The Music Made Easy Practice Diary

A Student and Teacher Resource

TEACHERS!

Using the Music Made Easy Practice Diary Will Significantly Improve Your Student Retention and Business Practice

I have many students and the Diary helps me to maintain consistency of challenge for them as well as a logical flow of lesson ideas. I not only have a record of what happened in lessons for me but I know what developments have taken place for the student and how they are feeling about their studies. The Diary has become an integral part of my teaching practice.
Donna May, piano teacher

STUDENTS!

Using the Music Made Easy Practice Diary Will Fast Track Your Learning of Music

The reflective comments that I put into my Practice Diary at the end of each week I have found are really helpful for discovering important issues, problems, patterns and achievements that have come up during my practice for the week. Its interesting how when I write something down and really think about it, I end up with a clearer understanding of how I feel about my practice, my piano playing and just piano itself. It also gives me some time to see what exercises and pieces Ive been concentrating on and what I need to spend more time on next week and what I like doing and dislike doing. It can highlight factors outside of piano too, which might be affecting my practice routine i.e. work, mood, time, and situation.
Leon Sampson, Piano Student

Why Use A Practice Diary?

Learning music requires the ability to work independently and this doesnt come easily to many people. Indeed, many of us who are still practicing today have probably had to work out how to do this. Personally, I feel I have wasted time by not practicing effectively and setting realistic goals, thus I have lost motivation and even given up for long periods of time. How much more progress could I have made if I had been taught how to deal with lack of motivation, to problem solve and work on my studies in a way which gives positive results? However, they say every cloud has a silver lining and the silver lining of my learning has been the development of Music Made Easy. The Practice Diary is at the centre of the Music Made Easy method providing the means with which to diagnose: individual learning requirements of students, track progress, and clarify communication and information between teacher and the student. Most importantly, the Diary helps to cultivate lifelong learning skills which are essential for the long-term pursuit of music practice and include the skills of selfevaluation and problem-solving as well as the development of intellect, capability and confidence. Students using the Diary become conscious of the active role they take in learning and are encouraged to explore their likes, dislikes, motivation, goals and achievements with the result that they gain confidence in their capacity to learn and work independently.

The Diary takes into account days on which practice occurred, what was practiced and the period of time spent on it each exercise. It provides feedback, through reflective work, on feelings regarding progress and anything needing further clarification. By looking at the previous weeks work, you will know what was achieved in your last lesson and how to progress learning from there. You will also be able to deduce motivation levels, work needing revision and how practice at home is being managed. The information is detailed and quick and easy to write down. Finally, the Practice Diary provides a flexible format, which can be tailored to suit any teaching style and individual learning needs.

Creating Your Practice Diary

Click Here to Download Your Free Practice Diary Adjustable Template

Whether you are a teacher or student, or both, you can use the above template and adjust it to suit your needs. Following is a brief explanation of how I have designed the Diary for my personal use and that of my students. On the cover of the Diary, I put my contact information and the students name, as well as the title of the book (e.g. Practice Diary). This makes the resource easily identifiable, and my contact details can be accessed without any trouble in case the student needs to ring me to ask for clarification. Two pages per lesson break (i.e. time between lessons) are used. On one side is a calendar-type grid and, on the other, a list of exercises plus room for reflective comments.

These pages are the same every lesson break and they are bound into a book with about 12 breaks worth of practice. When the Diary is finished, the student and I read back through past reflections and practice pages, summarising achievements and realisations as well as outlining what they will do in the next months to continue their learning. This is always a gratifying experience as many students are often surprised at how much they have learned during this time. By reading back through the Diary it also becomes clear what needs to be done in future. The act of filling out the Practice Outline page and looking at achievements, realisations and future direction gives students more confidence and motivation.

Click Here for tips to help you design your Practice Diary.

The Diary Explained

Calendar Page

Column 1 - Knowing times and days of the week you worked can help you see if it is possible to establish a routine. If you cant always establish a routine, thats ok, but at least you can get an idea of which days and times benefit your Practice. Column 2 Code Here you write the code of the activity carried out. The code descriptions are on the opposite page. I have given each exercise a number because it saves having to write down the exercise name in full every time. Column 3 Duration Write down how long you spend on each exercise (in minutes) and total the time after each session. At the end of the week, total these times to see how long you worked on your music. Column 4 Comments/Notes This is space to write, for example, in what key you practiced your exercises, any realisations, questions for your teacher, or even a shopping list if you dont want to forget anything which occurs to you as you are working. It helps you keep track of what is happening for you in each session.

