practice schedule

[leemond2008]

Hi all

ok then after something that was mentioned in one of my other posts on here I decided that I needed to actually try and structure my time practicing.

Before I was spending hours on end stood in front of my keyboard often playing the same thing over and over and not ever seeming to get any further into what I was learning.

I've decided that when I'm going to be spending a little time practicing to try and stick to this sort of pattern

5 minutes-practicing scales and generally just loosening up
20 minutes- moonlight sonata (1st movement) I know I have been advised to skip that whilst I am still a rookie but my teacher told me to have a go at it after our first lesson and I quite enjoy it and think I am doing all right at it
5 minute break
20 minutes - Enya, a day without rain
15/20 minute break

then repeat it from moonlight sonata until I feel I've had enough or feel that I have hit a wall for the night and finish with 10 minutes or so on my scales.

When I am doing my 20 minute stints at a song now I will only play as much as I know once to begin with and then practice on the harder sections that I have been struggling with and then play it once or twice after the 20 mins is up.

I know that practice all depends on the person but what do the more experienced people think? does this sound productive at all?

p.s. I hope that post kind of makes sense 

[timothy42b]

You have a good start at a plan.

You might want to do a search here for 7 x 20 though.

[chopinlover01]

Looks solid.
To gauge your progress with the Moonlight, try giving us a recording. Then we can judge whether or not you're ready

[leemond2008]

lol I just tried to record myself and it sounded terrible, I think I might have hit that wall that I was talking about for tonight.

I'll do it tomorrow when I get in from work whilst i'm still fresh

[slane]

With that much practice you can learn a lot more pieces.
This is what I would do

10 mins moonlight sonata
10 mins enya
10 mins something easy like beethoven sonatina in G 1st mov
10 mins on the second mov.

Rinse and repeat.

That way you're not getting bogged down playing the same piece over and over trying to come at it in new ways.
The two easier pieces move through the queue a lot faster than the hard ones, taking only three weeks to complete.  Pick pieces you can play fairly accurately, at a meaningful speed with dynamics in three weeks. Organise your queue so you can start a new piece every week, that way you wont get bored and you'll expose yourself to lots of musical idioms and develop a more robust skill.

I wouldn't do another 10 mins at the end on scales ... I hate scales. Perhaps you could do some easy etudes like Heller or Czerny instead to develop your technical prowess.

This is what my week's schedule looks like
10 mins of something easy from Bach (last week it was 20mins)
10 mins beethoven sonata mov.
10 mins the little shephered
10 mins something easy by mozart.
Repeat the last three.

Then next week...
5mins something easy by Bach ... see its moving off the queue quickly
10 mins something easy by Mozart ... also moving quickly off the queue
5+10 mins on beethoven (its been on the queue about 5 weeks now and is slowly moving off)
2x10 mins on the little shepherd (that's a hard piece, moving slowly)
and a new hard piece, another beethoven movement which I'll spend 2x10mins on.

[isyriel]

a practice schedule is good, but what you do during that 20 minutes or w/e of playing matter alot more.  quality over quantity...  my practicing usually looks like

10 mins warm up (scales or some random etude)
30 ravel
30 chopin
5 mins sight reading from my/mom's/bro's music collection. 
but time flies when you practice well compared to just playing. i play my pieces slow as a dead turtle with crutches.  metronome practice, sectional, all the things that would bennefit me.  don't practice meaninglessly.  for me it only injured my hand...

also, its a good idea to sight read or learn new pieces constantly, especially at an earlier level.  like poster above me, it exposes you to new musical ideas, figures, techniques and the likes.  above all it refreshes your mind so that you are never bored or un motivated to practice ... 

[timothy42b]

a practice schedule is good, but what you do during that 20 minutes or w/e of playing matter alot more.  quality over quantity...  my practicing usually looks like

That's why I recommended reviewing Bernhard's posts on 7 x 20.

[slane]

a practice schedule is good, but what you do during that 20 minutes or w/e of playing matter alot more.  quality over quantity...  my practicing usually looks like

That's right. Mindlessly repeating things wont get you far.
Make it Stick: The Science of Learning is a good read to get some strategies.
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0674729013/thebullmusi-20e

Also trying to play "mindfully" is a good idea too. Too often our thoughts turn to dinner when we should be concentrating on the sounds we're making