Practicing On a Regular Basis: How?

[ekeyrose]

Hi. I am new here, but plan to become a regular member. Anyway:

So, I've been playing piano off and on for about 6 1/2 years. To be completely honest, I never took piano that seriously until about a year ago. While I always took lessons, I had a nasty habit of waiting until the last couple of days before my lesson to suddenly practice. As a result, I have not advanced nearly as much as I should have. Over the past year, I have been practicing on a more regular basis... At least three days a week, for around an hour each. It's still not a fraction of enough, but I want to make a goal of practicing at least three hours a day every day.

Yes, it sounds like a joke; it is a LOT compared to what I do now, but I'm 19 years old and am beginning to attend my local community college for music, and will be there for four to six years before transferring. Music has always been what I loved most, but I haven't really been ready to put forth the effort until now. What I'm getting at is that I want to get into a four-institution for my B.M. in music, likely either performance or composition.

Here are my questions:

1) Everyone is different, but what should be my ultimate goal of practicing time in order to successfully get a B.M. in Music (either Performance or Composition)?

2) How do you establish a practice routine? I'll likely be working at least 30+ hours a week at a job because my home life is a wreck and I need to move out. How do I fit the practicing in?

That's it for now. Thank you for reading!

[iansinclair]

And the very best of luck to you; at least for me, music is the most rewarding thing I do, or have ever done.

I think everyone is a little different when it comes to how much one should practice.  If, however, you are going to a BM performance, you probably will want to practice at least two hours per day (take one day a week off!); you may find you want to practice even more than that.  But two hours, in my humble opinion, will probably do very nicely, assuming that you use the time reasonably.  You may be able to get by with less, but that may not satisfy you.  If your specialty is to be composition instead, you should be able to get by with somewhat less -- but what and how you practice will be rather different.

All in my opinion; others no doubt will vary!

A practice routine will vary so much depending on your situation that one really can't say what and how.  The best routines, though, will split the practicing into two or more parts, of an hour to an hour and a half each, with something else in between.  This is much more effective than trying to do it all in one lump.  One excellent approach (in my view!) is to have one session in the morning -- possibly even before breakfast -- and another in the evening.  But you will have to see how you can fit things in.  You might want to at least consider getting a good digital keyboard (and I do mean good) for where you live.  They aren't cheap, at least ones which are satisfactory for actually learning to play the piano aren't (look in the "instruments" section of the forums for comments), but it might give you a lot more flexibility than having to depend on instruments at your college.

[quantum]

Hi and welcome to Pianostreet!

I think you should focus on setting goals, as opposed to spending time practicing.  Spending many hours at the instrument will not in itself result in dramatic leaps of improvement.  You need to have goals when you practice, you need to have a direction to move towards. 

This is especially true if you wish to pursue an education in music.  Your time is going to be limited.  You will need that time to spend on many other facets of school work that involve activity away from the instrument.  Rather that thinking of spending more time practicing, think of becoming more efficient with your practice workflow so that you can accomplish more goals with limited amounts of time. 

IMO, practice is not a goal in itself, but a process.  It is a tool used to help you achieve goals. 

Make a list of schools you wish to attend.  Look at the admission requirements to enter a BMus program in performance and composition.  Ask yourself: can I meet those requirements today?  If not, what are the steps necessary to get myself to the skill level which I can meet the admission requirements. 

Looking at admission requirements can be overwhelming if you see yourself as a long way from that mark.  But it is something you need to tackle now, if one of your goals is to enter a BMus program.  You need to envision the path to your goal.  Doing so will help you define your current practice session goals, and give you a course to what you should be working on within your practice time.

[indianajo]

Retirement helps you find time.
Paying for the lessons yourself helps one motivate himself to practice faithfully.  I practiced an hour a day in Junior high on piano, a requirement of my Mother to pay for the lessons and drive me around.  After the school loaned me a wind instrument, I practiced it 1/2 hour a day, then more like 3/4 hour in high school after I quit piano to concentrate.  That was enough to get me to be first chair in the top band (of four in high school)  for 4 years, into the All-district orchestra,  and into the top band at TMEA All State band.  I paid five years of private lessons, reeds and supplies, marching shoes, all out of my lawn mowing and gutter cleaning money.   
I had a lot of flyers from music schools my senior year,  but I view music as a hobby, not a job. The music director at my church makes very low 5 figures per year, if she wasn't living in the Pastor's house (he bought his own) it wouldn't even pay her to live alone.  
So, in my opinion, major in something that is unpleasant enough to pay really well. Then play piano for recreation, not a job.  Good luck.