How I Use Weekly Music Lesson Notes to Guide My Practice

Over the years, I’ve tried many methods of taking music lesson notes and keeping a music practice journal. Some of these worked for a while, or evolved into other forms of journaling or note-taking. Ultimately, I found that a straightforward, one-document weekly music lesson note structure works the best for me to remember my lessons and to help me set weekly priorities and goals for my practice.

This works for me because it is simple, helps me track what I need to work on, how to practice it, and allows me to see trends over time. If you are looking for a system of taking notes on your own music lessons, setting weekly practice goals for your music, the simple workflow that I’ve developed over time might be the inspiration you need to start keeping notes to further your own practice.

From Lesson to Practice: How I Track My Week

• Before my lesson, I create a new note in Obsidian using my template for violin lesson notes. This one document is where I keep a record of my lesson and my priorities for the next week.
• I attend my lesson and audio record the lesson in Apple Notes with the transcribe feature turned on.
• The next morning, I write down my top practice priorities for the week in my lesson note document, and log the repertoire, exercises, and etudes that I worked on in my lesson.
• I get ChatGPT to summarize the transcript of my lesson and add this to my lesson notes. I then edit the summary of my lesson for accuracy and add in additional information about the lesson that the AI missed. This helps me remember the key topics from my lesson.
• I then review my practice priorities and add anything new that came to light after reviewing the transcript and transcript summary.
• Throughout the week, I review my practice priorities and add quick notes, or questions in my notes document as they come up during my practice. This helps me remember questions that I want to ask my teacher during my next lesson.

Why a Consistent Template Matters for Me

I use Obsidian to keep track of my lesson notes, repertoire, and etudes. One feature I like about Obsidian is the ability to use templates for recurring use-cases like violin lesson notes or repertoire pages. This consistent framework allows me to keep track of the most important aspects of my lessons and identify only the key things to keep in mind when I practice each day. I’ve tested a similar workflow in Notion, another popular system, and ultimately preferred Obsidian for its simplicity.

I prefer to keep one note each week, but Obsidian and templates could easily be used for full practice journaling systems including daily and weekly notes, monthly reflections and more. After a process of iteration, this is what I’ve landed on to help me track my violin lessons and weekly practice priorities:

Sections I Use in My Weekly Music Lesson Notes

• Material Studied: Pieces, Etudes, Scales, Exercises — I list all the material covered in my lesson, some of which links to dedicated pages on pieces or etudes.
• Practice Priorities — Top 3 or 4 things to practice during the week based on what was covered in my lesson.
• Lesson Summary — A short summary of the lesson.
• General Topics — A list of the main topics addressed in the lesson.
• Etudes/Exercises Assigned — Any exercises or etudes my teacher recommends working on to build techniques addressed during the lesson
• Follow-Ups for Next Lesson — Questions or topics that I take note of throughout the week to bring to my next lesson.

How Weekly Notes Support My Music Practice

• Prioritize my practice each week.
• Keep track of my teacher’s feedback, suggested practice strategies, exercises and overall lesson themes.
• Keep a record of every lesson tied to each piece I study.
• Reflect on my practice and progress, noting reoccurring themes in lessons, and how different practice strategies have worked for me over time.

A Simple System To Record My Week in Music

I’ve learned that keeping a record of my musical life doesn’t have to be complicated. After taking some time to try different methods, finding some that work, and iterating on them, I’ve discovered that keeping one note per week is an uncomplicated way to remember what I work on and to reflect on what I learn over time. My note-taking system is not static, it’s a process that’s still evolving. I try new things over time, add what works, and remove what doesn’t. It is a place where I can connect to the work I do as a musician and keep track of the knowledge of music shared with me by my teacher.

Even if you arrive at a very different system yourself, I hope that this glimpse into the way I track my lessons and plan my practice each week helps you consider new possibilities and if you haven’t already, to explore keeping a practice journal.