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How long per day should a 9yo practice piano?


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He has been playing for 3.5 years and is about to start the Faber level 3B books. He usually practices every day, though if he misses a day per week I don't worry about it. He is diligent and happy about practicing but I am trying to see if I am on track with the amount of time per day.

 

(I know he is a bit younger than the logic age kids but he does most work at that level and thought you guys would have experience with 9yos).

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My son is older, he is almost 11 and is in his 6th year of piano. My best answer is that I wish he practiced longer, lol.

 

We tend to go by pieces rather than time at the piano. If he has a performance coming up and he needs to work really hard, he will play it... 5 times in a practice? It really depends on how long it is.

 

A practice is about always 30 mins. Right now, he just finished a competition so his practice is really light. It is about 20 min. In a week or two he will start to ramp up for recital season so that will mean new pieces or polishing old ones. Then his practices will get longer. It is never more than 40 mins.

 

When I talk to his teacher, she says that his practices sound fine. She says she can tell he practiced and has incorporated her suggestions from every lesson. She is much more interested in consistency, that he be at the keys every day (or almost) than spending hours and hours.

 

I should also add that my son has a really good attitude about practice. He doesn't fight or complain. His playing is progressing in a typical fashion. He's not a prodigy but he is enjoying himself and thinks of himself as a musical person. His teacher seems to think that we shouldn't push our luck. :lol:

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I remember being a kid and I loved playing but I just couldn't stand to sit on that bench for 30 minutes at a time (what I was supposed to do). I ended up quitting and regretting it. I want my kids to be good but I don't want them to dread practicing. So, I don't time their practices. They just practice whatever they're working on several times. Sometimes that might be 15 minutes and sometimes more than 30. But I think that helps them feel better about it, that they have "ownership" of it, so to speak.

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I remember being a kid and I loved playing but I just couldn't stand to sit on that bench for 30 minutes at a time (what I was supposed to do). I ended up quitting and regretting it.

 

Me too!

 

My 11 year old practices 20 min and my 14 yr old practices 30 min per day.

 

However, my 14 year old probably plays the piano an extra 10-30 min per day on her own. Our piano is in a convenient spot and if she is waiting for dinner to be ready or waiting for us to get ready to go somewhere or just feels like it she sits at the piano and plays through her songs.

 

ETA: Our piano teacher recommends 30 min per day because she assumes families are busy and students won't necessarily practice every day - so she says 30 min per day, 4-5 days per week is a good goal. I prefer to keep the time shorter for my younger dd (@ 20 min per day), but she rarely misses a day of practice.

Edited by amtmcm
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My 9yo practices about 20 min per day. Sometimes 30 min, sometimes 15. I don't enforce any particular length of time. If it sounds like she just slopped through her songs I tell her to practice some more, and I help her through it a little bit. She's just finishing up level 2A in the Faber books.

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Thanks everyone! My son had been just practicing each song 3 times and then saying he was done, which was only about 15 minutes and didn't seem like enough as he would not focus on mistakes just sort of rush through. So a couple of weeks ago I set the time for 45 minutes and he has improved drastically but I have been wondering if it was too long. Maybe I'll talk to him about it and see if he thinks it is too long or if he is OK with the time, though he hasn't complained and has noticed his own improvements. But that I definitely shouldn't up it to an hour at this age.

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hmm, I'm surprised at the length you're all quoting. My son is 13 and a violin player. His teacher requires an hour daily. Needless to say, DS does NOT do an hour daily. I'm lucky if he reaches 30 minutes. Now I'm left wondering if the teacher is asking for too much?

 

Most of us are talking about 9-10 yo. I'd expect more out of a 13yo. But an hour does sound like a lot to do in one sitting. Can you split it up to have one practice in the morning and one at night?

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My friend's two DDs play with the same teacher as my kids. They turned 11 in December. The teacher has had them at 45 minutes a day for a long time. I fully expect when mine turns 10 the teacher will turn it up a bit. With that said, our teacher is AMAZING, the kids love her, and they usually don't mind practicing!

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When mine were younger, say 7-10 years old, their piano teacher had an incentive program wherein they earned points and small prizes for practicing 5-6 days per week for the assigned time, which was 20 minutes at first and then 30 minutes later.

 

By the time they were about 10 or so, practicing was ingrained as part of their daily lives.

 

Their practice time was linked to their lesson time - when their lesson time grew to 45 minutes, so did their daily practice time. When they moved to one hour lessons, their practice time increased also.

 

Anne

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My son is 10 and in Faber 3A. He practices about 30 minutes a day.

 

Now, my older son is 15 and practices 2 hours a day, but he moved out of the Faber books 3 years ago. By the time he was in Faber 4 he was practicing 45 min-1 hour a day.

 

Book 4 was the transition for us.

 

This is good to know! I just got the 4 books because ds finished the 3B theory (even though he is still not quite done with 3A) and they look like a jump in difficulty.

 

I am thinking we may move it down to 30 minutes for a while and have another 15 minutes be a bonus practice some days or when he is preparing for a workshop.

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I would say about half an hour - but it really depends on their level, as well as their age. At 13yo I was practicing ABRSM Grade 7 pieces/scales/etc. for an hour a day, and at 16yo I had taken my Grade 8 with around 1.5hrs practice a day.

 

It also depends on how serious you are about it. Music was our "thing", and we learned two instruments each. We somehow managed to share the music room - I and my 2 sibs are spread out, age-wise - but I also remember often practising our non-piano instrument in the dining room.

