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How often do your dc practice?

 

I have 2 who play violin and in the past I have had them practice twice per day- once before/after breakfast (one goes before, one after) and once again in the evening. I find that they do so much better when they get these 2 practices in per day (about 20 min each time).

 

I find they do very well when they practice first thing but it delays when school starts and that frustrates me and I'm not sure what to do and when would be the best times to have them practice.

 

I started a thread on the K-8 forum asking for independent ideas for my grade 1 child to do while I put the youngsters to nap and instrument practice came up. I like that idea. However, since I want them playing twice per day, would it be too much if she played at 8am and then again at close to 2?

 

Or would I be better to skip the 8am play time and just do a 2pm and evening practice? This would allow me to start school on time, but I would miss out on what I *think* is a better practice time.

 

What do you do? When have you found to be the best time to get your kids playing their instruments?

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We are looking at splitting the time into 2 sessions as you do. Practicing for 20 minutes at a time was hard for my DS. We are looking at two 10-15 minute sessions. I think either morning and afternoon or afternoon and evening as you mentioned sound reasonable. GL! I hope you can find a routine that works for all of you.

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I asked the teacher? He said, 30 minutes tops a day is great!

they practice the same time as when he comes to our home on the off days!

and I give no practice days for weekends :D

 

We don't play on weekends or holidays either. :D Which of course means we took 3 weeks off for Christmas. They were not sounding too great today, lemme tell ya. :tongue_smilie:

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All of my kids play one or more instruments each, and I've never gotten overly involved in their playing. They always seem to want to play at least a little. I would say they play on and off throughout a day/weekend, and/or throughout a week. They have their own goals (including the youngest), so I don't need to say anything as they want to play certain pieces. Three of them worked on several Christmas pieces for party caroling, which was nice. :) I know when my 17 yr old is working on something, it's pretty nonstop. He plays more than one instrument and often works pieces for other instruments out at the piano. During winter vacation (he attends a b & m ps) he spent hours on that bench. My youngest picks up her instrument throughout the day. She might only play a few minutes sometimes, but often she will play for more than an hour. It really depends on their current and particular goals.

Edited by LibraryLover
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When my children were younger/little, they did really well when I stayed nearby as the played/practiced. A couple of them liked me to sit right with them on the piano bench. So... whatever time you choose, think about whether they need that type of support/company, and maybe prepare to sit a spell.

 

All these years later, I can't easily articulate how wonderful & sweet it is to be preparing an ordinary dinner as you listen to real music made by your own children.

Edited by LibraryLover
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My 12yo is taking private guitar lessons. She has 15-20 minutes of scheduled guitar practice each schoolday. She often practices a lot more than that. It isn't uncommon for her to get an hour or more in a day.

 

My 15yo is doing piano at home. She practices for 20 minutes each schoolday. We were doing 30 minutes, but she gets more out of the 20 minute practice than she did out of the 30 minute practice.

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My boys play the piano. The teacher requires 2 hours a week of practice so that is what they do. They typically do 20 minutes a day, 6 days a week. I let them choose when to do it but will sometimes suggest that it needs to be done. My goal has always been to get them to be responsible for keeping track of their own piano practicing on a practice card.

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My kids play when they want to. I don't schedule it, but I do remind them to practice if I haven't noticed them practicing that day. I usually hear them sitting down to the piano a few times a day. Of course, they are beginners and I'm sure I'll require more disciplined study as they get older.

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30 minutes/day. (More, if they are inspired and want to keep going.)

 

BUT, that doesn't include lessons. (60 minutes/week)

 

And... my oldest is playing in the local marching band/winter percussion band. Those kids practice together about 20 hours a week. That's on top of at-home practicing. Not all of that time is used for musical practice, though; it's rehearsing for performances... (and some lunch breaks! :))

 

Our teacher says 30 minutes of practice-at-home time is good.

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We practice before school starts, which is 8:15 am. I exercise from 6:15-7:00 (on mornings when I am still exhausted, I lay in bed and think from 6:15-7:00, but you know, that is mental exercise:tongue_smilie: I wake the boys up at 7:00. 7 yo practices piano from 7:15-7:30; 10 yo practices violin from 7:30-8:15. Mom just started taking lessons, but not has been practicing as she should be, which is evident by the way in which she plays!

 

We used to practice in the evenings, but it either didn't happen, or the players were tired and the quality of the practice was lacking.

 

Krista

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Winter percussion! That is some major schedule, isn't it? Those kids are the greatest, ime.

 

30 minutes/day. (More, if they are inspired and want to keep going.)

 

BUT, that doesn't include lessons. (60 minutes/week)

 

And... my oldest is playing in the local marching band/winter percussion band. Those kids practice together about 20 hours a week. That's on top of at-home practicing. Not all of that time is used for musical practice, though; it's rehearsing for performances... (and some lunch breaks! :))

 

Our teacher says 30 minutes of practice-at-home time is good.

