stop taking exams and actually focus on enjoying the music that I learn, since the exams only gave me room to practice three songs year round and I found this to be very tedious.

Therefore, I am going to focus on getting through two piano books in the next two years, which each contain about 50 pieces. These books are called: John Thompson's Modern Course For The Piano (The Second Grade Book), and John Thompson's Modern Course For The Piano (The Third Grade Book). I am currently working on the former, which roughly corresponds to a grade 5 level in ABRSM exams. I take weekly hour long lessons with a piano instructor, who expects me to be able to perform all of these pieces at a professional level by the end of the two years. To achieve this, we focus on around three pieces weekly, and I practice them until I do not make any mistakes, whether it be a wrong note, not keeping to the rhythm, or not following dynamics.
So far, I have been able to perform 14 pieces without any mistakes, although I am currently playing many more songs. To be able to "master" a piece, I need to commit to practicing the piano for at least half an hour per day and not giving up when I become frustrated. Although half an hour does not sound like a very long time, it has been difficult for me to stick to this routine as homework is constantly increasing and I find myself having less and less free time. As a result, I have had to be very flexible with my practice schedule, but I do try to make up any practice time that I have missed. On top of practicing the pieces, I also practice scale work as it is the foundation of playing an instrument, and by mastering my scales, playing actual music will be much easier in the future.
I am enjoying the pieces that I am playing much more than I enjoyed the exam pieces, as they are much more interesting in the sense that they expose me to new techniques that I have never used before. With every new piece comes something new to learn and it is exciting to know that I will be constantly learning more and more by just playing new pieces. I have gotten rid of the stress that I had last year when I was constantly trying to perfect my playing so that I would pass the exams, and this is why practicing the piano now is so much more fun!