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What are your expectations from your students regarding how long they practice and what they practice?

I emphasize thoughtful, goal-oriented, quality practice so I rarely set a timeframe unless there is a deadline.

When my students have a timer over their heads, I take the reins with regards to their practice, and lay out their practice sessions in blocks no longer than 20 minutes each. The blocks can be strung together or practiced separately as long as the student's concentration is there and he remains mindful. I myself love the 5-minute lightning practice and have utilized it often, especially during my graduate studies.

The 20-minute blocks are there to accomplish a goal. Sometimes I will set multiple goals per practice session so work on a piece can easily stretch to 40 minutes or an hour.

I agree with Minaku, goal oriented practicing is key. I spend most of my lessons teaching students how to create goals and complete them for practicing. So, I only ask my students to come back completing the goal that they set for themselves. If they have trouble completing their goals, we make the goals smaller, if they are too easy we make them bigger. This is not for complete beginners who need more guidance. If the students are young enough I may get the parents involved. Some of the lazier students will always go for a really small goal, but you should be able to gauge what they can do at home, by the goals they can do in a lesson. I will also adjust goals to a busy schedule if that is the case.

Here is how I want students to think of goals.
I break it down into 3 groups of goals. The largest goals are the full pieces, I usually do not restrict time on this unless we are working on sight reading or they have to finish it by a certain time. The medium goals could be a weekly or daily goal. I want students to create there own goals so they set these usually at the end of my lesson. Then there are the small goals, and I believe the hardest for students to understand. Each small goal is limited to 2 - 5 minutes. If they take longer than 5 minutes there goal was too hard or too long. If it was quicker than 2 minutes, it was not hard or long enough. The student has to decide a number of things for their goals: what measures or notes, are they counting, saying the notes, memorizing or with the metronome, and how will they know when the goal is completed. Until they get good at doing this on their on, I say 3x in a row, no mistake for regular practice, and 10x in a row for practicing for a live show.

So when I ask my students to practice, they have to be able to complete their goals and as the weeks go by, you can get closer and closer to what they can handle.

I micro-manage many of my students, so however long it takes them to accomplish their assignments is what I expect.
4-6 yr: 30 min
7-10 yr: 45-60 min
11-13 yr: 60-120 min
14 yrs and older: 2 hours +

BUT, there are exceptions--especially when students start at a later age.

Good luck!

i don't exact practice parameters but i do try to instill enthusiasm for piano study with every lesson. I give my students presents at every lesson.. for the girls, i found a huge bad of plastic decorative crystals that can be hung from a string.. a good lesson gets them a BIG crystal.. They don't really know that, but i think they get the gyst.

I don't have a set parameter for practice times, since it depends on the individual student. I do try to help the parents of younger students understand what they should be looking for and how long I believe it will take their child to accomplish it, but don't make it a set rule. For older students it is definitely more about the goals they need to focus on and not how much time they spend.

Every student is different but as a general rule I set out a homework sheet each week and I put their practice plan together judging on their performance of current scales/theory exercises and pieces in the lesson.

I usually say for them to warm up with their scales, and spend around 10-15 mins per day on this section.

Then around 30-40 mins per day on pieces. With younger children I suggest to parents that they practice at shorter intervals so three times a day on pieces 10 minutes at a time, I find that this has a more proactice approach and they don't get fidgety this way!

Good luck and enjoy each of your pupils and learn from them as individuals.

Just got these for all my students:
http://www.amazon.com/Musicians-Pra..._1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325526659&sr=8-1

They feature a two page spread for each week. The first page has spaces for Scales/Technique, Etudes, Repertoire, Other and has a column for the weekly goals in each of those areas.

The second page is broken into 7 segments. The students list what they practiced and there is a column for how long each practice segment was. I'm hoping they really fill these out honestly. I had an adult student order one and start to bring it to her lessons. It was so helpful to see which pieces/segments she'd spent her most time in so we could focus on those in her lesson, etc.

i even got one for myself!!

Thanks for the info on the practice planner. As an adult returning to lessons after 45 years, I can use all the help I can get and this sounds great. I do have a binder from my teacher with an assignment sheet and practice record but I like the detail that this has.