How Many Hours Should You Practice?

Of course the number of hours that you should practice depends on your age (and maturity if the student is young), time available and music goals. I recommend the book, Passion For Practice With Musings From Music Masters, to help you practice smarter and reduce senseless practice time. As to how many hours should you practice? Practice as long as you can concentrate. Don’t do mindless repetitive work. If you practice something mindlessly, you are wasting your time, so take a break, whether for an hour or a day, it depends on your goals. Taking a break can also mean practicing something different that might excite you more.

Whether you are young or old, music education is great for all ages. According to the Ted Talk by Anita Collins, playing music uses more of your brain than any other art and more than playing a sport! It helps your brain grow neuron connections. It used to be thought that you couldn’t grow new connections if you are older, but that has been proven wrong in the fascinating field of neuroscience.

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For very young students just starting, 15 minutes is good. It helps develop your finger or mouth muscles so they aren’t strained by sudden use of them for long periods. Maybe over 6 months, gradually add 5 minutes every couple of weeks until you hit 30 minutes. Stay at 30 minutes for a while. I think what is harder than requiring a practice time for young students (and even older students and professionals) unless they are the rare person raring to go, very excited for the daily ritual of practice, is getting started. And for me, when I was young, the desire came in spurts, practicing long periods at a time on my own. But it also disappeared too, since I had no practice regulations from my parents. And, I was not taking lessons from fine teachers like I provided for my kids. I just played when I wanted to to have fun.

I have found many teachers have a contract requiring a certain amount of practice for their students to be taking lessons from them. And these teachers will give you guidelines. Depending on a young student’s maturity, and a student’s playing level and commitment to the music field - whether wanting to major in music, or just wanting to be proficient to have fun, I have heard many professionals say you will be too tired after more than 2 or 3 hours to be efficient. But I have heard people with drive say they practice 6 hours a day. Possibly with a serious break between the hours.

What most people don’t realize is that practicing can go on in your head without the instrument. You can do this purposefully, but it also happens unconsciously. And especially if you practice late at night, your brain works over your lessons while you are asleep. There is fascinating research about this that has been worked on in very recent years.

In the book, Passion For Practice…, you will find mention of practice time be the World Famous Steven Isserlis, and by Chicago Symphony Jay Friedman, Principal Trombone player of the Chicago Symphony