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Winter percussion! That is some major schedule, isn't it? Those kids are the greatest, ime.

 

Yes! They work so hard and are just all around great kids! My oldest dd is SO happy to be a part of it. :) She plays bass guitar.

 

My middle dd is a drummer and can't wait to join next year. :)

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All.the.time.

 

Seriously, my son is attending community college studying commercial music with the plan to attend Musician's Institute in about a year and a half. He practices 2-3 hours four days a week with various ensembles at school, practices at least another 1-2 hours at home on those same days, and practices another 3-4 hours on each of the remaining 3 days he does not have school. If he has a band over to practice, they may very well practice 6-7 hours. Music is his obsession/passion. When he is not practicing, he is using music software to compose and edit. Did I mention he has Asperger's which accounts for some of his obsessiveness?

 

I've had to force him take some days off when he starts having physical problems due to the stress of repetitive movements.

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My oldest 2 play instruments. I don't get involved in their practicing. They both love playing and never need reminding to practice. (It is more like - GET OFF THAT INSTRUMENT! You still have school work left to do! LOL It is possible that they get that from me. I finally got a violin again after *years* of not having one. I haven't been getting much else done... :D )

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Both of my DC play violin.

 

DS 12 practices 1 1/2 hours a day 5 days a week. One day a week he has orchestra/theory and private lessons, and no practice on Sunday. (Unless he's missed a day during the week and has to make it up.)

 

We try to divide it into two sessions. I like to have him practice first thing in the morning while I'm fixing breakfast. Depending on when he gets started, it will be for 45 min. to a hour. He then finishes up the rest sometime in the evening for 30 -45 min. He will also help his sister for about 10-15 of her practice time if she needs it. This is not officially practice, but he also plays along with the hymn singing at church on Sunday morning and Sunday evening.

 

DD 8 practices 1/2 a hour a day 5 days a week. One day a week she has orchestra/theory and private lessons, no practice on Sunday (unless it is a make-up). She does not have a set time for practice. She has to wait for big brother and I to have time to help her. (I have no musical ability, so I'm not really that much help. :))

 

Both children started with about 15 min. a day and increase their time at the beginning of each school year.

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Our 3 boys all study piano with me and they practice at least 20 - 30 minutes 6 days a week. My 11 yo ds also studies guitar and he practices that for 30 - 45 minutes a day. Although he likes to play, he kind of views it as his school work, something to get done. 9 yo ds plays trumpet and he practices closer to 45 -60 minutes a day. He loves playing both trumpet and piano and would play a great deal more if he didn't have other responsibilities. My 7 yo ds loves working on his piano and he actually practices about 20 minutes, but will often sit down to play throughout the day. He just got a drum set for Christmas so he'll be adding that into the rotation. Our house always seems to have just a bit of noisy chaos going on.

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My dd is a motivated violinist and practices about 2-3.5 hours a day (sometimes more) every day. She cannot stand to go a day without playing her violin and even asks to sit and play it when she isn't feeling well. She breaks her practice time up and does review (Suzuki and orchestra pieces she knows well) first thing in the morning before schoolwork begins for about 30 min.

 

After a couple subjects, around 10am, she does her main practice with her theory/technique books, current pieces, and orchestra pieces she is just learning. This practice takes between 1-1.5 hours. Because she has a concert his month and is determined to play a newer piece, she is practicing that separately for another 30 min sometime during the day.

 

She also plays Irish fiddle so practices that with videos of her teacher for another 30 min while I cook dinner and this month, she and her brothers have quite a few gigs so are practicing for about an hour about 3-4 nights a week.

 

This amount of practicing has slowly increased with the increasing demands of her playing. When she was 3-4yo, she practiced about 3-5 times a day for 10-15 min. here and there whenever she brought me the violin and asked to practice.

 

My guitarist goes to public school so practices everyday after school and homework for an hour and another hour with his sister at night. My drummer is in public school and taking off lessons for wrestling season. He practices his bodhran and beat box with his siblings at night but his week is very busy with wrestling practices so he only gets to practice his full drum set on weekends.

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Dd plays piano. She practices about 20 minutes or however long it takes to get thru her practice content, then just plays for pleasure, so I never know how long it will be. I ask her if she's done piano yet most days (if I've been out, for example)--her favorite time to practice is after dinner. Of course, she's out of the home and in school every weekday until 3:30 or so.

 

She started viola at public school, but it's a joke--she doesn't practice hardly at all b/c there isn't much to practice. I hope they ramp it up a bit. She retains interest when she makes progress, and there just isn't enough content right yet!

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She also plays Irish fiddle.

