<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I've always had a passion for exploring my musical interests along with my academic and athletic interests as well.</p>
<p>I've played the piano for nearly 6 years now, and prior to attending a private school, I found that I made so much more progress- I could spend at least two hours or more per day due to public school tasks being easily accomplished (yes, they were menial and boring beyond expression).</p>
<p>However, lately, in my sophomore year, I've found that I can barely find enough time to "practice" playing my instrument. I leave for school at 6 AM in the morning for around a hour to an hour and half commute, start classes 8 AM, get dismissed at around 3:30 PM, attend sports practices until 5:30 PM, go on the commute again and get home at 7 PM. From there, I eat dinner as fast as I can until 7:15, tank homework until 9:30, or sometimes up until 11, and then spend whatever time until midnight studying for SAT Is and SAT IIs or US-science/math competitions. There are times when I put in the extra time until quite a bit past midnight (2 AM or so) just to make sure I have everything understood for an upcoming test or assessment.</p>
<p>While I have friends who are equally prestigious that also play an instrument (one plays the violin) and he/she is able to get up at 5 AM to play for 2-3 hours before classes (her commute is literally a few blocks away), I can't do that since I live much farther away in comparison. Also, he/she can get in an hour or so after school since this person is not on a sports team.</p>
<p>The thing about playing piano for me isn't that it's forced or any actual "practice". It's more of a hobby; what time I used to spend playing video games or collecting lists or statistics of things (OCD/Asperger's waii meeeee D= ) has been time spent on the piano for the past several years. Yet, as class work is pervading my practice time, this year, I've been forced to reduce playing to an hour and half (the time I used to spend DAILY) on the weekends and Friday night. And it's only uphill from here; junior year with multiple APs and SATs is ought to severely impact my free time.</p>
<p>My application to college, in these terms, is completely fine; music has never been my forte or anything that I want to butcher for college- and I don't plan writing a Common App Essay on my playing of piano as my EC either, for I don't participate in many competitions: I play for myself and friends, and seek pleasure and down-time rather than championing another competitive area of life. So in that sense, I won't be impacted directly by my time struggles.
However, piano seems to be my R & R, apparently. Part of me feels sad and desires the time that I used to have.
Notwithstanding, I'm fairly sure if I simply stay up later, I can get in that extra hour or so. But is it healthy? I feel as if reducing my already sparse sleep-time from 6 hours to 5 or lower is not as beneficial as one would think.</p>
<p>So, that's my dilemma, if you will. Three season JV/Varsity sports team player with maximum course load and hell-worthy commute time, coupled with bunch of volunteering and ECs to retain.
Seeing as ya'll are impossibly talented with equally impossible feats of insurmountable caliber, I've come to rely on you for advice. So, help me out? I'm sure there must be some period of time I can find during my daily life to find time to play my piano....right?
Halp.</p>