Comments on: Practice Record Thoughts

By: admin

admin — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:56:09 +0000

Seeing progress is a benefit of the practice record but sometimes it can be hard to see – I’ve continually work on Beethoven 5….

Why do I track time…Sort of out of habit… Sort of for my students so they can see it.. And it can become a game for me to try to practice longer than the previous session.

I whole-heartedly agree that progress is much more important that just time. Always go for improvement!

By: Mike Saville

Mike Saville — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:37:27 +0000

Thanks for the post Peter. I agree it is important to keep records – the main benefit I think is for those tough times when you don’t seem to be improving. You can look back several months in your journal at the stuff you used to practice and see that you have made progress.

One question though. Why do you track time? For me the amount of time practised is irrelevant. Surely much more important is what you learned/achieved? I would rather know what improvements I had made than how much time I played for.

Interested to hear your thoughts on that one.

By: admin

admin — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:40:29 +0000

Great points, Dan!

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 05:59:03 +0000

I’m beginning to think that a practice log is necessary to keep track of what you’ve covered and what still needs work. It definitely helped me back in 4th grade when I was learning the instrument so I’d imagine it’d be just as useful now.

When I start practicing regularly in a month or so, I’m going to try a notebook method with categories because it’s easy to jot stuff in and I don’t always practice near a computer. (Don’t have a fancy iPhone yet, but I’m hoping for one soon!) If you’re involved in a number of different ensembles or just have a lot of material you want to cover, a practice log is definitely a must.

By: Thoughts on Using a Practice Log

Thoughts on Using a Practice Log — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:57:14 +0000

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