Practice Journal

[netzow]

After reading some of the old posts on this forum I have decided to start a Practice Journel. I would like to get some feedback, Ideas, Thoughts from those of you that keep them. These are my questions:
Exactly what do you record in your Practice Journel.
Do you keep track of How many times you played a passage correctly or incorrectly.
Do you write out your own assignment type thing to work on the next day.
Do you keep track of how long you worked on each piece.
How long have you kept one.

Thanks for any help you can give in this area!

[chopinfan_22]

I haven't ever had one before, but I think I'll start. Things that come to mind include:

Time spent practicing on teach piece.
Which measures you practice.
What pieces you practice.
What scales/arpeggios/technical exercises you practice.

As well as the things you mentioned.

[bella musica]

What I like to do is write down my goals for the next day and then work on those.  I might write something sort of like this:

Tuesday - Learn first 5 bars of L'Isle Joyeuse, hands separately and together, at 40 bpm
Play through Chopin scherzo slowly with metronome (maintenance)
Beethoven sonata - phrasing in development of first movement.

Wednesday - Learn next 5 bars of L'Isle, play through first 10 bars 10 times
Scherzo slow w/met again
Beethoven - phrasing... work on pedaling in 2nd movement

That way I make sure that I am accomplishing something, not just sitting at the piano waiting for the clock to chime the hour...

[mattm]

Journals are a good idea!  Don't restrict it to just piano either.  I recentley started keeping one, and it is a good tool to keep various projects in perspective.  I'd say not to really worry about the details of keeping one - and just concentrate on actually keeping up with it day to day.

[netzow]

Posted by: mattm
I'd say not to really worry about the details of keeping one - and just concentrate on actually keeping up with it day to day.
   
I would agree with the second half of that the main thing is to actually keep one consistantly every day. The reason I disagree with the first part is that the journel needs to be helpful to be worth keeping. The details Ensure that you are spending the time productivly and are working on the things you need to work on not just playing the parts that don't need work. Any other thoughts?

[mattm]

A journal is a personal thing for the most part - so basically keep it however you'd like.  I find that the details work themselves out if I just keep up with it.  But that's just what works for me, not for everyone.  Write it however is best for you.  If you're using a word processor or something similar it's really easy to edit as well.