Is there something called overpracticing?

[kghayesh]

Sometimes, strange phenomenae happen to me.

Example 1: I practice so much (about 6 hrs a day) and with so much concentration. Then i go to the lesson, to find my teacher saying you were not good today, you need to play this part like that and u have x mistakes in bla bla bla......

Example 2: I get very busy or just bored from the piano and never touch the piano for a couple of days. Then, i go to the lesson hopin to get alive from my teacher's critics. Then i am surprised to find her say " Hey, you did a good job today. Maybe we can work on other pieces and organize a recital soon. !!!", or " Wow, you played the coda so good .."

I don't know what the hell is behind this. Maybe when i practice so much i tend to play more mechanically, that is after playing the same passage many times, i play it withouth thinking. ( One day, i slept while playing the 2nd movement of the Pathetique sonata and surprisingly enough i continued to play ...)

[jamie_liszt]

lol this is an example of what ive been saying, to much practise which i consider anything over 3 hours maybe even 2 hours in one go is to much, you need to get away from the piano, go outside, for a walk, swimming, anything but piano. Even if you practise 1 hour per day, i think its better then practising 4 hours in one go or even more. its a waste. Also repeating something over and over is a waste too. IMO! if you spend 5 hours practising 4 pages of a piece you would be better off practising the 4 pages in 2 hours, then spending 2 or 3 hours outside, you will play it much better. dont believe me, try it. but dont expect to become good at the piece if you dont practise at all lol. just make sure you balance it out.

answer to your question is obvious above, yes there is such thing as overpracticing IMO. but also many pianists (i think richter) spent 12 hours practising which IMO opinion is to much. But i guess it depends.

[sarahlein]

Playing at the piano should not be all the practise you do for a piece 

[freakofnature]

YES, there definitely is a thing like overpractising! Playing piano is quite a demanding thing for the body and even more for the mind - so you can get exhausted if you practise too much. What I often witness is that if I quit playing for 2 or 3 days after a period of quite a lot of practising, I'm much more relaxed at the piano - and my pieces tend to come out better... Also, you may get a fresh view on the pieces that you are working on and don't become bored that much (a thing that unfortunately happens quite often)...