Column 5 Tutorial Comments During your lesson your teacher uses this space to note down any information so that you can practice your music at home with confidence. This means they may clarify some of your work in the lesson with notes supporting your practice for that week. Make sure you refer to these because if you learn something incorrectly, it will take you longer to relearn the correct way. Practice Guide (opposite page)

The first column of this page is a breakdown of the five main aspects of music: technique creativity harmony reading rhythm

The next column titled code gives a number for each activity you will be working on. Your teacher simply circles the number to let you know what you should be practicing and in the next column, the exercise name is written. I have included some of the exercises I use for my students (a few of which you can find HERE) to give you an idea of where they fit into the five aspects of music. I include various other exercises for my students, but I also leave some blank spaces in each area so that as each student progresses, different activities can be included according to their strengths and weaknesses. Exercises will change over time and they can be added or subtracted in the Diary. The Practice Diary is therefore a flexible resource with the ability to cater to individual skill levels. The final column headed Duration gives you an idea of how long to spend on each exercise. I call these optimum times, and following them helps to maintain a balanced practice schedule. With experience you will eventually get to know the feel of an activity and how long is too long or too short a time to spend on it. The important thing is that you get around to practicing everything circled during the week and not just spend time working on what is easy for you. Remember your practice needs to be Challenging and Enjoyable)! ACE (Achievable,

At the bottom of the page is space for you to write your weekly reflection.

Please read this article if you are a student or this article if you are a teacher to understand how reflective work improves teaching and learning practice.

Click Here for Questions to help prompt reflective work.

Practice Outline (final page of Diary) This page is filled out by reading back through all reflections and writing down salient points in each of the categories. Under the achievement heading write down what you have learned in the period of using the Practice Diary. This could be anything from how to read music, to accomplishing a performance or completing a grade exam (or all three!). You will be surprised and very happy when you realise what you have been able to achieve in a given period. Recognising achievement is vital for building confidence and a positive attitude toward learning. Under the heading practice aims, write down anything that was spoken about or written down in the Diary that hasnt yet been achieved. This could be a piece you talked about learning or an exercise which wasnt attainable at the time, or ideas about what you would like to do, for example, joining a band. These aims give you some direction for the next period of time. The heading realisations helps you to remember what has worked for you in the past.

You may have realised that you practice better in the mornings or that you tend to ignore technique and need to do it more, or that going to concerts or watching music documentaries inspires you. Any observations made regarding how you relate to music are important to remember. When you have completed filling in this page, take it out from the back of the Diary and place it at the front of a new Diary so it can be referred to throughout the next practice stage in order to help direct your learning.

Case Study
In the following case study, you will read two consecutive weekly reflections from Simon, a 20 year-old piano student. After each reflection I will describe what he communicated to me, as a teacher, and how I have used the information to aid his learning.

Reflection One This weeks practice wasnt as good as some of the other weeks. I need to change my practice around again for a change. I feel that there is too much repetition and it is becoming a bit boring. I still feel that Im not making much progress. I think I need to choose some different exercises instead of the same lot all the time. I need to work more on Infant Eyes but I tend to avoid it because when I try practicing the song it sounds wrong. This is something I can fix anyway at my next lesson. It is obvious Simon is not really enjoying playing this week, sounds like he is in a bit of a rut. As a teacher, this immediately sets off alarm bells because if Simon is bored, he wont be as interested in his playing, he wont make much progress and could even decide to give up. I dont want that, and neither does he.

However, Simon has helped me out by letting me know what some of his problems are. So, in the lesson I gave him some new exercises to work on and we wrote out three different practice routines which included more creative playing. Simon has demonstrated good problem solving skills and has come up with a solution to the dilemma himself i.e. changing his practice routine and choosing some different exercises to keep his work interesting. Simons self-direction is an extremely positive sign that in the future he will be able to progress himself without the necessity of a teacher. In his reflection, Simon also talks about a problem with one of his pieces, which he wishes to fix in his next lesson. Apart from redesigning a practice routine, we spent the lesson attending to this piece. From this example you can see how Simon and I have worked together to make the lesson relevant to his interests and sustain his motivation for learning. When a student is involved in their own learning and communicates their needs and observations, they help me make lessons relevant and interesting. A teachers prime task is to engage the student in the learning process. What the student does to learn is more important than what the teacher does to teach.
Teaching Skills in Further & Adult Education, David Minton, City and Guilds of London Institute, 1997

Reflection Two (the following week)

I am happy with the new practice routine this week. Im having a bit of trouble with the new ii-V7-I exercise which I will sort out next lesson. The new Hanon is getting a bit trickier as well, but it is good for a challenge. I like the sound of Wade in the Water and Im looking forward to how it will sound at the end. I think I should spend some more time working on my performance pieces to break the harmony exercises up a bit. Simon seems a lot happier this week because some new exercises and pieces challenged his skills. He is even excited about learning. I didnt need to give him anything new to practice as he states that the ii-V7-I exercises and the new Hanon were challenging enough. Simon also comes up with a way to make his practice more enjoyable, i.e. by playing his performance pieces in order to break up his harmony routine and do something more creative. *************** After just two years of learning with me, Simon now has a couple of students himself and is at University studying composition. Because he is self-directed and able to take care of his music practice, my role is now mostly in a mentoring capacity. Each week he runs his composition ideas past me and we talk about what needs to happen for him to stay in touch with his music.

Sometimes we do some home recording and he is learning some challenging classical pieces. He still keeps his Practice Diary and writes a reflection every week.