Pulse Practice Journal

TRACK and OPTIMIZE Your
Daily Practice Sessions in Notion.

The Pulse Practice Journal turns Notion into an easy-to-use and highly effective practice companion that you can take anywhere, works on all of your devices, and works for ALL musicians.

Take the Stress Out of Planning.
Start Working on Mastering Your Craft.

Tired of looking through your gig bag for a pen or pencil when all of your other tools have been digitized? Tired of carrying one. more. thing. when you really just need something quick, easy, and accessible? Ready to bring music practice into the 21st century? Yeah, me too.

Track your daily practice, set and achieve goals, view all of your recent sessions, and so much more. The Pulse Practice Journal is the easiest and most effective tool to make the most of your practice time…other than your trusty metronome of course!

When you purchase the Pulse Practice Journal, you will receive a link to a template, which you can then duplicate and use in Notion. It’s simple enough that you can just go ahead and start inputing your practice sessions right away, but easily customizable if you want to get deeper into the template!

If you are new to Notion or wondering “what the heck is Notion?” (it’s ok, I didn’t know about Notion either until recently!), then do I have news for you. Notion is the best organizational tool/notebook/goal tracker/idea tracker/journal/etc available, and it’s all completely 100% FREE! It’s pretty easy to get started, just visit notion.so, setup an account, and try it out. If you want to dive deeper into the program and really learn the ins and outs, I would highly recommend the YouTube channel Thomas Frank Explains. I spent about a day watching a few of his videos and learned the program really quickly.

I Use This Tool Myself

Hi, I’m Andrew Ascenzo and I have been a professional cellist for almost 20 years. Chances are, if you’re reading this, you follow me or have found me on one of Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or YouTube. If not, I invite you to check out my profiles and enjoy the music and content that I provide daily!

For decades I have been in search of the PERFECT practice journal. Something convenient, easy to use, with as little friction as possible, and that helps me achieve my goals without having to put in too much time scribbling and writing down notes.

I’ve tried them all: blank lined notebooks, agendas, paper calendars, online calendars, specific purpose built musician notebooks and journals, notes apps, you name it. Every one of these seemed great at first but I would quickly loose track and stop when something happened like:

  • forget my notebook at home

  • couldn’t fit my journal in my gig-bag with all my other music

  • wanted to only bring my iPad to rehearsals and performances with all of my music digitized and no other paper books

  • got tired of spending too much time laying out my week with paper and pencil (there are benefits to this, but there are more benefits to saving precious time in my opinion!)

I am a big fan of unplugging and doing analog activities, and few people need even MORE screen time, but I also live by the rule that if the screen-time can SAVE YOU TIME NOW so that you have more time later to do things like practice without distractions, read books, listen to music, go for walks, cook, enjoy time with friends, etc, then that’s the best of all possible worlds.

So, I set out on a quest to build my own practice tool, and at the same time I discovered this incredible program called Notion. A powerful note-taking app that is truly so much more than a note taking app. It’s almost an insult to Notion to call it just a “note taking app.” Using the power of databases and formulas, word processors and spreadsheets, Notion is the most amazing organization and productivity tool I have ever come across. And the most amazing part? It’s completely 100% FREE!!

I got to work planning and building this journal and I haven’t looked back once. I use this tool DAILY to keep track of my practice sessions, what I’m working on, my progress on technique and pieces, and to track all of my upcoming performances and prioritize certain repertoire. The life of a musician (whether a student or working professional) is busy, and often packed with concerts and events and a ton of music to learn. The Pulse Practice Journal takes away the stress of having to remember what to work on and instead lets you FOCUS on achieving your goals and improving at your craft.

Track and Archive ALL of Your Practices in a Database

There is also a separate database that you can use to track your upcoming performances, exams, juries, and more, and prioritize what repertoire you need to be working on

Use the Template Built into Each Card to Record Detailed Information

This template can be used as-is (that’s how I personally use it) or customized to better suit your needs if you like!

Use My List of the Most Effective Practice Strategies That I Use Daily

If you are stuck on a passage or just looking for new ways to tackle a piece of music or type of technique, you can reference this comprehensive list of practice strategies. These are the strategies that I use every single day. You can also add more to the list if you like!

Buy the Pulse Practice Journal