How often should a musician practice? This is a huge question that does not have a simple answer.
In researching this blog post I did a little googling, and found that in some places on the internet, three hours a day is recommended as a good start! I don’t know about you, but for a lot of us that is completely unrealistic. It could also be dangerous and put you at risk of injury to suddenly do this much practice out of the blue.
Here are some of my tips for deciding how much to practice:
Ask your teacher how often to practice
My first piece of advice would be to ask your teacher how much practice they think you need to be doing.
A lot of my students are piano students, so I’m going to use the piano as an example. If you are a complete beginner, literally ten to fifteen minutes a day will usually mean you progress well. As you improve, you may find yourself wanting to do more, which is great! Half an hour a day will keep you improving for a long time.
Some students seem to pick things up more naturally than others, so some of us will have to do more practice to achieve the same results. Get to know where you land on that scale and come up with a goal that is realistic.
Little and often is key
Twenty minutes a day will achieve so much more than one two-hour session per week. Twenty minutes may not sound like much at all, but getting into the daily habit is vital and progress will build on itself day after day.
I’m a huge believer in the importance of sleep when we are trying to learn something new. Our brain needs that time to sift through all the information we’ve taken in that day and form new connections ready for the next day. That’s why a small amount daily adds up much more effectively than six days of nothing and then a huge session, filled with anxiety, the day of your lesson.
Practice effectively
When I talk about how much time to spend practising, I’m assuming that the practice itself is good quality, focussed practice. No phone, no distractions.
Seek out the parts that you find difficult and work on those. Practice is a search-and-destroy mission. Just playing through your pieces, mistakes and all, will only make them worse.
Slow practice is essential, consistent counting, careful listening, these are all elements of an effective practice session. It’s hard work! And that’s one of the reasons that three hours a day is just unrealistic for beginners.
Find some accountability
If you are trying to practice every day, it’s lovely to know you are not alone, and that other people are also working hard to build up that habit of practice.
This is why I moved my teaching studio online, so I can reach more people and provide community and some friendly accountability for those of us who want to practice every day and enjoy the benefits that come with being in the habit of daily music practice.
Consistency really is absolutely key when it comes to how often a musician should practice. Try not to worry about exactly how much you do, it’s more about building that daily habit, and assessing how much you want to be doing in order to progress.
Every month, I encourage my community members to practice for at least twenty minutes a day, and then come and share with the group what they’re working on. Whoever practices for the most days of the month wins a little prize.
The group is free to join at the moment, but I will be moving to a paid model in the future, so join now for free lifetime access and I look forward to seeing you there.