Most piano students don’t use a piano practice log.
For most piano students, it’s hard to get practice time in, period. So, making the time to take notes in a piano practice log sounds unthinkable.
But it’s an essential tool to get the most out of your practice time.
This article is going to explain the components of the ultimate piano practice log. Why they’re so important, and why you need to use them.
You can use our guide to create your own piano practice log. Or download our piano practice log and start using these tools right away.
You can use this for yourself, or with your kids to help their practice.
The Problem: Why We Need a Piano Practice Log
Every musician has been there before. We practice for hours and hours, and it feels like we’re making little to no progress.
The problem is worse for children when they don’t use a piano practice log.
Since they’re so new to the planet, they don’t have a sense of the bigger picture. So when it feels like they’re not making progress, they’re more inclined to resist practicing. Before you know it, they decide to quit.
And that’s the greatest tragedy of all.
There's a reason piano students don’t make as much progress as they could. It's because their practice sessions lack planning and reflection.
The typical student plays through pieces from start to finish a few times, and that’s it. That's the practice session.
No polishing of mistakes or pushing forward to learn new music. A piano practice log ensures that students plan and reflect every day.
Good piano teachers give their students notes to use as a guide for at-home practice. But in the typical student’s hurried schedule, these are often glossed over. Or not reviewed at all.
In a world of tasks, the practice assignments feel like a list of what to practice rather than how to practice.
This is why students need a piano practice log.
The Components of the Ultimate Piano Practice Log
Next, we’ll cover the components of the ultimate piano practice log and why they’re important. Here is the short list, and then we’ll cover each of them one by one.
- Keeping track of streaks
- Checkbox: Distractions and Teacher’s Notes
- Planning Part 1: What is the goal for this practice session?
- Planning Part 2: How are we going to do it?
- Planning Part 3: Planning for Obstacles
- Reflection: What’s exciting about accomplishing these goals?
- **Practice**
- Reflection: How did it go?
- Finish: What will we try to improve on tomorrow?
Streaks: The Big-Picture Accountability Aspect of the Ultimate Piano Practice Log
How many days do you think you can practice in a row? This is where streaks come into play in the piano practice log.
Habits are self-perpetuating. If you’ve made a habit of not practicing, then that streak is going to continue. It’s hard to break that cycle. That’s why a streak chart is an important part of your piano practice log.
It’s a very simple concept. Create a grid with as many boxes as you like. When you practice, check one of the boxes. The next day, check the next box. The next day, check the next box.
Now you’re making a chain. See where we’re going with this?
As your chain gets longer, you will be more motivated to keep that streak going. How long can you make yours? It's okay if you don’t get an entire 30-minute practice session in. If you do anything at the piano, then you can count it as part of your streak in the piano practice log.
This is foundational work. Because if you’re not spending some time with the piano every day, then the piano practice log won’t be as helpful to you. You’ll see why shortly.
Daily Piano Practice Log: The Pre-Planning Checkboxes
Okay, here we go! Ready to get more out of your piano practice than you ever thought possible?
At the top of each page of your piano practice log should be two checkboxes.
The first checkbox should say “distractions eliminated.” One reason we don’t get as much done as we could in our practice is we live in a world of distraction. Cell phones, computers, television, even snack foods.
When these distractions are anywhere in sight or earshot, it’s guaranteed we won’t be as focused.
Take a few minutes to leave the devices in another room. Ask for some quiet from other family members. And make your surroundings as boring as possible aside from your piano materials. This alone will double your practice productivity.
For those who are curious, the term for this is “environment optimization.” And it’s an important foundational step in your daily piano practice log.
The second checkbox should read “Teacher’s Notes.” This is a check in that you have the notes your piano teacher put together for you for this week’s practice.
As we mentioned earlier, very few students read the notes from the piano teacher. This is an opportunity wasted, because good teachers don’t only write what to practice. They write how to practice. It’s like having a map that leads you to the buried treasure versus wandering around in the wilderness.
Piano Practice Log Planning Part 1: What is the Goal for this Practice Session??
Zig Ziglar’s quote “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit the target every time” is truer than ever. In your piano practice log, write down what you’re going to accomplish this practice session.
Keep in mind how much time you have planned for practice. And keep your goals realistic.
Now, here’s the most important part here – you must be specific.
Writing “I’m going to make my Beethoven sonata better” is not specific enough. Better could be getting more music learned. Better could be correcting mistakes in the music. But most often, students can’t articulate what better is. Which is why you want to be specific in your daily piano practice log.
A better example would be, “I will learn measures 16-32 of my sonata. I’ll know it’s learned when I can play it three times in a row without errors and with good phrasing.”
Set your goals for the session. Be specific.
Piano Practice Log Planning Part 2: How Are We Going to Do It?
