Marion<
Boy, do I admire your discipline!

I'm sure there will be lots of advice to your question but let me step in and say that I think that there is some value in not thinking about anything (or thinking about other things--TV, other distractions)for at least as some of your practice time. You're already doing the discipline end of things--actually learning the scales, notes and all.

It seems I have to train both sides of my brain---what I'm learning through conscious effort, and what I learn by mindless doing. Ever get into a performance situation and can't go forward because, as dead as you knew the material on one side of your brain, the other side just forgot it?

What I'm getting at is making it so that the movement becomes second nature. Some of my most productive "muscle memory" training time has been while watching basketball games on TV. I can go on forever---ONE WARNING

Don't practice with a baseball game on-----nobody can stand THAT much practice!