How much do you practice a day?

[outin]

I have noticed that when I have really struggled with something, taking a break for a day or two from that piece/part actually does make wonders, it takes away some of the forcefullness from practice (don't know a better word for it). Not practicing at all for a day or two? Can't tell really, the only break I have had was a few days last summer. I just can't, I need my key fix every day 

[jayeckz]

https://pianofundamentals.com/book/en/1.II.15

Awesome read.  I wish I found this book before!

[clavile]

Do any of you have a feeling that you make better progress if you take a day off at regular intervals?

I've taken a day off before, come back, and found I play the piece MUCH better than I did a day ago. I believe this is because you've had a break, come back refreshed, and what you studied HARD has had time to sink in. I don't take days off on purpose, but if I DO miss a day at times, I sometimes find that I play my pieces much better. I wouldn't turn it into a habit, however....

[pytheamateur]

Three to four pieces a day.

[ajspiano]

Awesome read.  I wish I found this book before!

If I was particularly enraged at some example of neglectful teaching I might suggest that any teacher who either isn't aware that book exists, and/or doesn't make students (of a certain age/level) aware that it is available for free should be subject to some kind of government enforced suspension - and repeat offenders should receive a black mark on some kind of piano teaching registry.

Thats probably a little harsh though, I'm sure there are conscientious teachers who are terrible with google.

..I personally found it by accident nearly 10 years ago, my then teacher was dismissive - I was horrified.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

I would add that in the time you are away from the piano, you may actually be thinking about the piece;

I remember reading somewhere where a pianist practiced by walking in the park thinking about his music.  I can't think of the name though.  Plentev?

[j_menz]

I remember reading somewhere where a pianist practiced by walking in the park thinking about his music.  I can't think of the name though.  Plentev?

I suspect many of them do.

[outin]

I suspect many of them do.

I would think they have to practice away from the piano in many ways, how could they ever learn/maintain such massive repertoire otherwise, being so much on the road?

And it must be very efficient if you can do it well...last night in bed I was going through fingerings in my head... It's not often I find that level of concentration, but sometimes I can see the score, keys and my hands clearly in my mind. Then I can learn some diffucult things even better than trying to hack them to my brain at the keyboard.

[j_menz]

last night in bed I was going through fingerings in my head... It's not often I find that level of concentration, but sometimes I can see the score, keys and my hands clearly in my mind. Then I can learn some diffucult things even better than trying to hack them to my brain at the keyboard.

Indeed useful.

I was thinking more of the stage where one has the notes down and can play something to a reasonable extent.  It takes time to explore the musical potential of a piece, and for that an actual keyboard is not always essential.  Indeed, for some pieces (marches, dances etc in particular) actually moving around to them as they run through youre head is a great way to get a good tempo settled.

[outin]

Indeed useful.

I was thinking more of the stage where one has the notes down and can play something to a reasonable extent.  It takes time to explore the musical potential of a piece, and for that an actual keyboard is not always essential.  Indeed, for some pieces (marches, dances etc in particular) actually moving around to them as they run through youre head is a great way to get a good tempo settled.

I kind of thought everyone does this no matter what level? There's usually music going on in my head all the time when it's not engaged in some intellectual task.

[ted]

I don't do any practice, but at sixty-five and doing little except hundreds of CDs of eccentric improvisation it doesn't matter all that much. Ten minutes night and morning on the Virgil Practice Clavier supplies ample technique for my creative purposes.

Hey Robert Henry, good to see you back. God, that was ten years ago, we're all getting old ! Next thing we know, dear old Bernhard will turn up again, maybe even Susan. The whole thing's starting to seem like one of those school reunions.

[ajspiano]

Hey Robert Henry, good to see you back. God, that was ten years ago, we're all getting old ! Next thing we know, dear old Bernhard will turn up again, maybe even Susan. The whole thing's starting to seem like one of those school reunions.

I would rather have liked to have known pianostreet existed back then.

Incidently, bernhard is around. He was last logged only a week ago - the silent observer.

[brassbpiano]

Ideally, you should practice as much as you need to,  but I am attending an arts academy, and have district honors, but still only practice about 2-3 hours a day.

[jaxatak]

After three decades of not playing much at all, about an hour a day.  Mind you, I did in the meantime develop a nice career in palaeontology.  One can't have everything.

[mahlermaniac]

A paltry 15-20 minutes a day on average. That doesn't include the time I spend reading up on basic music theory however.

[amelialw]

it depends how much I need to practice plus I give myself work...typically I do a min. of 1& a half hrs per practice session and i usually practice twice a day min.

[jollisg]

Depending on school (i study natural science with a orientation on computer science), i practice between 2 and 4 hours. On holidays I practice 2,5-5,5 hours.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

You guys sure do practice a lot.