Next comes your plan for how you’re going to complete the goals you set. This is where your teacher’s notes should come in handy. Once again, you’ll need to be specific about this. If you’re not sure how to phrase it, imagine you’re giving instructions to someone else.
“Practice it” doesn’t count for the same reason “better” doesn’t count for goal-setting.
Using our sonata example, you could write something like this:
“I will practice 2 measures at a time, aiming for 3 times in a row for each 2-measure section. Each time I learn a new 2 measure chunk, I will add it to the other parts I learned. I’ll keep doing this until I have mm. 16-32 learned.”
Piano Practice Log Planning Part 3: What Obstacles Can We Expect? How Will We Deal With Them?
When unexpected difficulties arise, piano students tend to spin their wheels. They may stop practicing. More likely, they’ll “play the parts they know.” But if you can plan for the obstacles in advance and have an action plan ready, you won’t fall into this trap.
And so, the next part of the planning stage of your piano practice log should be planning for obstacles. And how you’ll deal with them.
Here’s an example.
I may become unfocused. If this happens, I’ll walk around the room a few times, take a couple deep breaths, and come back to it.
Or…
I could get frustrated with a difficult section. I’ll use this as a signal to break this down into more manageable sections. If I struggle, I’ll drop my teacher a note to ask for some advice.
There are always going to be obstacles when you practice. By planning how you’ll handle them in advance with your piano practice log, you won’t let them slow you down. In fact, you can enjoy the rewards of knowing you pushed through where others stopped.
All by taking a little time to plan in your piano practice log.
The actual practice is coming, but first it’s important to reflect on one important topic:
Piano Practice Log Reflection: What’s Exciting About This?
Everyone’s busy. It’s the way society is now. And so, it’s easy to feel like piano practice is “another task” to complete in the course of a day. So it’s important each day to reflect on why this work you’re about to do is exciting?
What will life feel like if you complete today’s goal? What will life feel like if you complete your practice goals 7 days in a row? What does “awesome” feel like to you?
By taking a few moments to reflect and write this down in your piano practice log, you’ll be much more motivated. And your practice session will mean more than if you jumped straight into it.
The Practice Session Itself: Using Your Piano Practice Log as Your Guide
Now that you’ve completed the planning, it’s time to get to work!
You’ve cleared your distractions. Your teacher’s notes are handy. You’ve planned what you’re going to complete. You’ve planned how you’re going to complete it. You’ve anticipated the obstacles. And you’ve defined why this is exciting work to get done.
Doesn’t piano practice already feel more exciting with a piano practice log? Time to start your timer and go!
Now, when you start your practice session, it’s important to use your piano practice log as a guide. Don’t do anything that’s not part of the plan for that day’s practice.
Remember what you’re trying to doer the plan for how. And stick to it.
For anything you’re practicing, check the teacher’s notes. You should have already incorporated the teacher’s notes into your planning. But, it’s always good to double check.
If you run into any obstacles, check your piano practice log to remind yourself how you’re going to handle it. If you run into something that you couldn’t plan for, then make a new plan on the fly. Or, add it to your notes for potential obstacles tomorrow.
Post-Practice Reflection #1: How Did It Go?
When you’re finished with your practice session, write about how it went. Did you complete your goal? If you didn’t, why not?
It’s important to note that it’s okay if you didn’t complete the goal. What is important is to speculate why you didn’t complete it.
Were the tasks too much for the practice time you had? Were they more difficult than you anticipated? Were you less focused than you thought you would be? Or was everything awesome?
By reflecting in your piano practice log, you’re identifying what went well and what didn’t. Do this for several days, and you’ll notice your practice efficiency improving. Especially if you follow through with this last component of the piano practice log.
Post-Practice Reflection #2: What Will We Do Better Tomorrow?
There’s always something to improve. Even if only by 1%. So, write what you will try to improve upon with tomorrow’s practice.
You can use your imagination here. It could be finding new ways to focus. It could be dialing back or ramping up your goals. Find something. And if you’re not sure, write anything. Experimentation is an often-overlooked aspect of developing practice efficiency.
Our Gift to You!
You could put together your own Ultimate Piano Practice Log. But, we’ve saved the work for you and would like to give you this PDF of our ultimate piano practice log.
Here’s how to use the PDF. The first page is a grid for keeping track of your practice streaks (days in a row of practice). The next seven pages are a week’s worth of daily piano practice log entries. Place these in a binder or folder.
We included seven pages so you can get started with a week of materials right away. To keep going, print out more of these piano practice log pages as needed.
You can sign up to receive your copy right here:
Onward!
You now have the tools to double or even triple your practice efficiency.
If you have kids learning piano, you can still use this piano practice log with them.
If they’re too young to use this particular piano practice log, that's okay. Take the concepts here and talk with them about it before and after they practice. Most parents have a hard time making the time for this. But if you’re still reading this, you are not “most parents.”
Questions? Send them our way at j.roberts@southshorepianoschool.com