Do you keep track of your practices?

[tbdana]

I started keeping a log of the hours that I practice each week. I just do the start and stop times, total hours for the day, and cumulative hours for the week. Here’s an example of this weeks log:

IMG_4153.jpeg

I don’t keep track of what I practice, or how I think I’m doing, or anything else. Just hours. In this case, I averaged a little over three hours a day.

Do you keep a log? If so, what do you keep in it?

[robcat2075]

I recall in sixth grade beginner band we had a sheet stapled into our method book where were to log our daily practice time. We were expected to do at least 15 minutes per day, six days per week but i was a good boy, I usually did 30 minutes.

so my log would look something like this

30 30 30 30 30 30
30 30 30 30 30 30
30 30 30 30 30 30
30 30 30 30 30 30 ...

One week my teacher picks up my method book to check the log and sees this...

xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx

His face instantly snaps into anger mode!

He shouts, "WHAT IS THIS?? YOU... DIDN'T... PRACTICE???"

I did not grow up with people who flew into sudden psychotic rages so this was very alarming, especially since the worst case problem for him was that maybe some sixth grader didn't practice his horn for a week? But he is clearly about to lose it.

"Those are Roman Numerals. XXX is thirty." I explain.

"Ohhh..." he says as he reverts back to human form. "...ha ha ha... Roman numerals!"

The lesson ended amicably.

Although we learned about Base 12 in math several weeks later I decided not to stress test the band teacher with that.

The next year was 7th grade... junior high, new school, and new teacher. He wasn't interested in us logging our practice time so that was the end of that.

TLDR: No, i don't keep track of my practice time.

[Mr412]

What is this - middle school? You should keep a notation in your Rubank lesson book as to how many hours/minutes you practice each exercise. It's part of your grade. LOL

[harrisonreed]

If it helps it helps. It's better to just show up to the lesson and play better than the teacher -- then you've practiced enough.



There is no point for me to track my practice because I practice 40 hours a day like these guys. I use a gravity chamber going near light speed, like Goku, instead of a magic t-shirt, but I digress.

[Blatboy]

Not part of me personality. I've tried but failed many times. If I don't have something specific to work on, (or that I WANT to work on at that moment) I use a random practice routine generator which has improved my practice (and the results) by leaps and bounds.

[tbdana]

Starting a new week of practice. I track it Saturday to Friday, so today is the first day. No gig tonight so I got in 5 hours of practice.

IMG_4157.JPG

[Bach5G]

Starting a new week of practice. I track it Saturday to Friday, so today is the first day. No gig tonight so I got in 5 hours of practice.


IMG_4157.JPG

How do you divide up those 5 hours?

[tbdana]

How do you divide up those 5 hours?

It's never the same twice. But today I started with Marshall Gilkes' daily routine, then did a bunch of exercises. I approach exercises like weightlifting in that I concentrate on exercises that target specific muscles or techniques. That took about 2.5 hours to get through. Then I spent the rest of the time on literature. I began with a couple easy etudes and moved progressively to increasingly difficult material.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

[VJOFan]

Presently, it’s pretty easy to keep track of: as daily as possible from 7-7:30, between dinner clean up and my nightly Jeopardy date with my wife.

I had a very detailed log and goal book back in the day. From 10 years out to the next day’s session things were charted out as to what was to be accomplished and the steps to get there. It was Inner Game influenced goal setting as a powerful tool to make a preferred outcome more likely.

[AndrewMeronek]

I don't keep a log. Maybe I could, but I just don't feel like the effort is worth the payoff for me. I know what I need to work on, and if I'm slacking it's because I'm not focusing properly on the right things in practice. The actual clock time to me doesn't really matter that much.

The ultimate test: arrive at a gig. If I end up having musical bowel movements and crapping all over myself and other musicians suddenly give me worried and/or disgusted looks and start to shuffle away, I know it's too late (for that gig) and that I have to be a lot better at practicing.

[tbdana]

Today, Sunday, was lighter because I had a big band rehearsal and trombone quartets.