 

Awesome! My violinist is actually a Celtic fiddler. :D She was always very specific about it, not violin, but Celtic fiddle! Her teacher started her with a lot of Celtic fiddle and now, for the 6 - 8 months or so has started introducing more "traditional violin." Honestly, dd slogs through the "violin" bit and spends her passion on the fiddling.

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My oldest practices about an hour a day on her violin. - 20 minutes from her lesson book, 20 minutes on her orchestra pieces, and 20 minutes on her solo ( for solos & ensembles competition) She prefers to get it all over and done with at once and she usually practices in the early evenings before dinner.

 

For piano both her and her brother practice about 30 minutes. One will usually practice while I'm making lunch, and the other some time after school. Their teacher said that she'd like to see at least an hour a day from DD....but I dont' think that's going to happen.

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I teach piano and guitar to preschoolers -12ish year olds. My boys are also learning both plus drums.

 

My rule of thumb for practice:

 

4 yrs. - non advanced 6 yr old....10 - 15 minutes a day. (twice if possible)

 

8 years old and younger. (beginner to barely intermediate) ..... 15 minutes (twice if possible).

 

9 years old and above or solidly intermediate-ish....should go for 20 minutes -x2 (and work toward half hour segements) with 1/3 of the time being for theory memorization or notespeller activities and 2/3 of the time for scales and pieces.

 

I don't teach advanced students....but I took about 13ish years of classical piano....and I could easily pracitce for an hour twice per day plus play for pleasure. But it was "my thing".

 

I find that age alone isn't adequate to figure out a good time frame. Half of my students are interested in the music and mostly self motivated or at the very least WILLING to apply themselves with a positive attitude/effort.

 

But for the other half of the kids who are there because they're being TOLD to get the experience (which I'm not against! but it just makes their attitudes awful) and are not willing to apply themselves in a positive way....they are going to HATE practice and much shorter practice times several times a day is what they need for sure, instead of long ones.

 

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

 

As for WHEN to practice.....

 

We have two available times for practice in our crazy day...(not my instruction/lesson time included in the school schedule).... In the early part of the school morning...if I'm having to work with one in reading or math (and the others don't have busy/catch up work they can do) one can practice guitar and one can practice piano....and then we do a big rotation. (my kids are still taking off with reading and are not totally independent schoolers yet).

 

Then later in the evening....when it's shower and bath time....we do a big switch rotation at that time too. One is showering ...the others are practicing instruments. Rotate.

 

I'm not disciplined enough to pull this off every day. But we are always working at it.

Edited by Kirstin
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How often do your dc practice?

 

I have 2 who play violin and in the past I have had them practice twice per day- once before/after breakfast (one goes before, one after) and once again in the evening. I find that they do so much better when they get these 2 practices in per day (about 20 min each time).

 

I find they do very well when they practice first thing but it delays when school starts and that frustrates me and I'm not sure what to do and when would be the best times to have them practice.

 

I started a thread on the K-8 forum asking for independent ideas for my grade 1 child to do while I put the youngsters to nap and instrument practice came up. I like that idea. However, since I want them playing twice per day, would it be too much if she played at 8am and then again at close to 2?

 

Or would I be better to skip the 8am play time and just do a 2pm and evening practice? This would allow me to start school on time, but I would miss out on what I *think* is a better practice time.

 

What do you do? When have you found to be the best time to get your kids playing their instruments?

 

When do your kids want to play? Are they more motivated/focussed in the morning or in the evening?

 

I agree with the pp who said that it depends on the kid. I would add that it depends on what they are studying and for how long.

 

My 11 y.o. plays the cello. This is his 6th year. He usually practices 5 days a week -- not on the days he has a lesson or orchestra rehearsal. He likes to break his practice into 2 sessions. Each one goes about 20-30 minutes, but he does sometime practice more (before concerts). Instead of practicing for a set amount of time, he practices a certain list of things. He practices X number of review pieces from each Suzuki book. He practices X number of pieces from each sightreading book. He does X number of scales, arpeggios, and tonalizations from his theory work. He practices X number of orchestra pieces. He practices X number of pieces for his cello ensemble class.

 

My 8 y.o. plays the viola. This is her 5th year. Her practice is all over the place. She picks up the instrument for a few minutes here and there all day. She is not at all ordered or disciplined in the way she practices and might spend an hour on one new piece and no time on review if it was up to her. Ha! (Thank goodness I look over her shoulder and put my 2 cents in every once in a while.) She has a practice chart/list that she should follow each day. It includes X number of pieces from each Suzuki book (alternating pieces each day), a recent polished piece, a working piece, a piece she is previewing (okay -- she often spends LOTS of extra time on pieces she shouldn't yet be previewing, but if it's in the book it's open season), X number of quartet pieces, X number of viola ensemble pieces, and X number of orchestra pieces. If I had to add up all of her practice time (not including the time she diddles around, composes new pieces, improvs, and plays random pieces she happens to hear someone else playing), I'd say she practices about 45 mintues to an hour a day.

