How many hours does a typical pianist practice each day?

[yohankwon]

Just curious 

[rachmaninoff_forever]

That question is impossible to answer.

[andreslr6]

24.14 hours a day.

[j_menz]

Why a "typical pianist"? If such a thing exists, one would assume it to be one of the vast number of not especially good to pretty awful pianists. So the answer may well be "not nearly enough".

The question also assumes that quantity is a useful measurement on its own. I would have thought the quality of practice was far more determinitive of the outcome than simply the time put in.

[pianoman53]

Too many yesterday. God, my hear hurts!

[johnmar78]

a veryinsecured question you are asking.. I suupose 1 hour to unlimited playing if you    physically fit. Unless you are the gift from God. This is a lotto question...no one can tell you.....PLEASE

[thatpianoguyhezron]

come on guys! cut the poor chap some slack.

At my peak I use to practice 5-6 hours a day as a student.
 How did I do this, got home from school and practiced 3-30 till 9. No food. Just a passion and desire to get better, and I sure did. I turned virtuoso in about 3 months of doing that.

Now though, I practice for maybe 1 hour a day. But I do concerts most days so that's like another hour and a bit.

People like Lang Lang use to practice upwards of 8 hours a day, he never went to school for a long period of time.

Hezron

[catherinezng]

I love piano but I can only practice around 3 hours of thoughtful practice a day.

[karenvcruz]

I was watching a documentary entitled "Imagine Being a Concert Pianist" .  They featured a bit on how Julliard trains its students and one of the professors, Veda Kaplinsky, mentioned that a good 4-5 hours would be sufficient, and 6 is stretching it.  Apparently, just like exercise, when one overdoes it, it compromises muscles and blood flow.  My teachers were quite varied - my older professors would say 6 hours max, and my younger professors would go for minimum of 3 hours and max of 4.  If one is busy, at least play for 30minutes  just to continuously build muscle.

I do think that one needs to determine one's own arm, finger, and hand stamina.  When tired, it may be wise to simply stop and rest for a few hours.

[thesixthsensemusic]

I was watching a documentary entitled "Imagine Being a Concert Pianist" .  They featured a bit on how Julliard trains its students and one of the professors, Veda Kaplinsky, mentioned that a good 4-5 hours would be sufficient, and 6 is stretching it.  Apparently, just like exercise, when one overdoes it, it compromises muscles and blood flow.  My teachers were quite varied - my older professors would say 6 hours max, and my younger professors would go for minimum of 3 hours and max of 4.  If one is busy, at least play for 30minutes  just to continuously build muscle.

I do think that one needs to determine one's own arm, finger, and hand stamina.  When tired, it may be wise to simply stop and rest for a few hours.

I sort of follow that principle myself too. But a bit of stress is good, it tears holes in your muscle fibres and leads to them being filled by the next door fibre expanding. This works exactly the same as with going to the gym.

In the end, slight amounts of stress, and recovery from them, will transform your lower arm muscles from short to long type fibre. Long muscle fibre is for stamina and agility, short for strength. Pianists need stamina and suppleness above anything.

And not only that, feeling stress also gives you meaningful feedback on what you might be doing wrong in terms of arm movement, positioning, etc. so you can change even slightly bad habits for the better.

[abielikesu]

4 to 6 hours seems like common practice. I just wonder if, after 4 hrs, the focus and concentration are still there.

If find efficiency and planning  to be as important as the duration.

[le_poete_mourant]

I rarely go over 6 hours, but on occasion when I'm on a roll it doesn't do any damage. However, what is more important than quantity is quality. I find it is much more useful to spend 1 or 2 hours of focused, efficient practice than 4 or 6 hours of undisciplined, vague, unproductive practice. Mindlessly repeating something is not quality practice.