Practice Journal

[evanbone1]

I’ve heard some stuff about people having practice journals, to help stay consistent and to always know what to practice and be more efficient, my teacher also mentioned starting one. I was just curious as to how to go about this, what specifically to write in it, and how to follow it! Thanks!

[mgladdish]

I've never done it, but keep hearing about people who have. I'm also super-interested in this.

PS. There's mention of one towards the end of "Learn Faster, Perform Better by Molly Gebrian", but I'm only a few chapters in so far so can't say anything useful about that yet. But it's a fabulous book so far and I'd highly recommend it on the first few chapters alone.

[JJHenning]

Practice journaling is the best. Keep it simple to start. List what you worked on, how long, tempo, trouble spots. Use the journal to focus your next session so you always approach the horn with a plan. Do it consistently and it will take on a life of its own that is meaningful to you.

At one point I was using different pens for different aspects and had a special bound note book, lots of detail and a little ceremony to it. It was super satisfying to review notes and understand the path I took to progress, then reflect and adjust. These days, with a busier life and less predictable practice schedule, my journaling looks more like a crumpled grocery list in a coffee stained notebook. Even more now it helps focus my sessions amd use time better. Still essential. Set and record small goals: "10 minutes today to improve _____". Amazing the focus those mini goal sessions create.

[BPBasso]

I've been tracking what warmups, exercises, etudes, scales, and sometimes solos I play daily. Also the amount of time spend practicing. Followed by notes from listening to my daily recordings. I've been adjusting my warm up to work on areas that sounded the worst from the previous day's recordings.

I've recently returned to playing after 15 years off the horn. Trying my best to efficiently restore my chops without overplaying and abusing them.

[TromboneLAB]

I kept a practice journal throughout undergrad and grad school. I highly recommend it because it not only helps you stay organized, but gives you perspective over time. At the end of each practice you can jot down your thoughts and quickly plan how you’ll attack things in the next session, which creates a continuity of knowledge and focus across practice sessions. It also helps you overcome road blocks and frustrations because you can easily look back and see what you’ve accomplished. Sometimes we can’t see the forest for the trees and since we are chasing an ever changing target it’s hard to think our efforts are generating the results we want. They are if we practice daily and effectively, but as we improve our new goals push our target result further away from where we now are. The practice journal is the best way I’ve found to notice your arrival points on previous goals which builds confidence in your efforts and motivates you to keep going. I also found that writing down thoughts at the end of a frustrating session helped me move on from that frustration faster and feel better about my efforts so that frustration didn’t stay with me, zapping my motivation and confidence while it lingered. I highly recommend this routine as part of your practice. Try it. I think you’ll find it incredibly useful.