am i practicing too much?

[nervous_wreck]

i've got alot to do, and i've been practicing 6 hours a day, 9 on weekends. i was wondering is there a point when practicing becomes counter productive? how much is too much?

[gruffalo]

im not sure about it where it becomes counter productive, but for the long-term it is not good for your fingers to do more than 6 hours a day. a Julliard proffesor said this also on a video. if you are not tired after 6 or 7 hours, then you probably havent done an intensive enough practice session. i know the saying is so over-used, but quality not quantity.

[steve jones]

If I remember correctly, the prof at Julliard said that the optimum practice is 4-5 hours per day for a concert level pianist. So yes, I think you are probably spending to much time practicing.

That said, if you are spending x amount of time REALLY practicing, and then x amount playing for fun, then it might not be so bad. If you're doing  9 hours of solid Hanon, then I should chill out a bit before your hands drop off! 

What level are you at btw?

SJ

[henrah]

I agree with Steve, split your time up into practicing technique and pieces and playing for fun. To make it less tiring on you, choose some easy pieces, maybe even some ragtime

Could we hear some recordings?
Henrah

[mike_lang]

This is different for everyone.  My piano teacher, Emilio del Rosario, asked of all his students that they practice at least 6 hours every day; my friend's teacher, Andre Watts, suggests no more than 4.  There are really several schools of thought, but it comes down to how long you can concentrate.  When it becomes mechanical practicing, it is no longer productive, as you should not let musicality become divorced from technique.  Indeed, one thing that Andre-Michel Schub points out is that there are times that one must fit 120 min. of practicing into 60 min., and so one must always have 60 min. of results from 60 min. of practicing.

With regard to Steve's point, the professor at Juilliard speaks of concert pianists, not students.  A concert pianist has attained a different level, and also has less time.  The amount of practicing of an artist vs. a student can be vastly different - a lot of concert artists forget that back in the day when they were students, they were practicing 6 or 8 or 10 hours a day.

It's only too much if you do not practice efficiently for those 6hrs/9 on weekends, or if you are susceptible to tendonitis.

[henrah]

If you don't feel tired and you don't have any tiredness in your arms, shoulders or hands after 6hours, then it's ok. However, on the other hand, this might mean that you are not practicing hard enough, but don't take this to heart as it could mean that you overwork yourself.

Basically, just make sure that when you're practing you don't get bored or lose concentration and start thinking of other things. That's where it becomes a mechanical practice - and as Michael said, never split musicality from technique.

You could use some Chopin, Rachmaninov, Liszt, Scriabin or any other composers etudes, as they are technique practice whilst still learning a nice piece, especially in the case of Chopin and Rachmaninov.
Henrah

[gruffalo]

i think you also have to assess the situation you are in. with me, i am in a tight situation, i have two pieces on the boil (because of school exams), and i need to do auditions from october onwards, so i am going to have to work flat out. i dont think it should be harmful just for a few months. but, if you are just moving forward in general, then no more than 6 hours. whether 6 or 4 is the line can be debatable, but i should think certainly no more than 6. im planning to do around 7 a day on piano, 2 on singing and composing for a few hours after.

[nervous_wreck]

idk what this means "what level are you at"?
my program is
bach PnF XXI book I
moszkowski etude 2 allegro brillante
clementi etude 12 allegro con brio
rachmoninoff c# minor prelude
prokofiev romeo and juliet 10 pieces for piano, 6 montagues and capulets
chopins first ballade G minor
does that answer the level question? i'm not sure what that means, like i said. i'm not really ever getting bored, i have so much to do, this all has to be done by may 27th and then i take it to an international (my first international) competition june first. it is just a temporary thing, my normal practice sessions are only around 4 hours when i don't have a huge thing i'm trying to do but recently my teacher has been pushing me to incredible extents and i've had to be practicing 6-7 hours weekday and 9 on weekends just to keep up.
yes i can give you recordings, as soon as i find my digital camera, which will be soon like in the next 2 weeks or something.

[gruffalo]

like i said, it looks like you are in a tough situation and it is not a bad idea to step up the rate of work for a few months. its just not good to keep practicing long hours for long periods of time i.e. years.

[lisztisforkids]

Screw them... Practice as much as you feel you need to and want to

[mike_lang]

Screw them... Practice as much as you feel you need to and want to

Yes, screw us for giving our opinions on the matter.

[elevateme]

LOL

evgeny kissin: "if you need to practice more than 4 hours a day then it's because you're not talented, or you have nothing better to do."

[lisztisforkids]

LOL

evgeny kissin: "if you need to practice more than 4 hours a day then it's because you're not talented, or you have nothing better to do."

Many of us are not suffienctly talented enough to play the Chopin concerto in e minor before we turn 13.

I would rather practice all day than go work at a fast food restaurant.

[lostinidlewonder]

The amount of musical content the brain can memorise in one sitting is different from person to person. If things are done efficiently there should be no reason for studying more than 5-6 hours a day unless you where trying to speed up the rate you attain muscular/sound memorisation in your hands. Forcing the issue isnever healthy because some things need time, some musical students are very stubborn and will work at it until they can play a passage without thought.

As more hours is invested in your musical practice so does the rate at which you can learn increase. What you learn now will speed up what you will learn in the future. A musician who has had a career for say 40 years does not need to practice their music 4 hours a day, they would do very little because they are comfortable with their music. When they learn new music they have a huge amount of experience they can draw upon to absorb the new music.

I look back when I was a kid, a grade 6 piece would take me 1 month to master. Now? Just sight read it a few times, and after a couple of  hours it is memorised and mastered. There should be no difference to studying a Beethoven Sonata when I am an old man, I expect to absorb it instantly when I open the book just like now when I open up to my old childhood exam pieces.

[nervous_wreck]

what aye? you're not an old man....
i guess what i'm eventually hoping to do is force my hands to be able to memorize and do anything. so i'm really training my muscles, and i got past the point where i actually get tired from practicing looong ago. now i've gone to the point where i do 3: 4 hours sittings (eating in between) and i'm fine... nothing hurting or anything.

[crazy for ivan moravec]

i used to practice 5 hours a day because i said to myself that to become a pianist, i need to do 5 hours a day. so regardless of what i need to do, i'd still stick to that 5 hours. it's like my goal was the 5 hours, rather than accomplishing work to be done with my pieces.

now, i practice for the reason that there's just so many things to accomplish, and sometimes it would even take me up until 6 hours without me noticing it. i don't think anymore of how much time i should practice in a day, but rather how much work i need to accomplish for the day, and it doesn't matter how much time it'll take me, as long as i still have the energy.

there is such a thing as "over practice" but you can never have enough practice in a day. what i mean by this is if your mind can't take it anymore, you must be practicing more than your limitations (then it become mechanical), that's over practice. on the other hand, we always need to practice some more coz we can never have enough of it as students.