[outin]

You guys sure do practice a lot.

It's the quality that counts...look at your repertoire 

[pianoman53]

I try to get 6 hours practice at the piano, 6 days a week. I have one day off every week, and a few days on vacations. There has been a lot of science done about this, and every single one of them shows that you need the day off.

When I'm not at a piano, I practice by reading the music, both with and without the score. I also think about my pieces almost every moment I'm awake.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

It's the quality that counts...look at your repertoire 

As you can see, it's not very impressive...   

[j_menz]

Current repertoire:
John Cage 4'33
Hot cross buns
Mary had a little lamb


As you can see, it's not very impressive...   

Hahaha. As a side note, our national broadcaster here put out a set of CDs of the 100 most popular classical piano pieces. Cage's 4'33 was one of them. Odd though that may be, they actually only did the first movement (they cut pretty much everything down to a movement).

Running time: 0'33. Not sure that's right.  My first movement of 4'33 is usually 1'27. What's yours?

[ranniks]

How some of you find the time to play so much is beyond me.....Finding an hour on schooldays is hard for me.

What I do find working: I do my chemistry work at home, after 3 pages I get off my desk and hit the piano for a few times Bach minuet 114 g major, then back to my work. I find this working extremely well.

But aside that I do practise an hour a day as mentioned before, longer than that just doens't apply to me very well......On the weekends its different though!

Edit:

But then again, I only have one classical piece to work on aside from my finger exercises and minor pieces.

[outin]

How some of you find the time to play so much is beyond me.....

I think they either study music or just don't have much life outside school/piano

Then again I never did any homework when I was in school, so I had plenty of time to spend...if I had used it for practicing piano, I might actually know how to play now 

[ranniks]

I think they either study music or just don't have much life outside school/piano

Then again I never did any homework when I was in school, so I had plenty of time to spend...if I had used it for practicing piano, I might actually know how to play now  

Outin, if you consider having a life: waking up at 6:30 am and coming home at 6 pm and hitting the covers at 11pm and finding time between those hours to play piano, study chemistry and not become insane, then I believe we have a different take on what having a life is, lol.

I thinky attention span refrains me from playing as much though, not sure. Only on weekends though where I can fit a few hours. Or maybe it's the lack of skill to study multiple pieces?

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to try the minuet g major 116 anh. It's calling out to me! ^^

[outin]

Outin, if you consider having a life: waking up at 6:30 am and coming home at 6 pm and hitting the covers at 11pm and finding time between those hours to play piano, study chemistry and not become insane, then I believe we have a different take on what having a life is, lol.

I thinky attention span refrains me from playing as much though, not sure. Only on weekends though where I can fit a few hours. Or maybe it's the lack of skill to study multiple pieces?

I have to say that my work stress seems to distract me too much from playing right now. I simply cannot concentrate enough. Today at lesson I could not read anything. I guess we'll just have to accept that progress is slow or non-existent sometimes...

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to try the minuet g major 116 anh. It's calling out to me! ^^

That one is a bit hard for you I think, requires quite a lot of hand independece...Why not the G minor one, it's not that bad?

[beethovenopus2no3movt2]

There are 6 pianos at college that I play on. I don't like  they lock the recital hall up. So , no playing ever on the steinway. I don't like 3 of them. There is a crappy baldwin piano in one of the rooms, it has a decent sound. I get about 2 hours in on m/ w after Biology lets out. tues. I try to jog and practice on my piano for 1/ 1/2 , same on thur.

Fri
sat
Sun
I don't like to play at all. I play about 7 hours a week.

[chopin2015]

I have to say that my work stress seems to distract me too much from playing right now. I simply cannot concentrate enough. Today at lesson I could not read anything. I guess we'll just have to accept that progress is slow or non-existent sometimes...

I completely agree. I think Lisitsa plays all day when she is preparing to perform something, other than that I doubt she practices like this all the time. I hurt my hand. It only stops hurting when I start playing, I have no idea what this means.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

I hurt my hand. It only stops hurting when I start playing, I have no idea what this means.

It means that you're destined to play the piano!!!

You will be the next Yuja Wang.

[chopin2015]

lol, hopefully! It hurst pretty badly tonight.  

[rachmaninoff_forever]

lol, hopefully! It hurst pretty badly tonight.  

It means that you should be practicing right now.

No but yeah, I would go see a doctor about that.

[jollisg]

I think they either study music or just don't have much life outside school/piano

Then again I never did any homework when I was in school, so I had plenty of time to spend...if I had used it for practicing piano, I might actually know how to play now 

That's truth for me. I don't practice as much as some others here, but i kind of have no life besides school and music. All of my time go to school, piano practicing, organ practicing and oboe practicing. Oh well, i work out at a gym as well But I rarely see friends outsider
 School..

