Why I'm Building Cadenso: A Music Practice App for Thoughtful Musicians

Hi — I’m Eva. Like many adult musicians, I’m not a professional. I just really enjoy playing, learning, and improving. Music has been one of the most meaningful parts of my life — a source of joy, structure, and growth. But when I looked for a tool to track music practice, to reflect on what I was learning and how I was improving, I couldn’t find one that felt right.

That’s when I realized something surprising: We live in a world where we track everything — steps walked, hours slept, calories burned. Yet musicians, who dedicate hours, months, years to mastering their art, are still left with scraps: a timer app, a blank notebook, or nothing at all. Practice, the heartbeat of musical growth, is treated as invisible.

Musicians Deserve Better Tools

We spend hours practicing. We refine, repeat, and reflect — not for applause, but for progress. Yet most tools fall short. They reduce practice to a checkbox. They count minutes instead of capturing mastery. They offer timers without understanding the complexity behind real growth.

But musicians deserve more than that. We don’t just need a stopwatch. We need a space to track progress, structure our work, reflect on our challenges, and celebrate our breakthroughs. We need tools that reflect the depth of our work:

• Structured practice sessions that track not just time, but focus — technique, repertoire, sight-reading, interpretation.
• A living library of pieces, composers, and projects — organized, revisited, refined over years.
• The ability to see our progress over weeks, months, years — with real insights, not just numbers.
• A place for notes, reflections, strategies — so every session builds on the one before.

Because practice isn’t just a task to complete — it’s a journey. And journeys deserve to be mapped.

That’s Why I Built Cadenso

I didn’t want a habit tracker. I wanted a tool that respected the kind of work musicians do. So I built Cadenso — a practice tracking app designed specifically for musicians.

Cadenso helps you:

• 📝 Log your practice sessions — by focus, piece, and type.
• ⏱ Track your time and where your energy goes.
• 🎼 Organize your repertoire — with metadata, sections, and notes.
• 📊 See your progress — visually, meaningfully, over time.

It’s designed to help you stay consistent and stay motivated — even when progress feels slow. Even on the things we sometimes avoid. Yes, scales. I’m looking at you…

Who Is It For

I built it for myself — but I want it to work for all kinds of musicians, whether you’re a beginner, a hobbyist like me, or a lifelong performer. You can track what you’re working on, break down pieces into sections, and reflect on what’s working and what still needs time.

Basically: If you’re serious about improving, Cadenso is for you. Cadenso gives you a structured, meaningful way to stay organized and keep moving forward, one session at a time.

Why I’m Sharing This

I’m not a big social media person. I’m introverted and a perfectionist — so putting this out there isn’t easy. But I don’t want Cadenso to just live on my computer. I want it to help others too. I believe musicians deserve tools that are as serious, beautiful, and intelligent as the art they serve. If that sounds interesting, try the music practice app out yourself and tell me what you think.

Thanks for being here.

— Eva