The Musical Muse
Blog dedicated to music education, practice tips, health & wellness, and geeking out.
As I mentioned in my post about this year’s Maestro’s 2018/19 Studio Challenges, my students and I are are doing a new practice challenge this year. Last month, we started a 30 Days of Practice Challenge. The practice challenge was inspired by concert violinist Hilary Hahn and her 100 Days of Practice Challenge on Instagram
As some of you know, I injured my back a couple of weeks ago. No, I wasn’t doing anything really cool like one of our awesome Iaido or Jodo kata, or going really wild on the cajón. I was simply sitting poorly at my desk and twisted funny when I got up to grab something from the printer. That’s when I felt a terrible twinge in my lower back. Next thing I knew, my body completely closed in and I could barely walk.
Now, I can’t remember exactly how or when I stumbled upon Ryder Carroll’s Bullet Journal system. For those who are unfamiliar with the BuJo system, it’s an analog, pen and paper planner.
I liked its similarities to Stephen Covey’s 7 Effective Habits daytimers in terms of functionality. I simply loved how I could use up as much or as little space as I need from day to day. I was so excited at the prospect of personalizing my layout from month-to-month, week-to- week, or even day-to-day:
During my brainstorming, the following themes came through: technique, ear/rhythm/sight-reading, and practice frequency. To be honest, those are the key themes every year, but these are areas I really want my students to shine in this year. So, I had to tweak the student challenges and incentives a bit.
