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Hi everyone,
I've got a question.
I wanna ask how much time you recommend a 8th grade player to spend on a piano each day? Is there any time limit?
What I actually mean is I am now want to play good piano,practising well enough to go along the higher grade,but on the other hand striking a balance among my school stuffs.(although I am not really enjoying that honestly!)
Besides,I am also afraid of getting "over tired" and cause the hands injuries.
Is there any good suggestion?
Thx a lot!
Dreamygal

The more the better Actually, you really can put in a lot of practice in a day without overdoing, as long as you work up to it and take frequent breaks. Taking a break every 15 minutes is not a bad idea. It gives your muscles and your mind a chance to recover. When you try to do too much at one sitting the results start to diminish as your fingers and brain tire out. It is also important to practice every day, even if you only have time to get in a brief practice session on some days. The consistency of playing a little bit goes much further than cramming lots of practice time into one day. Keeping your mind engaged and focused is critical to productive practice time. 30 minutes of focused practice is more effective than spacing out through 3 hours of playing through things. Focused practice includes being disciplined about tempo, working through all the details such as fingering, isolating and learning trouble spots, and taking enough mental notes that you can memorize the piece.

The amount of time you spend practicing depends on how good you want to be, and how well you can balance it with everything else. I would think that at least an hour on most days would be a good starting point. As I said, more is better as long as it is time well spent.

Sorry, that was kind of a information dump Hopefully you can find something that will be useful to you. Also, I hope others chime in here as well...

Ryan

It's been a long day.

Brendan:

I love your graphics. They're always great.


As for practicing time, you don't want to over-do-it. Get in as much practice as you see fit, then stop for a while. You must give yourself some kind of a break or you might go insane, especially if you are having an off day at the piano. Know what I mean?

Even for those very talented 2 hours/day is the minimum to attain and maintain good results.

For professional pianists it's common to devote 3-6 well-planned practice hours on a regular basis.

On the other hand you always have those genius class pianists the likes of Argerich and Freire who did not need much practice at all to workaholics the likes of Richter and Arrau who normally practice 10-12 hours daily.

[ November 16, 2001: Message edited by: AndrewG ]

Andrew, would you say 2 hour minimum even for a student that is in the 8th grade? Now that I think about it, that is probably close to what I was practicing back then, although truth be told I was never a very good practicer

Ryan

Hi! Dreamygal,
well, i don't have any recommendations on how long to practice. But i saw this website which has good articles on how to practice. Maybe u can have a look there. www.practicespot.com

Dreamygal,

Did you mean the student is an academic 8th grader, or she's doing grade or level 8 of some piano exam program, such as RCM.

Jamie

Thank you sooo much to all of you!
Well,Thx for Ryan,I think that you're right that the more will be better!
But as for AndrewG's saying,well,you recommend to play for 3-6 hour daily as a regular basis?
Hum.....to be frank,I don't think I can spend that much,the maximum will be 3 hours for me in week days!/_\
Also,thx for quetzal's web-site.
Anyway,I'll try my best to do that!

Dreamygal

I like to do 2-3 hours a day. I don't always get that in because i'm in a lot of music groups at school (I play other instruments also) but I never play for more than 1 hour without taking any breaks. My focus isn't as good after an hour of really working and I don't want to cause any hand injuries. I like to spread my practicing time out in 45-60 minute sessions.

When I was in the 8th grade, I practiced for at least 3-4 hours/day. Since I was the accompanist for the choir, I spent at least an hour practicing the pieces for them, more if the accompaniment was particularly challenging. The rest was play time for me. Admittedly, my parents had to literally peel me off the piano bench just to get me to go to bed.

Ah, those were the days. Too bad that now, the demands of the Adult World take up time that I would have loved to have spent with my piano. :rolleyes:

(Edited to add: Oh yes, and Brendan - love the graphics. I think they're absolutely brill. )

[ November 17, 2001: Message edited by: ChemicalGrl ]

probably ABRSM Grade 8, since she also mentioned the Presto from Bach's Italian Concerto BWV 971, which is one of the exam pieces for the grade...

What works best for one doesn't always work best for someone else. What does your teacher say, Dreamygal?

[ November 17, 2001: Message edited by: BruceD ]

Hi everyone,
Well,I'm preparaing the ABRSM Grade 8 exam. Once again,thx for all of your advice!
Answering Bruce's question.
"What was my teacher's recommendation?"
She just said at least spend 1 hour on the piano each day. However,I always doing more than that,coz I found that I won't finish all my work with just that little time!
Well,I thought I need to spend at least 2 hours in minimum.

Dreamygal