Keep Your Practice Journal

I never took a practice journal...ever.  I was never asked to keep one by a private teacher, not even in college.  So, it was kind of a foreign concept to me.  However, it didn't bother me.  I just never kept one.

Well, on January 9th, 2013, I was denied a contract release I had been guaranteed previously.  So, I said "Fuck it, screw it, fuck education...I'm done with this shit."  I took the year between January 9th, 2013 and January 12th 2014 to basically practice at school constantly.  I did a TON of practicing.  I learned all the excerpts I was never taught (which is pretty much all of them.)  I taught myself to play Bb clarinet correctly (which was a major hurdle in my life previously.)  I bought an Eb clarinet, a C clarinet, I had already bought an Alto Clarinet and Leblanc Paperclip BBb Contra in the fall of 2012.  So, I have a full collection of clarinets.  And I learned EVERYTHING.

However, I didn't write anything down until June of 2013.  Then I started charting everything.  I started writing down goals.  I charted my tone for each instrument and took all kinds of notes, set goals for learning solo pieces and I learned about 50 pieces in a year and about 100 excerpts.  Basically, I gave myself a Doctorate in performance in a year.  Most of what I got done at the end of the year was directly tied to what I wrote down in my practice journal.

So, what do you write in your practice journal?  Whatever you want.  If I took pictures of mine and posted it here, you wouldn't be able to read it.  It's scribble scratch, but it works for me.  Do your own scribble scratch and see where it takes you.

On a side note:  Don't keep a journal for every instrument you play.  Let them all intermingle.  You never know what you'll learn about one while you're practicing another.

Next up:  My new Bass setup ;) ... sort of.

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaack!

So, I logged on and realized it's been almost 3 years since I've said a word here.  However, the blog has been viewed like 15,000 times since I stopped writing.  So, I guess I should keep it up.  In fairness, when I stopped writing, I got screwed by my school district and sent to a place I didn't want to go, spent a year there, found my best friend and someone I call my sibling.  Then I spent another year and a half working in an even worse situation before I finally quit.

Now, I'm working at home full-time, writing.  It's great.  I homeschool my kids and I work on excerpts in preparation for major orchestral auditions.  So, I'm doing good.  However, I've made a few...discoveries since I stopped writing.  I guess I should share some of those, but I don't want to write it all tonight.

Suffice it to say, I learned A LOT about playing, and it all started when I got screwed out of a new job.  Now, I'm nearly ready to take any audition on the planet.  This is WAY more fun than teaching, and provides a much higher quality of life.

Stay tuned!