 

My 5 y.o. is a beginning cellist. We don't practice very day. (Bad mom.) I have zero motivation. He's very wiggly. He's interested, but he'd rather do other things. Me too. :( I'm trying to be better.

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I'm a professional pianist, have a music ed degree, and ran a piano studio for a while, so I'm coming from that angle as well as a parent.

 

I feel strongly that it's like reading. Just as a time every day set aside for silent reading -- enough time to "get into" and enjoy a book -- is very important, so should be "playing time." ("Practicing" is a weird word for me.)

 

Just like your kid will be a better reader if they have trips to the library, enthusiastic book suggestions, and lots of choices for their reading, so should a child have lots of music to read and pick through.

 

In fact, I feel very strongly that is one of the biggest factor of being successful musically: Is there an opportunity to read and play lots and lots of music from a wide variety of styles and levels?

 

There should be opportunities to play songs that are "too easy" and "too hard," songs that your teacher may never hear you play, songs that you may never finish, and songs that are a wildly different style from what you usually play. This is SO SO helpful in developing a musician's interests and abilities.

 

Just thinking about that may help you answer your question better.

 

My nine year old plays for 15 minutes every morning as soon as she is clean, fed, and dressed. This seems to work well for now. She also plays in the afternoon at her own discretion.

 

Good luck. PM me if you have any questions -- I love talking about kids learning music! :)

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Awesome! My violinist is actually a Celtic fiddler. :D She was always very specific about it, not violin, but Celtic fiddle! Her teacher started her with a lot of Celtic fiddle and now, for the 6 - 8 months or so has started introducing more "traditional violin." Honestly, dd slogs through the "violin" bit and spends her passion on the fiddling.

 

My dd loves classical violin but fiddling is her passion. She enjoys fiddle more because she gets to improvise and it is more social for her. Her violin teacher doesn't have a large enough studio for group lessons and though she is in a couple orchestras, rehearsal time for those is spent rehearsing, not so much time for socializing.

 

With her Irish music she is able to play with lots of different people playing lots of different instruments at sessions in local pubs. There is also a children's session once a month near us where they learn a new tune, take a snack break, then play session-style together. Plus she gets to play with her brothers in their "band." We have had a lot of fun and gotten to do a lot of travelling with her Irish music. It's been a fun ride!

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My 14 year old Practices one piano piece for 1 hour as soon as he wakes up. In the evening, he practices his other piece for 30 minutes.

 

A couple of days a week, he spends 30 minutes reviewing his new songs on the sax and the oboe.

 

In his free time, he plays guitar,trumpet and anything else he can get his hand on.

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I think 8 and 2 would be great. We have practice in the morning, and I don't mind that it delays school. It is part of the morning routine with exercise, chores, etc. I agree that the morning is a great time to practice! They usually also practice later in the day for fun, too, and it works out fine.

I think the morning is a great time to practice too. DD is only 4.5 and usually practices violin shortly after breakfast. I think multiple small practice sessions are quite efficient too. 8 and 2 sound fine to me.

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It depends a lot on the age. All of my children play various instruments but their ages dictate how we approach it.

 

The teens are on their own. They have one main instrument and a secondary. The only thing I do for my teens is ensure they have available at least 1 1/2 hours for practice. They choose how to utilize it. I assign things only if it is specifically band related.

 

My 10yo is asked to go for 40 minutes, but if he accomplishes everything and wearies of "fun" additionals, he quits early. Because he's a bluegrass fiddler now, no longer in Suzuki viola, there is more flexibility, but I kind of wish I'd have thought of two shorter sessions back when he was having more trouble focusing as long as necessary for the work. For now, I make him a list of the things he's supposed to work on, then a list of old tunes he can pick through for fun to fill up some extra play time.

 

For the 5yo, it's really only a few minutes a day and even at that, it's all in fun. She's still at the beginning games Suzuki does and enjoys the time with me working on this.

 

Additionally, we have family practice a few times a week when nothing is coming up, and every night for up to an hour if we have new songs or important shows coming up.

 

For what it's worth, my oldest daughters focused on other studies if they played first thing in the morning, but that was when they were younger. It doesn't seem to make a difference in the younger two. If it helps the child focus on other studies, I'd keep that morning time because it would be worth it in other subjects. If you notice it doesn't seem to matter and puts you behind, you're being counter-productive. There are some studies that suggest some fine motor skills are better retained when used before sleep, so if you can manage evening, it's not a bad idea.

 

I wouldn't bother with 3, but that's probably because I am too disorganized to juggle that much!

Edited by CLHCO
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