practising record

[paris]

9 hours today i spent practising, i never did that before until today!   
what is your longest practising?

[BoliverAllmon]

should all day. I have no idea how many hours that was. Once, I get into a groove, I just keep going.

[tds]

liszt once said something of this effect: think 9 times, play once!

does it mean that we ought to work 9 days of mental practice, and 1 day on the intruments? well, whatever the actual propotion means, the power of mental practice must have been so underestimated since looong before now. best, tds

[silva]

If I had the time I could play all day and then some

[BoliverAllmon]

liszt once said something of this effect: think 9 times, play once!

does it mean that we ought to work 9 days of mental practice, and 1 day on the intruments? well, whatever the actual propotion means, the power of mental practice must have been so underestimated since looong before now. best, tds

that is an interesting quote. where did you hear it?

[tds]

that is an interesting quote. where did you hear it?

a book that i read. sorry, i cant be too useful now, since i am on the other side of the pacific, and won't be able to find the book to tell you precisely. best, tds

[Waldszenen]

Longest continuous time for me has only been four hours.

[tds]

Longest continuous time for me has only been four hours.

ahhh, shame on you, waldszenen, you need to take a short break every hour or so. best, tds

[Waldszenen]

Yeah, you're right - that day did some pretty painful things to my back.

[steinwayguy]

13

[lagin]

Not straight in a row, but 8 hours, 15 min.  It's not so bad when you're just learning new pieces.  Then the time flies.

[tds]

13

golly, are we soon to see someone hit 23 1/2? tds

[allthumbs]

My practice time is correlated to the numbing factor of my gluteous maximus muscles, rest periods and soft piano bench cushions not withstanding. That translates to about three hours max. I'm an old guy (mid 50's) what can I say?

[mound]

liszt once said something of this effect: think 9 times, play once!

I like that quote!

Here's another one:

"He feared above all... the abrutissement [stupefaction by overwork] of the pupils. One day he heard me say that I practised six hours a day. He became quite angry, and forbade me to practise more than three hours."
-Frederick Niecks

from the book "Chopin, pianist and teacher as seen by his pupils" by Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger (p. 27)

[BoliverAllmon]

I like that quote!

Here's another one:

"He feared above all... the abrutissement [stupefaction by overwork] of the pupils. One day he heard me say that I practised six hours a day. He became quite angry, and forbade me to practise more than three hours."
-Frederick Niecks

from the book "Chopin, pianist and teacher as seen by his pupils" by Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger (p. 27)

so yours is a quote about Chopin?

[mound]

so yours is a quote about Chopin?

I guess Frederick Niecks said that, his teacher, Chopin, feared stupefaction by overwork, and angrilly forbade his students from more than 3 hours of practice a day.

[BoliverAllmon]

I guess Frederick Niecks said that, his teacher, Chopin, feared stupefaction by overwork, and angrilly forbade his students from more than 3 hours of practice a day.

it is interesting to get in the heads of great musicians.

[Dazzer]

8 hours with a teabreak and lunch break.

not to mention a single hour dedicated to a single bar.

barely got out of bed the next day -ow-

[BoliverAllmon]

8 hours with a teabreak and lunch break.

not to mention a single hour dedicated to a single bar.

barely got out of bed the next day -ow-

i've spent 3 hours on a 2 bars once.

[Dazzer]

hahaha do i really want to know which 2 bars that waS?

[sonatainfsharp]

If it isn't quality practice, then quantity doesn't count.

My best practice sessions are the get-gown-to-business-because-I-only-have-an-hour ones. I never got anything accomplished when I used to practice 4, 5, 6 hours. I can practice 2 hours now and get more done in those two hours than I ever did in an entire 15-week semester back in my undergrad days.

[paris]

If it isn't quality practice, then quantity doesn't count.

well said,i agree. i asked this question just because i was interested in, not to boast with endless hours of practising. 

[BoliverAllmon]

hahaha do i really want to know which 2 bars that waS?

it was the ending of the first mvt. to haydn's sonata 33 in D maj. It has a couple of turns in their. It was my first time dealing with turns and my teacher complained (and told me she gave up on trying to teach me those sections) about my timing. Either the timing was early and you could hear the notes or the it was late and the notes were rushed too much. Also the trill in that piece gave me fits she wanted me to count out the repercussions (is that the right word). She felt it was better to keep the trill in time and not just free trill. I agree with her now, but at the time I was struggling.

boliver

[thracozaag]

 In preparing for the University of Maryland Competition back in 96, I distincly recall practicing 14 hours one day and barely being able to get out of bed the next morning.  Not smart.

koji (STSD)

[BoliverAllmon]

In preparing for the University of Maryland Competition back in 96, I distincly recall practicing 14 hours one day and barely being able to get out of bed the next morning.  Not smart.

koji (STSD)

the real question becomes though, did you win?

here is another question. on the video of yourself playing. you look like you karate chop some bass notes. Does the music call for this or did you do this for a specific result?

[nicko124]

If it isn't quality practice, then quantity doesn't count.

My best practice sessions are the get-gown-to-business-because-I-only-have-an-hour ones. I never got anything accomplished when I used to practice 4, 5, 6 hours. I can practice 2 hours now and get more done in those two hours than I ever did in an entire 15-week semester back in my undergrad days.

I completely agree with this, well said! It also helps if you have some kind of plan before starting a practice session including:-

1. What Piece/s you will be working on.
2. What Bars of the pieces you will be working on.
3. How You will practice them.
4. How you will warm your hands up, if at all.

 I have found like SonataInfSharp that the practice where you try and get as much 'useful' things done in an hour is highly effective.

[thracozaag]

the real question becomes though, did you win?

here is another question. on the video of yourself playing. you look like you karate chop some bass notes. Does the music call for this or did you do this for a specific result?

  Uh, no.  Freddy Kempf and I got cut in the first round, quite annoying since the competition required over three hours of solo rep and three concertos; all that practicing for nothing.

koji (STSD)

[BoliverAllmon]

  Uh, no.  Freddy Kempf and I got cut in the first round, quite annoying since the competition required over three hours of solo rep and three concertos; all that practicing for nothing.

koji (STSD)

holy cow that is alot of rep. why so much?

[Motrax]

You're talking about the Kapell Competition right?

Most I ever did was 10 hours (6 in the morning, 4 in the evening), but my usual practice time is between 3 and 4 hours a day. More than that and I tend to lose focus.

[Glissando]

Most ever would be like 4 or 5 hours.
The most I ever spent on 4 bars of music was 3 hours in one day. It was the opening bars of Bach Invention No. 6. I had never played anything in syncopated rythym before.
I was half mad by the time I was finished, but I got the rythym down and assimilated and I haven't had any problems with it since.
Thank Heavens.
 
Tomorrow I might go for an all dayer though, won't be much else to do (my computer is broken ) and I have a book of Schumann's music from the library.....

[steinwayguy]

I've done 13 on several occassions. This is how I usually break it up-

9:30-12:30
1:00-7:00
7:30-11:30

With atleast one 5-minute break every hour, sometimes more, depending on the physical stress of the pieces I'm working on. Every two hours or so I take a 15 minute break. So it's not all at once. Besides, you build up the ability to concentrate for hours on end over time.

[anda]

most: 16 hours (that's including the 1 cigarette-10 min breaks every 1 1/2 hour, you do the math). useful to: i had never before (and never after) learned so much in one day (that would by quantity, not quality )

least: 0

most over a longer period: constant 10 hours/day for 1 month (summer piano camp) - out of these 10 hours, one was actually class with the teacher.