Recording Music Lessons: A Modern Way to Remember Your Lesson and Practice With Intention

How recordings, transcripts, and AI summaries support more intentional musical practice

Memory in the Music Studio

I’m in a violin lesson, I begin playing the piece I am currently working on and it doesn’t start off as I’d hoped. The first chord is out of tune, then, as I proceed to play, my spiccato feels unbalanced. There is a lot to think about as I play, from how I’m technically executing the piece, to the fact that I am essentially performing a piece for another person who is analyzing each detail as I play. I play through the first phrase, then pause to receive some feedback. As we work phrase, by phrase, I jot some notes in the margin of my music, add some new dynamic markings, possibly write in a couple new fingering options. I work this way through the lesson, then, when I get home, I type up more detailed notes based mostly on my own memory of the lesson.

The problem with this method of note taking is that I’m mostly relying on my own memory and some marginalia, and while I usually recall most of the new fingering or dynamic choices discussed and reviewed during the lesson, which I’ve also noted in my music, a lot is covered in a lesson. It’s easy to forget some of the important nuances such as specific corrections, metaphors, or the connections between topics covered in other lessons that might help me become a better player over time.

I was never completely happy with my method of taking notes in my violin lessons. I wanted to capture the lesson more fully, but trying to take more thorough notes while juggling marking my part, and receiving and executing feedback during my lesson always proved distracting. The cognitive load of a violin lesson is enough on its own that additional tasks such as taking detailed notes prove to be too much of a challenge. The downside of this is that I am only able to capture the big ideas in my post-lesson notes, not the nuance.

Why Recording and Transcribing Music Lessons Works

A few months ago, my teacher asked me if I wanted to start recording my lessons. It wasn’t the first time she had made the suggestion. Previously, I wasn’t sure what I would do with lesson recordings or if I’d have the time to listen back to the lessons to take notes. But this time, I thought I could find a transcription tool to help me take better notes on my lesson. I had been keeping digital notes each week, including the major topics addressed in my lesson, and my main practice priorities for the week, and I thought I could use a transcription of my lesson to make my usual notes even better.

Audio recordings on their own are valuable, as they can capture my teacher’s demonstrations, I can hear my own progress on a piece, or recall useful exercises to solidify tricky passages. Even without the ability to transcribe, lesson recordings can be useful tools in the practice room. But with the addition of transcriptions, recordings are even more valuable. Transcriptions make it far easier to search through lesson content for an important piece of information, or evaluate patterns over time. They can augment your memory when sitting down to write weekly practice priorities and capture more detailed notes from a lesson. Additionally, knowing that you have a recording and a transcript of your lesson helps reduce cognitive load during the lesson so you can pay full attention to participating in the lesson without having to stop and take notes.

Using AI to Summarize Music Lessons

While having a recording and a transcription are valuable on their own, these tools open up so many other possibilities for learning after the lesson. After recording and transcribing my lesson for the first time, I was excited to integrate more details into my regular lesson notes workflow. I turned to AI tools to help me create an accurate lesson summary and a list of key takeaways. I was surprised how the summary captured lesson insights that I did not already have in my own notes and the key takeaways helped me when I sat down to prioritize my practice for the next week.

Not only does recording and transcribing music lessons provide a valuable practice tool, but the ability to use AI tools helps to review the major topics covered in lessons more quickly, streamlining goal-setting for the week, and aids in tracking common themes across lessons to help define clearer long-term practice pathways.

My Lesson-to-Practice Workflow

At The Lesson

When I get to my lesson, I create a new note in Apple Notes. I add a new audio recording to this note, then enable the transcription option. When my lesson starts, I start my recording and set my phone in an out of the way place so both my teacher and I can forget about it for the next hour. During the lesson, I take short notes in my music as usual to highlight key areas to practice, important phrasing and dynamics, and new fingering choices.

At Home

When I get home (or the next morning), I open my weekly lesson note document in Obsidian and fill out the template that I use for all of my lesson notes. I make a copy of my lesson transcript, review the important points, and run it through ChatGPT to generate a summary of my lesson with a list of key takeaways. I always read this summary and make corrections as needed. I then add the summary to my weekly lesson notes document and review it when writing my weekly practice priorities. Throughout the week, I refer to my notes and priorities when I practice, and may review parts of the recording to recall useful exercises or feedback that were presented during the lesson.

A Few Tools Worth Trying

If you are interested in recording and transcribing your lessons, here are a few tools to try.

• Apple Notes (iOS) – This is the simplest method I have found for recording and transcribing lessons, and the one I have chosen to use. But, if you don’t have an iOS device, there are plenty of other options.
• Otter AI – A well-known tool for meeting transcriptions that also could useful for transcribing lessons.
• Whisper-based apps (Whisper Transcription, etc.) – Allows you to upload audio to get a transcription.
• Notta / Riverside Transcriber – These services offer plans for uploading video/audio files and getting text transcriptions and are popular with podcasters.

Insight and Practice

In the time I’ve been recording and transcribing my lessons, I’ve found that this process not only lets me stay present during lessons without the distraction of taking additional notes, but it also supports my practice over time, helping me to gain deeper insight into what I should be practicing, the progress I am making, and overall themes to pay attention to as I’m looking to grow as a musician.