hello, slane.
i can understand your starting this new thread, if you're anything like me! myself, i find it encouraging and helpful to express my own experiences/feelings (especially ones of uncertainty and frusteration!), and if i get empathic or enlightening responses, i feel a lot better ... somehow the frusteration feels less large and i feel like i have possibilities for solutions or change within me.. .
haha, you talk of "existential angst", and then undid the word 'existential' because perhaps it sounded too dramatic to you, eh? lol, but i understand the kind of doubtful feeling that arises when you're trying to learn something, but feel vaguely dissatisfied, as if you're "spinning your wheels" or as if it isn't really capturing some excitement within you.
i am going through something slightly related, myself. at this point in my learning piano (ie a week and a half into it!), i'm still searching for a "method" or a strategy of learning .. that i can stay motivated to be within. it's been a little tough because i'm having to take a hard look at what motivates me ... and realizing that it may take a little effort and strain to find that motivation! ... but hopefully members in this forum can be part of what keeps me encouraged to persevere.
i related this about my own current experiences with you, because it sounds like you may be also having trouble with motivation. (am i correct about this, or am i off base?)
myself, i always like to have my practicing to be, in itself, interesting to me. it may be because i have low tolerance for doing "work" before i get to the "play", but i personally always crave to see *myself* in what i do. if i'm doing simple pieces to "practice" (like you're doing), i personally would want to feel either a) assured that this really, truly is leading up to really fun stuff, and that these simple pieces really are truly necessary, or b) actually find personal interest in these simple exercises.
` so that's me. i'm curious about your experiences with these simple pieces. were they assigned to you? what's the kind of layout or "plan" or "steps" or "pathway to learning" of the method that you're using (if you're using one), and how do you feel about the plan or steps you're taking? [in particular, it sounds like you're not too happy doing these "simple pieces".. or maybe you're bored of them... or perhaps something else?]