Everyone knows you need to practice to learn to play the piano, but how much is the right amount? To find the sweet spot for you, you need to consider what level you are at, your short- and long-term goals, and some of the science behind learning, too!
How much should you practice the piano a day?
Beginner piano students of all ages can make satisfactory progress practicing 30 minutes a day. Students with a few years of experience, who want to learn advanced classical repertoire, should plan for 1-2 hours a day. Conservatory-level students typically practice 4 hours a day.
Recommended practice times by level
Beginners
30 minutes is a great starting point for beginner pianists. Adults can sit and practice for 30 minutes all at once, but young children will likely need to break that up into a couple of 5-15 minute sittings.
There’s no award for doing it all at once, so if the student is losing focus and finding their mind wandering, it is good to switch to another task and come back to piano when they are ready to focus again.
This is largely the reason that I don’t recommend setting a 30 minute timer to guide children’s practicing. If they get bored and start just playing things to pass the time while they daydream, they won’t get much benefit from their practice time.
Productive practice is mentally engaged practice.
Intermediate Pianists
First, we must define an intermediate student. I consider students at the intermediate level when they are ready to move out of their method books and start following a more repertoire-based approach.
In my studio, this usually takes about 2 years. It can be more or less. Consistent practicing of 30 minutes a day as a beginner is what gets students to this level in 2 years.
Adults often reach the intermediate stage faster than younger students, and everyone can get there faster by practicing more.
Advanced pianists
An advanced pianist needs more time to master harder repertoire. Advanced pianists should practice at least an hour a day, but will find that they can master more pieces if they commit 2 hours to practicing a day.
Conservatory students
Any pianist in conservatory should practice at least 2 hours a day, but 3 is better. Pianists who want to pursue performance should practice 4 hours a day.
To keep the mind fresh and allow the body to rest, it is best to limit practice sessions to 1 hour at a time. It is easy to get to 4 hours in a day by practicing for 1 hour before breakfast, 1 hour in the mid-morning before lunch, 1 hour in the early afternoon, and the last hour before or after dinner.
Is it possible to practice the piano too much?
Over-practicing poses a few risks: injury and wasting time.
Playing the piano at high levels resembles high level athletic training. The pianist is pushing their body to its limits to practice as much as possible. But pushing through strain and fatigue can result in repetitive motion injuries and carpal tunnel.
Wasting time is less scary than suffering from an injury, but it is also the enemy of progress.
Preventing overuse injuries
Your teacher should be helping you to develop a healthy technique that relieves tension and prevents injury, but there are a few more guidelines you can take to protect yourself.
- Stretch before you play – The tendons in your wrists lubricate through movement, so you need to explore the full range of motion in your wrists to prepare them properly. You can not do this just by playing, because piano playing does not include sufficient wrist motion to fully lubricate your tendons.
- Take a break every hour – Moving your body helps to keep you from settling into a slouching posture, and let’s your muscles and joints move in a different way than they do when you play.
- Don’t practice more than 4 hours a day – moderation is key, and practicing too much leads to fatigue and bad technique
- Cross train – other exercises can help. Yoga can help strengthen wrists and forearms. Walking and swimming both strengthen the core, a strong core allows you to sit without slouching. There are many options, so pick something you enjoy and it will serve as a mental break, as well.
What is the optimal amount of time to practice piano?
The more you practice the better you get, but it has been found that after 2 hours, pianists start to see a diminishing return. That is, more practice will still help you get better, but not as efficiently as those first 2 hours did.
If you are trying to use your time for maximum efficiency, you should practice for 2 hours in a day.
Advanced pianists who practice more than 2 hours a day do so because they are trying to get ready for an audition, recital, or just trying to squeeze as much learning as possible in as few years as possible, so they don’t mind being less efficient as long as overall they see more gains.
Why I don’t ever recommend more than 4 hours of practice a day
Practicing is hard work and eventually even those with the greatest stamina will become fatigued.
It is a bad idea to practice while tired. You tend not to stay mentally engaged and play on “auto-pilot”. The chances of slipping into a bad technique and setting poor habits into your muscle memory go up considerably.
How to get the most out of your practice time
Not all minutes are created equal. Sitting and playing mindlessly or on autopilot will not get you very far. Creating and implementing a practice plan, however, leads to significant progress in a shorter time.
Pianists learn efficient practice techniques as they go, and a good teacher will spend a portion of their lesson time on teaching these practicing skills.
To practice well, a student needs to know what they want to accomplish. The more specific the goal, the better. It could be to learn notes in a certain measure or phrase, to reach a certain speed, to improve a certain technique, etc.
Then they focus on only that goal until they are satisfied with the results. The best goals are focused enough that they take 15 minutes or less to accomplish. Often the student can apply practice techniques they have already used in their lesson with their teacher.
The best way to “cheat” the system and get more practice in
There is no limit on how much mental practice a person can do.
Mental practice allows the pianist to continue learning music without putting a strain on their body. Mental practice time can include analyzing the score, memorizing the piece, and making interpretive decisions.
Quality not quantity
While it is good to strive to put in enough practice, many pianists get caught up in a need to log a certain number of hours. The focus shouldn’t be solely on the time, though, but the learning. Practicing efficiently and with a specific goals in mind will yield dividends for years. Always remember to focus on outcomes instead of just the clock.
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