IMG_4173.jpeg

[mgladdish]

Blimey, that looks like more work than I can be bothered with.

For my day job, I've found https://clockify.me/ to be super-useful. It's dead easy to start and stop a timer when you're doing a particular job, and it adds it all up and keeps track of everything. I use it to keep track of billable time for different clients, but it would handle practice time well.

[jazztonight]

Yes, I keep a log, and have been doing so for the last six years--that's when I started to play trombone.

I started keeping a log years ago when I began to play flute at age 66 (when I retired). Prior to that, with sax and piano, I did not keep a log.

My daily trombone practice log book includes:

Start time
An indication that I did Long Tones, Lip Slurs, scales, arpeggios, and any page(s) from whatever theory/method book I'm using
The names of the 3-5 songs I improvised on that session, plus the key and the tempo. I work from a list of 100 favorite standards, mostly in iRealPro, some in Aebersold. In iRealPro, I can change the key and tempo and style.
Any big band chart I'm trying to work on.
End time

I also indicate when I have a trombone lesson or when I play trumpet/trombone duets with a friend.
I do not indicate much of what goes on with the 3 big bands/concert band I play in.

Occasionally I'll make a comment about my playing that day, or indicate if I took my horn in for repair, etc.

Recently I looked back at my log books to see when I'd begun a particular concept.

[tbdana]

Yes, I keep a log, and have been doing so for the last six years--that's when I started to play trombone.

I started keeping a log years ago when I began to play flute at age 66 (when I retired). Prior to that, with sax and piano, I did not keep a log.

My daily trombone practice log book includes:

Start time
An indication that I did Long Tones, Lip Slurs, scales, arpeggios, and any page(s) from whatever theory/method book I'm using
The names of the 3-5 songs I improvised on that session, plus the key and the tempo. I work from a list of 100 favorite standards, mostly in iRealPro, some in Aebersold. In iRealPro, I can change the key and tempo and style.
Any big band chart I'm trying to work on.
End time

I also indicate when I have a trombone lesson or when I play trumpet/trombone duets with a friend.
I do not indicate much of what goes on with the 3 big bands/concert band I play in.

Occasionally I'll make a comment about my playing that day, or indicate if I took my horn in for repair, etc.

Recently I looked back at my log books to see when I'd begun a particular concept.

I'm impressed! Bow down to the king!

[Kdanielsen]

I have had a million different practice plans over the years. Here is where we are right now. I have gone through various versions of keeping track of time, but currently I'm keeping track of completions based on daily goals.

These screenshots don't really explain the madness, but they keep me organized.

[tbdana]

Wow. That is way more than I have the time or energy for, but it's something I wish I did. It's all I can do to simply write down the times.

How did you put this together?

[Kdanielsen]

I just don't really get much done without this kind of organization. It's a way to fend of frustration. I've only ever been a moderately "talented" player so I need this kind of thing to make progress. Part of the inspiration for this kind of thing was a combination of my tendency to hyper focus on a particular etude/solo and get stuck, noticing that the players that I work with that I thought sounded the best basically sightread everything, and the idea of staying in one key for a long time (for example, today I'll be playing all those etudes in the key of A then not seeing them again for months). The etudes are basically my second practice of the day (60-90 minutes). It took some time to organize everything but it's been helpful and feels like it's worth it.

[Kdanielsen]

Ok so I just did "day 2" of the key of A (the box highlighted in yellow) which consisted of reading through Blaz 73 and 74, Rochut 71, Kopp 42, Blume 18, and Rochut 25 (tenor/bass 8vb), all of which are in 3 sharps. Day 2 also includes Uber Virtuoso Clef Studies 4, alto trb from Sluchin, and clef reading (treble clef on alto trb, treble and MS clef on tenor trb) from Maxime Alphonse horn studies. Took me about an hour to read though all that. Didn't stop much but I did go back and repeat some spots that I really messed up. Nothing was perfect, but everything improved.

Tomorrow will be Arban's. Arban's takes about 90 minutes to do so my fundamentals is 60 minutes rather than 90, like it was today.