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Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 262
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Nope. I do not keep a practice journal
So much music and so little time! ----------------------------------- 1916 Mason & Hamlin BB Yamaha P155
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Joined: Dec 2012
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For those of you who do keep one and find it helpful that is good. As I said before, I do not need to keep one. I do not feel the need to track my progress in such a manner. I have a teacher who writes my homework in a book and I take the book home and look at what she has written and complete whatever homework she has given me. I have a brain in my head and can think beyond what she has written and just do a bit more if I feel I have more time. I know in my own head what progress I have made and each time I have a lesson we discuss my homework and go from there.
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Joined: Nov 2012
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For those of you who do keep one and find it helpful that is good. As I said before, I do not need to keep one. I do not feel the need to track my progress in such a manner. I have a teacher who writes my homework in a book and I take the book home and look at what she has written and complete whatever homework she has given me. I have a brain in my head and can think beyond what she has written and just do a bit more if I feel I have more time. I know in my own head what progress I have made and each time I have a lesson we discuss my homework and go from there. interesting
Kawai MP11 : JBL LSR305 : Focusrite 2i4 : Pianoteq / Garritan CFX
We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams. -Willy Wonka
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Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 6,377
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I keep one, but it is extremely simple. A paper notebook and a pencil. I write the date, the time I started, and a extremely cryptic shorthand for the piece, then the time I moved on to the next piece, then the time I stopped and so on. Here's yesterday's entry: 2/16/14 6:13 C 69/2 6:45 T June 7:08 Joplin 7:33 So only I can really read it. C = Chopin, T = Tchaikovsky, and the Joplin is Fig Leaf - the three recitals I am preparing for. So I know how much in a day I have practiced. I know how much time I spend on each piece. I only spend a few seconds writing. I don't have to fool with computers or apps, things that would detract from my enjoyment of practice. Occasionally I go back and add up the time I have spent on a piece, by hand, counting on my fingers and toes but not often. So I take the minimalist approach and keep it very simple. Sam
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Joined: Mar 2011
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I don't really. I do have a notebook where I keep notes from lessons, and I will note down questions or revelations that come up during practice. Sometimes I'll also keep track of how far I've gotten in a piece, measure numbers or tempo. I haven't felt the need to keep track of my practice time. I'm not too worried about being lazy, as I practice whenever I can. In fact, I'm a little afraid that if I added it up, I'd have to admit how much time I'm stealing from other things for the piano! (Might be almost as bad as counting up the time spent on PW ! )
1989 Baldwin R
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Joined: Dec 2013
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I dont need to keep one because when I have a lesson, my teacher writes the homework in a notebook so I look at that there's a huge difference between writing down an assignment and keeping a journal. Not the same thing at all.
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Joined: Dec 2013
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As I said before, I do not need to keep one. If you play for fun, you don't need it. What's to track? But if you don't play for fun, then you are thinking like a hobbyist while fooling yourself that you are more than a hobbyist.
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 6,782
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I think the purpose of a practice journal is different for different people. Just as many here in the ABF find MOYD an integral way to keep them on track, and some of us don't, some of us (me included) find that keeping track of total time we spend gives us a little nudge and some of us don't find that useful. But I think it's a personality thing on those kinds of things - I've been a "score keeper" since I was very young, and it's manifested itself in many variations over my life, from literally keeping score for my brothers' baseball teams to using it make a living part-time by doing bookkeeping. It's just part of my neurology. The crux of a practice journal, to me, goes beyond those nudges, and is embodied in jdw's post: I will note down questions or revelations that come up during practice. That's the real use of my practice journal, too - the questions - why isn't the forte really forte? - and the revelations - ah, that's how it really feels to play with no tenseness - or, ah, I can feel the tenseness in my shoulders, I hadn't noticed that before. Because, for me, those are what lead to problem-solving and finding ways to practice more efficiently and play more musically. And keeping the details of what I'm practicing. It's way too easy, given the number of piano projects I have, to not remember which measures or problem spots I've spent time on, or what tempos I've been working at, accomplishing them or not. So for me the practice journal is also an integral part of being an independent musician. And there are those for whom a practice journal isn't the way they remember questions and revelations, too. I'm always sceptical of one-size-fits-all prescriptions. My favorite one is the housekeeping guru that insists that the first thing you have to do every morning is "get dressed to shoes", "put your shoes on". Well, I learned some things from her, but putting on my shoes wasn't one of them Around the house, and in the office for that matter, shoes are a horrible distraction for me. So I don't wear them. I pad around bare- or sock-footed. People are different, and they learn to listen to themselves. But a practice journal has made a huge difference for me. Cathy
Cathy Perhaps "more music" is always the answer, no matter what the question might be! - Qwerty53
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Joined: Apr 2009
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I already gave up on using tally marks for repetitions of tricky bits. Picking up a pencil and making a mark is too disruptive. I am keeping track using a visualization trick someone taught me for knitting.
Learner
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Joined: Jan 2011
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I keep one, and find it very helpful for me in many ways. My journal has gone through a few iterations over time. I based it on the Musician's way form originally. Each week I print out a form I made in excel that lists the technical work for the week, pieces in the new, developing, and performing category, and sight reading. The form is for one week, I record the times for each piece or category along with goals or notes on problems. It has really helped me assure that I cover everything in the week. It also gives me goals to work toward, or reassurance when I look back at previous weeks or months to see what I was struggling with that now is easy. It is a great motivator.
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Joined: May 2012
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I think it was Ralph Waldo Emerson (?) that wrote that you should never go to bed at night without knowing what you'll write in the morning. I think a pianist should similarly never go to bed at night without knowing what they'll practice in the morning (and how they'll go about accomplishing it). I would do this in the morning, however the mind works best when it's uncluttered and free from distractions.
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Joined: Apr 2013
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I have a couple of different systems. On the scores themselves, I write details and things I want to remember every time I play the pieces, but not really anything journal-like except sometimes a record in the margin of tempi and dates for pieces where I'm working on tempo increase. On a large whiteboard I keep lists of pieces being prepared for this or that and mark which are the priorities at the moment. That gets erased regularly. I also have a little journal book, which is reserved for the most important 1-2 things I notice per month, maybe a great concert, or an insight into what's wrong with my left thumb technique. The journal is a permanent object.
Heather Reichgott, piano
Working on: Mel (Mélanie) Bonis - Sevillana, La cathédrale blessée William Grant Still - Three Visions
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