Want to start on paper? The free printable music practice log is one page for a week, laid out the way this guide describes.
A practice log is for two readers. The student needs to remember what to work on between lessons, and the teacher needs to see what happened at home. Most logs only serve the first, because they record time and nothing else. The method below adds one line a day, and it makes the log worth reading.
1. Write the assignment at the lesson
Fill in the week’s work before you leave the lesson, while the teacher is still in the room. Use the teacher’s own words: “Minuet, bars 9 to 16, hands separate” tells you more on Thursday than “Minuet” does. Give each piece, scale or exercise its own line.
Ask for a daily goal in minutes at the same time. The right number depends on the student, and the teacher already has one in mind.
2. Log the minutes when you stop
Write the time down at the end of each session, not at the end of the week. Minutes remembered on Sunday are always rounder and usually longer. A timer on the music stand makes this easy.
Count the time spent playing. A practice that starts with ten minutes of finding the book and tuning is shorter than it looks on a clock.
3. Add one line on what got better
This is the line that turns a time sheet into a practice log. One short sentence a day: “bar 12 rhythm finally even”, or “G major scale at 80 without stopping”. If nothing got better, write what went wrong instead. That is just as useful to a teacher.
Writing it also changes the practice. A student who knows they will have to name one thing tends to pick one thing to work on.
4. Tick what you worked on
Next to each assignment, tick the days it got practiced. At the end of the week the empty rows show what got skipped, usually the hardest piece or the scales, without anyone having to ask.
5. Bring it back to the lesson
Hand the log over at the start of the lesson. A teacher can read a week in a minute and start where the trouble is. Leave room for questions you collected during the week, and for the teacher’s initials if they want to sign it.
Start a fresh page the day after the lesson, with the new assignments.
For parents
Some teachers ask a parent to sign the log each week. Sign what you saw, and read the what-got-better lines before you sign. They are a better conversation starter than “did you practice?”.
Try to keep the log the student’s job. A parent filling in the minutes from the next room ends up with a log nobody trusts, and an argument every Sunday.
On paper or on a phone
Paper sits on the music stand, needs no charging, and a teacher can write on it. Its weak point is honesty about time: nothing stops a rounded-up number.
Practice Proof, our app, keeps the minutes for you. Put the phone near the instrument and it counts only the minutes it hears playing or singing, then shows them beside the time spent at the instrument. It keeps the teacher’s assignments, a daily goal for each player, and a note for each session, and it makes a practice sheet for the teacher as a PDF or a spreadsheet. The sound is checked on the phone and thrown away. It cannot tell who is playing, so music from a speaker counts too. It has no metronome or tuner. It is free on the App Store.
Download on the App Store▶ Coming soon to Google Play
We compared it with other practice apps in apps like Andante, with our interest declared at the top.
Frequently asked questions
What should a music practice log include?
The week's assignments in the teacher's words, the minutes practiced each day against a daily goal, and one line a day on what got better. Add a box for a parent's signature if the teacher asks for one, and room for questions to bring to the lesson.
Should a practice log count minutes or goals?
Both. Minutes show the habit, and a short line about what changed shows the progress. A log of minutes alone rewards sitting at the piano. A log of goals alone hides the days that got skipped.
How long should a child practice each day?
As long as the teacher asks. It depends on the age, the instrument and the level, so set the daily goal from the teacher's number, not from a chart. A short goal met every day beats a long one met twice a week.
Is there a free printable music practice log?
Yes. Our printable music practice log is a free one-page PDF for a week, with assignments ticked by day, minutes against a goal, a what-I-fixed line and boxes for a parent and teacher. There's no sign-up.
Is there an app that logs practice automatically?
Practice Proof, which we make, listens while a student plays and counts only the minutes it hears music. It can't tell who is playing, so a song from a speaker counts too. It's free on the App Store, and coming to Google Play.