Quick question

[beingforitself]

This may not apply to anyone's experience.

For about two months in the beginning of the summer I barely played piano at all.  About a week ago I began to practice 6-7 hours a day.  I would play for three hours, take a half hour break, then play for another three or four hours. My hands felt great for the first 3-4 days. Now, however, they feel tired and sore (especially the right hand), and I am barely able to practice for an hour or two.  I try to play with as little tension as possible.  Is it necessary to "work one's way" into such a regimen, starting at 2-3 hours a day, or am I doing something fundamentally wrong with my technique?

[Antnee]

STOP!!! 6-7 hours a day isn't ever really necessasary and it can ruin your hands... Your technique isn't wrong.. your hands are just begging for a break. If you ran for seven hours a day your legs would be pretty damn tired. And running the day after that would about kill you. If your hurting, then you need a break. Wait until the pain goes away. When it goes away you can play again, but if it hurts shortly after, then you may need to take quite a rest from the piano (months) to fully heal. If you hurt, stop. And reduce your practice time. Try balancing your schedule to fitin all your necesary routine...

-Tony-

[beingforitself]

I was under the impression that, given well-developed technique and hands, the primary limiter of practice/playing time is mental rather than physical.  I know that professional accompanists regularly work for about 8 hours a day (although not all of that is actual playing).

I was thinking that I simply need to start at a practice length that is completely comfortable for me then slowly begin to increase it.

[Antnee]

yeah that would be a good idea if you have never practiced at that length before, but that still doesn't change the fact that your hands hurt so take caution...

-Tony-

[willcowskitz]

I'm not an expert, but what is essential for performing any physical action including playing piano, is to be conscious of your body. If playing strains your hands, concentrate on what it derives from, try to think with your hands to spot the exact movement that your hand tires from. Then realize what was the purpose of that movement and figure a more natural alternative for it, try to see the keys of your piano summon your hands and fingers on them, rather than confronting them from your own perspective. This probably involves what is called kinesthetic intelligence, so abilities to "meditate" on your body and it's parts as an extremely sensitive system as a whole varies from person to person, but given the fact that piano (or any older instrument for that matter) is very unergonomic, one should be able to determine the character of his physics. I myself never get physically tired playing (I think 4 hours was my top) but mentally, as you said. I suggest meditation in general, too. Its a great practice to help you learn relax yourself (in all aspects) and gaining more control over your body.

[Bob]

I believe you have to work up to it.  It's difficult when working on literature though because you tend to work on different things each day.

I have a routine I try to do everyday to keep in shape.  I have noticed it takes awhile for my body to adjust when I try to add more to that routine, so I think you have to work up to it  (assuming your doing basically the same exercises daily).  1-2 hours a day works ok.  If I made my routine 3-4 hours, it would start tearing me down unless I worked toward that very gradually.

I've done the same thing -- play ok for a few days and then start feeling worn out.  You're pushing yourself too much.  Your body might not be healing up enough between practice sessions.  It can happen over the course of a a few days or over a week or gradually over a month.  You just have to listen to your body and know what the warning signs are -- usually pain.  Just ease back -- slower, relax more, less practice, make sure you use good form in your playing, etc.

Keep practicing though -- just ease back.  The silver lining is that your body will heal up stronger once you work through the "worn out" time.  You could totally stop playing and your body would heal, but then you come back very rusty.  If you ease back and keep playing at an easier level, it takes a little longer to heal up, but you're still playing and your body heals up to a stronger level.   Hope that makes sense.

[JK]

Why do you practice for so long? Is it because in order to learn pieces you have to work for that long or are you just practicing for the sake of saying you've practiced for 7 hours? Recently I decided that I would try for two weeks to practice 6-7 hours a day, as an experiment. Although I didn't experience any physical effects, I did however notice that my playig  seemed to get worse! I realised that in actual fact I had been practicing for the sake of it. This isn't a good way to practice you should always practice for results. You may also find that you want to practice in smaller sized time periods, say 1 and a half hour periods as opposed to 3 hours. This will help you mentally and physically. Also make sure that you know what you want to achieve from a session, don't waste time doing things that are uneeded.

In my opinion noone needs to practice for that amount of time every day, unless you have a lot to do. I do around 4-5 hours a day but spend a lot of other time doing practice away from the piano, this is something else to consider.

[xvimbi]

I was under the impression that, given well-developed technique and hands, the primary limiter of practice/playing time is mental rather than physical.

You kind of answered your question here yourself. It is probably true that a human being has enough energy to play for 7-8 hours, unless it is really demanding stuff, but since you are developing tension, your technique is not well developed.

 I know that professional accompanists regularly work for about 8 hours a day (although not all of that is actual playing).

86% of all pianists have injuries!

I was thinking that I simply need to start at a practice length that is completely comfortable for me then slowly begin to increase it.

Yes!

[newsgroupeuan]

Remember you're still human.

Your muscles can get tired.