My Current Repertoire Organization System
/A couple years ago I wrote about the system I was using to track and maintain the tricks in my repertoire using a database in Notion.
You can read those posts here and here.
A few months back I started using a new system, which I want to tell you about today.
Why I Changed Systems
While the Notion-based system was very robust and was great for cross referencing material, I was finding myself a little more disconnected from the process of tending to the repertoire of tricks. It was very much like data entry. And I felt myself wanting something that engaged me more in the process.
I was thinking I wanted something more like a paper-based system. Being able to handwrite my notes and easily include sketches and stuff like would make my tracking system feel less like a database, and more like something personal. I don’t think of my repertoire as just a list of tricks. I like to think of it as like a garden I’m tending to: planting seeds, pruning, and harvesting the material.
But a notebook wouldn’t really do the trick because then I’d have to leave blank pages after tricks so I could come back and annotate performances. And I wouldn’t be able to rearrange things or remove things easily.
For those purposes, a 3-ring binder and loose-leaf paper would be ideal because you can insert pages between other pages, tear pages out, rearrange things, etc.
But a 3-ring binder is bulky and ugly. It’s not the sort of thing I’m going to carry around with me. And portability is important because I want the ability to reference my repertoire on the go.
My New System
I ended up going with something that has both what I want from a digital organizational system and a physical paper-based system.
It uses my iPad and the GoodNotes app.
GoodNotes is a digital notebook app. But unlike a physical notebook you can easily add, delete, and reorganize pages.
I have three pdf templates I use within my Repertoire notebook.
On this page is the name of the trick, who created it, where it can be found, and what “genre” the trick is in. (My “genres” are pretty much the same as the tags I describe in this post.)
Then there is an area to describe any set-up for the trick, an area to briefly describe the presentational premise for the trick, and a larger area for notes.
These notes might be more details on the method, drawings, presentational ideas, and so on.
Sometimes all the notes I need won’t fit in this one box. In that case I have…
This is simply a page with a large empty space for more notes.
So, when I add a new trick to my repertoire, I add the Trick Description page for it to my Repertoire notebook in GoodNotes.
If the notes section isn’t long enough, I can add one or more pages for additional notes.
Then, once I actually start performing the trick for people, I add…
This is, as you would imagine, a page to keep notes on individual performances of that trick
And that’s pretty much it. Once I have these blank templates imported into my GoodNotes, I can just add in any of these pages wherever I need one. It’s a simple two tap process. So I can go back and add in more general notes pages or performance notes pages for any trick. I can rearrange the pages to keep all the tricks of a certain genre together. That means I can easily flip through and look at all my impromptu card tricks, or iPhone tricks or whatever.
It’s very easy to add any page to the “outline” for the notebook, which essentially creates a table of contents for the book that can be accessed from anywhere in the notebook.
I write in the notebook using the Apple Pencil. This is less efficient than typing. But the handwriting is still searchable.
And while this system is less cross-reference-able and sortable than my previous one, I’m willing to sacrifice those things for what I feel is a stronger connection to the material. I enjoy being able to flip through it like a book, being reminded of tricks that maybe I hadn’t intended to look at, and seeing my handwritten notes and drawings.
This isn’t my real repertoire notebook, but it will give you a sense of what an entry for a trick might look like…
While I do the work in the book on my iPad, it’s also available on my iPhone for reference which is super convenient.
I’m pretty sure GoodNotes is only for Apple, but there are similar note-taking apps for non-Apple tablets.
The only other organizational thing I have going on right now is a basic spreadsheet where I have people I perform for regularly and the tricks I’ve shown them. I don’t include any more information than that in the spreadsheet. If I want to know how the trick went when I performed it for them, I refer to the notes in my Repertoire notebook.
There you have it. I don’t know if this sort of thing will appeal to anyone else, but it may give you a direction to consider. You can find the templates I use linked in the section headings above. However you may want to come up with your own versions that collect different information. Mine was just designed to capture the information I need. Your needs may be more complicated.
I don’t know how long I’ll stick with this system, but it feels right for now. If I change it in the future, I’ll let you know.