In praise of the practice planner

October 27, 2006 at 11:34 AM

My daughter is still pretty happy about her lessons with me. But last night after listening to her play, I was feeling a bit discouraged. I was channeling a hypothetical music teacher, one who didn't know her and who would instantly see 101 things for her to fix the minute she put bow to string.

I've been keeping a written record of her lessons and practice sessions, the "Musician's Practice Planner," which was recommended to me by a friend. And I looked back at some of the entries in September when I started this project . . . and realized that my daughter has made real, measurable progress.

Her first finger used to be consistently low, but these days she is playing a decently in-tune A major and D-major scale. She goes up, she goes down, she doesn't miss any notes or get confused about the string crossings. She doesn't even complain about the scale as much as she used to: she just does it. The improved first finger in the scales has carried over into the other pieces. And her bow arm is really quite good, she has long arms and her bow is very straight and consistently in the right place. And, she is getting better about the "pancake" left wrist. She still flattens her wrist too much occasionally, but most of the time not, and she is getting better about noticing when she's doing it and correcting it without being nagged.

Now I've started making little movies of her with my digital camera. At this age she still loves to watch herself. We talk about the good stuff (her straight bow arm, her improved intonation) and the stuff that needs to be better (her string crossings, her overall tone) and I think she's starting to notice it.

It's been much more helpful than I even imagined to have this written (and now, I hope, visual) record of her progress. I sometimes kept records of the number of minutes I practiced when I was a kid, but never anything like this.

I also remember being confused about why my teachers did some of the things they did--for example, I had one teacher who tended to skip over the "slow movements" (sic) of concertos. He'd have me do the 1st and 3rd movements of Mozart and Bach, but never the 2nd. I still don't know why, and there's a lot I missed as a result. Or he would change the fingerings and bowings in the music and again, not say why. And I would just follow it. My daughter isn't in any danger of doing that. She always wants to know why we're doing everything. And we write it down.

From jennifer steinfeldt warren
Posted on October 28, 2006 at 5:38 AM

I also use the practice planner and find it to be ueseful. Of course, the alloted squares are not large enough for most days, I'm verbose even in practice notes. I used to keep a journal with a regular notebook, and although that worked fine, this is easier to flip back through. I find that I still use a different notebook for the more emotional aspects of my playing and for analyzing videos, recordings, and for my lesson notes.

A welll-spent 6 dollars!

From Karen Allendoerfer
Posted on October 28, 2006 at 11:37 AM

I tend to be verbose, too, but then lately that's been a barrier to doing anything or completing anything . . . I had this problem with writing too: if I can't write a novel, I just won't write at all! So it's been an interesting exercise for me to try to keep it short and simple.

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on October 29, 2006 at 7:38 AM

I keep notes on my students lessons, and I find it very helpful. I write down intriguing things they say and anything that shows progress or understanding. I also vent my anger and frustration in private. Maybe I should keep notes on myself. I'm very patient with my students but very critical of myself.

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In praise of the practice planner

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