How many hours a day are you spending on preparing for the audition?

[cardinals]

In my case, I have just practiced 5 hours a day or so because the repertoire is only 3 pieces with different periods, and they do not require the whole classical sonata...the total duration is around 20 minutes, although they are all new pieces (i.e. never learned before)...

Do you think 5 hours a day is a bit short? I started the preparation about 6 months ago, and there is only 1.5-2.5 months away to the audition dates...I heard some others are playing over 10 hours everyday...I tried but couldn't because of losing concentration...

What is your approach for those who are planning for the auditions next year? 

[viking]

If it is quality practise time, 5 hours should easily be enough.  I think everyone should try to prepare themselves for when/if they become professional, because no professional has enough time to practise 10 hours/day while on tour. 

[amelialw]

I practise 4-5 hrs everyday, on some days even 3.

no, 5 hrs is fine. In fact the reccomended max is 6 hrs. wow 10 hrs? where did you hear that from?

I'm getting ready to audition for 3 diff music academy's. 1 here and 2 back in singapore.
For my audition here i'm required to play a : Bach concert piece/p+f, a complete sonata, a 18/20th C piece and a concert etude.

for the 2 auditions back there I need 3 contrasting pieces.

I am trying to practise min.5 hrs because I have my ARCT performance dip exam next June too and i'm learning 10 pieces, including a complete piano concerto

[richard black]

Ronald Stevenson, who in his prime (i.e. before he had three strokes which have had a predictably detrimental effect on his piano-playing) was a pretty mean piano-strummer, has always maintained that if you can't make it on 4 hours a day you're not going to make it on 8 or 10. Yes, plenty of famous pianists have practised for more than that, but RS's point was that they would probably still have been world-class on only 4 or so.

He did concede that circumstances might temporarily dictate more than that in the direct run-up to an important, and perhaps short-notice, engagement.

[hwangs]

8-10 hours?? That's insane. My auditions are a month away but I'm not worrying too much about it. For two of my schools that I'm applying to, they require four pieces: Bach PF, Classical sonata (1 mvt), a romantic piece, and a 20th cent piece. One more requires also an etude and a complete sonata. But I only practice about 4 hours a day-- I would say, in all honesty, you're overworking yourself because I heard your recordings like 3 months ago and they were excellent then. My teacher always told me, once you get so familiar to a piece, it's actually helpful to take a break from it, (maybe a day or so) so when you play it, you can play it like it's your first time.

Hope that helps--

[hwangs]

oh and btw-- I'm also applying to University of Illinois - UC for the Bachelor's program in Piano Performance.