You mean "your standard interpretation" - fine by me. I can see it either way.
But in answer to your question (which I thought I had covered above...)
...I'll quickly walk you through my thoughts, so you're more familiar with it next time you do encounter it.
First, it clearly is abstracted - the rules say as much.
"...A normal character must work for two seasons, and gets two seasons "free". However, he cannot leave his job for two seasons, as the free time is spread out over the year..." (emphasis added)
So the average Craftsman must spend the equiv of half their time ("2 seasons") at their job if they want to earn a living, but has the equiv of half to do "other stuff".
Now - are there any limits on that "other stuff?"... YES! This "Free time" is further limited in the very next sentence...
"Thus, he can only undertake study that he could do in and between his job." (emphasis added)
So, as a grog/grog-leader, Theo could spend his evenings studying from a text or practicing Singing, but he could not claim the entire season to go Tanas to be Trained by a Songmaker (other "jobs" might work differently, not his).
(* IC considerations could arise here to create extreme exceptions - we're not going to worry about those.)
The very next sentence after that is...
"The two seasons spent working generate Exposure experience..."
This is the default, but is not a further limiter. It is listed specifically to establish the baseline, but I don't see any "only" or "must" in that sentence (as is found in the previous sentence!), only that these seasons do, inarguably, generate Exposure (as do most any season), if that's what the character wants and if that's all they can get. Combined with the previous sentence, I don't see it as precluding other activities - the previous sentence does that. What this last sentence does is suggest what the default is for the typical character working the typical craft - which a grog is not.
A grog* is not doing "a craft", unlike most of the population of Mythic Europe. They do "stuff" - guard duty, odd jobs, loaf about if they can, avoid they magi as best they can, go on adventures, heal up - they're grogs, not peasants, that's why they have a different (free) Social Virtue. And unlike most peasants, they enjoy a salary - as long as they're on the payroll, they get paid.
(* Here, "grog" = warrior/grunt/redshirt, as opposed to some other "covenfolk" whose jobs are specifically based on one or more production-based "Crafts", such as The Cook or The Blacksmith, who more probably have a daily production quota which they must meet or they are obviously not "doing their job".)
Once a character is free from the "Must craft full time to earn money" treadmill, Practice can be very similar to "work" on its face (that is, to superiors who judge if a grog is "doing their job") - the difference (as I said above) is two-fold - 1) that it does not generate an equal end-product, and 2) it is insufficient to "earn a living" - but that may not be a problem for a grog in a Covenant situation. (In fact, any peasant who isn't in financial need could take a season of "practice" in their Craft and still contribute (less) to their finances.)
That, in a nutshell, is how I came to that standard interpretation of that section. (And I won't presume to project that interpretation on the author(s) - as I said, I can see it either way.)