[amelialw]

I'm suspecting that my practice hours are going to shoot back up significantly now that work hrs in school will be alot shorter for the next 2 weeks since student's will be on hols

Based on the amount of homework I've gotten and the 2 months + 1 week which I have and the pile minus 2& a half weeks in Germany and a week after christmas.... probably I'm looking at a minimum of 4 hrs a day and no less

[tdawe]

Very rarely less than 2 hours per day and most frequently more.

[felipe717]

It depends of the day, but, generally:

On weekdays I study for about 3-5 hours. On weekends I study less, for about 1-2 hours.
That's because I only can play the piano when my parents aren't home, because they don't like the sound and, with complaints every moment, I just CAN'T STUDY! So, I just can play the piano on weekdays in the afternoon, and on weekends at moments I'm able to play at sparse moments.

There was a time that I studied for about 8-9 hours a day because I was studying the first movement Beethoven's Sonata Op.2/1... In one week, I got it but it's still not perfect. ^^ After this, I chose Pathetique Sonata's 1st Mov., and I took about month and a half... :x Now I'm stopped but I want to study more sonatas... =D

[charmsjr94]

I'm a piano major and I do 4-6 hours daily. Not including rehearsals, music classes, etc. etc.

[shaggyy]

Why is it that always when I don't actually have time to practise, I practise all day long and when I have all the time in the world, I practise often so less (compared to the time I have)?  Argh, I have exams at school next week. It's quite a lot we need to learn, and I planned on studying for school this whole day (this whole week actually), but I found myself studying my pieces for the piano all day and I almost haven't done anything for school.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

4 freaking hours a day lets go!!!

Like 30-45 minutes at lunch, and another 3 and 1/2 hours after school

When it comes to college auditions, I play no games!!!    

DO WORK!!!  

[lloyd_cdb]

DO WORK!!!

on calculus...

[rachmaninoff_forever]

on calculus...

I freaking hate calculus...

THE TESTS ARE IMPOSSIBLE!!!

The questions we get aren't normal questions...  They're on like the borderline of the stuff we know what the heck?!  What the freaking heck is...

what is f''' of

(logcscxycotye^(3y^3)*Tan-1(x)-1/sqrt(x^2-1)
_________________________________________________________
(csc^3x)^x^2-e^x-1



WHAT KIND OF MONSTER ARE YOU?!?!!?!?!?

[lloyd_cdb]

lol, was that really the problem?

[chopin2015]

I freaking hate calculus...

THE TESTS ARE IMPOSSIBLE!!!

The questions we get aren't normal questions...  They're on like the borderline of the stuff we know what the heck?!  What the freaking heck is...

what is f''' of

(logcscxycotye^(3y^3)*Tan-1(x)-1/sqrt(x^2-1)
_________________________________________________________
(csc^3x)^x^2-e^x-1



WHAT KIND OF MONSTER ARE YOU?!?!!?!?!?

hahahahah, you should ask her to solve this one, then say, "so how does it feel?". 

[lloyd_cdb]

hahahahah, you should ask her to solve this one, then say, "so how does it feel?". 

Or give her a music question:

DO YOU UNDERSTAND MY PAIN?!?!?!?!

[chopin2015]

solve this, byach. 

actually I have been working on just those couple of bars on and off for an hour now, idk why this part is so hard for me. Probably because it is hard to hear the separate hands independently when I am going so slow! It's such a struggle coordinating many things at once sometimes.

[deighve]

An hour upon getting up at the break of dawn--to learn new pieces, and 2 to 4 hours in the afternoon to practice or rehearse memorized pieces. 

[ktack]

5-6 hours normally

[thesixthsensemusic]

5-6 hours a day, of which 3-4 hours at my job. That's the luxury of being a piano salesman, half of the time there won't be anyone to tend to and it's just me being there with 30+ instruments

[seanryan17]

I put in 4 hours a day, almost without fail. I try for 6, but life and study makes that difficult. I've been taking a year off school, having completed HS early. So I'm taking private lessons and knocking out some college level academic equivalency exams while I'm at it. I'm trying to add some more difficult romantic pieces to my repertoire. So yeah, 4-6 hours is really necessary.

[vsrinivasa]

About 3-4 hours a day, every day. I usually get in 5 or so on weekends, and over holidays and breaks I practice at least 6 hours a day (I can't get in more than that though; the rest of my time is spent writing proposals, grading papers, talking with people, explaining things, making videos for my students, reading, writing, solving logic puzzles, and sleeping)

[chopin2015]

However much is necessary, I find it hard to do more than 6. Today I did 8, but the last 2 hours were really pointless, and I was playing because I was depressed, and then I was so tired I couldn't do much, and it was just really hard to stop without a grand finale but sometimes your body or mind give up before you do.