AgendaMusica

AgendaMusica is an approach to planning, organizing, tracking, and journaling music practice for when you’re really serious about being able to play better tomorrow than you play today. It starts by helping you identify goals and the precise practice assignments needed to reach them, because it’s important to your motivation to practice to actually see those connections. Then, its 26 weeks (six months) of assignment pages (with two pages per week) prompt you or your music teacher to organize and focus specific assignments in the following essential sections: Warm-up and preparing to play Unstructured exploration, improvisation, and discovery Fundamentals and drills Assignments particular to a focus for the week Repertoire review and rehearsal Listening, watching, and reading assignments Make each practice task clear and unambiguous by noting the number of repetitions or minutes you want to target for the assignment to count as completed. Watch your daily check marks accumulate over the week as a reward that reinforces habit formation. You’re also prompted to rate the quality of each day’s practice session and its length. Calculate the average and plot it on your progress chart to document the time you’re accumulating and the momentum you’re building. The weekly reflection page has space in which to write reactions to your listening assignments—listening to oneself and others is an often-overlooked component of practice. And there’s space for writing what you want to work on or be more mindful about, questions to answer, positive thoughts and self-criticism. Finally, a brief weekly check-in prompts you to record what inspired you the most during the week, the assignment that went best, the assignment that was the most difficult, a guiding thought as you enter the next week, and a numeric rating of your overall satisfaction with the week’s practice (which you can plot on your progress chart). At the end of the book, there are two pages of reflection questions to help you think more deeply about how the past six months has gone and to plan adjustments and refinements over your next six months of practice. There’s also a page on which to list your repertoire and when you’ve included a piece in your weekly practice—all to help you make sure you’re keeping important pieces well-rehearsed. There’s a lot going on here, but AgendaMusica begins with a 12-page guide on exactly how to use it. Developed and refined over three years by a former research psychologist, amateur multi-instrumentalist, and parent of three adolescent musicians, AgendaMusica has been musician-tested and teacher-approved for students in middle school, high school, and college, as well as for adults. AgendaMusica was designed to be flexible. Its principles apply whether you are: A music teacher, studying with a music teacher, or a self-study, self-directed musician A beginner, intermediate, or advanced student or even a professional A classical, jazz, country, rock, or hip hop musician, or play any other genre A string, brass, woodwind, percussion, or electronic instrument musician Look Inside The Book and you’ll see why AgendaMusica is the planner and logbook and journal that helps music teachers and self-directed music students and musicians design music practice programs that are serious, better focused, and more mindful.