Need advice for "returning" to piano

[langsam]

Hello everyone,

I was playing piano regularly last year, playing pieces like the easy Beethoven Sonatas, Scarlatti Sonatas, the easiest Godowskies (these are the more familiar ones I think), and slowly some of the Chopin etudes, however, things had changed.

Since my enrollment in an US university, which is far away from my home, the time I spend on piano is on constant decrease through the first quarter, until now, the second quarter, which the time I spend on piano is like 30 minutes per week. Shouldn't be using the lacking of time due to adjustment(culturally and also lifestyle) as an excuse but I'm afraid that it is the reason.

Recently my free-to-play-piano time seemed to be coming back as I got more used to this new life, and now I would think that I have 4 hours a week for piano. This is a happy estimate, it's likely to be like 1-2 hours.

I'm afraid that it is highly unlikely that I'd be able to maintain an repertoire of over 15 minutes when time for practice is limited like this. But, maintaining is another story, now I'm totally lost of what I should do now, I don't have any idea on pieces that are suitable for me to play, that are

-not too easy (yet not too hard! you get it.),
-not too long (so I won't be working on only one piece for a year?),
-entertaining enough (I need some satisfaction of finishing a piece, and play to my friends).
-need pieces to help playing fast, I'm weak in playing/reading fast pieces. (Allegro or above)
-I love Beethoven, not quite for Mozart, though, always wanted to play Chopin/Albeniz/Russian composers.

Any help in any form would be much appreciated! I still have a judgement and imagination of how a piece should sound like, so I mainly need advice in terms of choice of pieces, and perhaps how to effectively use my time.

A lot of Thanks!




a side note: anyone has an idea on what books are nice for teaching a friend of mine to play piano? she had some good music foundation (but absolutely no experience in keyboard instruments) so I found that she had good feeling of music (and keyboard), and is an adult. And most importantly that it should be available to be purchased/viewed online. An additional thank you on this!

[quantum]

My university offers free lectures on time management, dealing with workloads, and other issues pertinent to students.  You may wish to check with yours if they have a similar program. 

Having gone through a uni degree, I can say that you are not alone in experiencing such time and work constraints.  There is so much we would like to do, but it has got to be done in a timely manner.  See what other daily activities are really not necessary, you may be able to squeeze more practice time if you cut out some activities. 

Use your practice time efficiently and wisely.  Have a practice plan and practice goals.  Don't go practicing with a blank head hoping your fingers will get it as time passes.  Do mental practice, analyze your music, not all practicing has to be done at the piano.