Anyone know of good online practice logging programs?

Written by Ben Chan
Published: June 25, 2014 at 2:57 PM [UTC]

I'm preparing to start a Kickstarter project to develop an online music platform to help musicians become more efficient in practicing, keeping track of activities, communicating with others, and learning through technology. I'm trying to see what else is out there that musicians currently use.

Do any of you use an online program to do what I've listed in the previous paragraph? If so, can you point me to those URLs so I can take a look? I appreciate your help on this, as my goal is to tailor my site to fit as many musicians of all levels and backgrounds as possible, so seeing what already exists out there would really help! I've done my own research and so far I've come up with nothing that exists!

Thank you!
Ben

From Ben Chan
Posted on June 25, 2014 at 3:06 PM

Sheesh, just realized that my site notifications are off so I didn't know you guys had posted comments... sorry about that! I read through each of them and appreciate your feedback!

I built a quick WordPress website at http://www.benchanmusic.com and it's my intention to tackle the majority of the coding since that's what I specialize in. I've described with a little bit more detail what I'm trying to accomplish now that I've had enough time to allow the idea to crystallize in my mind.

I'm not interested in glory or anything. I really honestly just want to build the best product possible so that it can be used by any musician and cut out all the wasted time spent forgetting what you've been practicing, losing teacher notes, losing information between teachers, and most importantly, helping people to learn to sight-read and translating their efforts into the rest of their practice and lessons!

From J.David MacDonald
Posted on June 26, 2014 at 12:46 AM

Check out http://www.practicemusic.com

From Elizabeth Kilpatrick
Posted on June 26, 2014 at 1:18 AM

I have an app on my phone that I like for logging practicing. It's called Music Journal and I bought the full version.

From Andrei Pricope
Posted on June 26, 2014 at 2:01 AM

Check out these in the App Store for inspiration:

Liszt Practice Assistant
Music Journal Pro
Just Practice
Clear Tune
Clockwork
Sound Check
Read Rhythm
Rhythm Training
String Players' Digital Dictionary (StringPlayersDictionary.com)
Musician's Kit

I would say a helpful practice assistant would have:
- a tuner (including A415-445 range, baroque to VPO)
- tone generator (drones)
- metronome (including subdivisions, accents, selectable click sounds, mute, flashing screen)
- bonus 1: able to run metronome AND drone at the same time
- bonus 2: increase/decrease tempo by 2/4/8 bpm every 30s, 1m, 2m for practicing loops
- a timer (w day and week totals by practiced item)
- sound recorder
- goal setting area
- note taking (categories like: technique, scales, etude/caprices, repertoire, chamber music, orchestral excerpts)
- simple reminder: do..., bring..., get... buy..., check..., listen to..., deadlines...
- full-screen static or pop-up custom goals reminder ("don't rush", "narrow half-steps", "bow-hold", "breathe", "dynamics" etc.)
- sharing of recordings, notes, goals, timer (via text, email)
- bookmarks to YouTube, IMSLP, SheetMusicPlus, V.com, Strad, Wikipedia, etc. + user's custom bookmarks
- NO ads

If you want to go nuts, why not add a music glossary, rhythm flash cards, a random scale/arpeggio/technique/piece generator ("roll the dice")

Good luck with your app! Tell us how it's going...

From Michael Baumgardner
Posted on June 27, 2014 at 1:25 AM

Ben, I don't know if you are going to develop an app, a computer program, or an online interactive system. Currently, I use an Excel spreadsheet which of course is easy to customize. I doubt I'd use an app, but I would likely take a good look at an online tracking system if one were available. I would think it would do better at storing more historical data and could probably easily provide summary measures. I think it could be a little more powerful and than an app too. If that shows up on Kickstarter, I'll be there to donate. Either way you are going though, good luck!

From Cynthia Faisst
Posted on July 2, 2014 at 1:41 AM

Ben:

No one mentioned listening. Yet I know they do it even if they are not Suzuki kids.

Its on the top of my practice chart:
Environmental:
Preview:
Review:
Current pieces:
Concerts attended:

Then also Tonalizations. Suzuki has lots of them depending on the level of the string player. From Twinkle to Bouree.

Then there are Pieces:
Review pieces
Polishing piece:
Current piece:
Preview piece activities:

Yost Shifting drop downs.
Transpositions

I'm thinking like a string player. A Jazz musician or a horn player might have different things in mind like going through the circle of 5ths on scales, arpeg. etc.

You might have different types of drop down lists, depending on the instrument involved.

This entry has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.

Anyone know of good online practice logging programs?

Laurie's Books

Subscribe