 

A word about practice: playing the piece over x number of times doesn't necessarily improve it well. It is better to take the tricky sections and play them very slowly until they are mastered, before repeat playings of the whole piece. Also continued careful practice of scales etc. and exercises such as Hanon help the fingers to become strong and nimble. HTH.

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My 9yo Keys to the Kingdom book D Music and Theory - 30 min 6 days/week

http://www.markhayes.com/Keys-for-the-Kingdom/KEYS-FOR-THE-KINGDOM-Level-D-.html

My 11yo Masterworks Classics book 3 and theory book - 1 hr. 6 days/week

http://www.alfred.com/Products/Masterwork-Classics-Level-3--00-166.aspx

sample:

http://www.amazon.com/Masterworks-Classics-Alfred-Masterwork-Editions/dp/0739009656

 

I plan on increasing my son to an hour when he is in Masterworks book 3 and my daughter will increase to 1 1/2 then 2 hours as needed.

 

They are so beautiful to listen to now, no more reading upstairs for piano practice :).

Edited by LNC
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It varies for my daughter depending on what her teacher has assigned for her. Sometimes it seems like it is barely 15 minutes and other times it is 30. I really wish she would get enough work to practice for at least 30 minutes a day. My daughter enjoys piano and gets her schoolwork done very quickly so she could easily do 2 30-minute sessions. But, I've already asked her teacher about her practice time and I feel like I'm going to be the pushy parent if I try to get her to give her more work. We love this teacher, btw, so I wouldn't change over an issue like this, but I do think my daughter is capable of progressing much more quickly than the piano teacher allows.

 

And maybe her teacher does know best. I tend to be the type to overdo things and maybe 15 - 30 minutes is plenty at 9 years old. Of course, it doesn't help that I just read Outliers and the author states how a high level of proficiency with an instrument will be accomplished with 10,000 hours of practice whereas the fewer hours of practice lead directly to lower and lower levels of achievement. Just kidding here -- but how is she ever going to get in 10,000 hours of practice at 15 minutes a day?!:tongue_smilie:

 

Lisa

Edited by LisaTheresa
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A word about practice: playing the piece over x number of times doesn't necessarily improve it well. It is better to take the tricky sections and play them very slowly until they are mastered, before repeat playings of the whole piece. Also continued careful practice of scales etc. and exercises such as Hanon help the fingers to become strong and nimble. HTH.

 

This was the main reason I instituted a time that would give him lots of time to focus on trouble spots and go slowly instead of just rushing through three times. Now with more time to fill he is more likely to take my advice to play slowly or practice a section without getting impatient and annoyed. And I have been wondering why he doesn't have some scales and exercises - he has sporadically but his teacher has not specified to keep them up so maybe I need to go and make a warm up exercise book from what he has done in the past. He does do the Technique and Artistry book and has a big list of songs every week.

 

I'm still undecided whether to change to 30 minutes or keep going with 45 most days but make it more flexible if we have less time available.

 

I appreciate everyone's input. I never did piano as a child - no opportunity - and played flute starting in seventh grade but really barely practiced. I want my sons to enjoy music but also develop habits of practicing even when initially they don't feel like it, working through difficult things and seeing the results after all that practice, etc.

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My ds has been practicing 30min 5 days per week for past 3 years.

 

We found that it depended on the rapport he had with his teacher. 1st year piano taught by accomplished, expensive teacher, no problems practicing 30min/day. We changed to cheaper, maybe less serious? teacher and had to sit on him to practice. We returned to his original teacher and he is self-motivated again.

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For myself, and my sons while they were growing up, I found that skill mastery took an hour a day, no matter what the skill. Playing around at a skill without expecting mastery took 30 minutes to even be able to successfully complete a curriculum.

 

I've started the keyboard. Too often I'm only doing 15 minutes and it's not enough, but...my goals are small...so... :-)

 

I'm also trying to relearn the Hebrew alphabet. I have some memory loss and it's one of the skills that is just GONE. Again often 15 minutes and it's not enough.

 

I put the math book AWAY. Obviously I'm not interested in any serious drill right now :-0

 

I'm tired. I'm not sleeping. My post trauma stuff is overwhelming. I don't NEED to relearn or learn any of this.

 

Unless a child LOVED music, I wouldn't require enough practice to accomplish anything major. I'd just introduce the instrument and give them enough teaching, to give them a place to start self-educating in the future with some confidence.

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My son is 9 and has been doing piano for almost 5 years. His current teacher requires him to practice 40 minutes a day M-F. Her suggestion was that we split it up into 2-20 minute periods, which is what we do, and that works fine for us.

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My ds9 MUST practice 30 minutes a day or he is not "dismissed" from school. He sometimes plays longer, but he must do 30 minutes with the timer set. He has been soaring with this as the expectation. It is just enough time for him to master his pieces (he also is in Faber 3, but a or b i'm not sure), and not grow frustrated or miserable from having to sit too long at the piano. Sometimes he chooses to break it up into 15 minute intervals, and that is fine with me. This week he was grounded from all screen time and media, and it was amazing how much time he spent just playing for fun and personal interest.

 

For those whose students lack motivation...What has helped me (after the crush on the cute, young piano teacher wore off) was setting piano practice as part of the daily check list. He is not free from school until it is done, and he also has to answer to Dad if it is not completed. I find that he has a good attitude about it and does not complain because he sees it as part of the daily routine. He is enjoying it more and more because he is steadily improving.

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Our 9 dd practices 30 minutes on piano and 30 minutes on marimba, 5 days/week. Our 10 dd plays one instrument and practices 1 hour. They do extra time together for fun or working on duets. If they did not enjoy their music I would require only 30 minutes total for each.

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He has been playing for 3.5 years and is about to start the Faber level 3B books. He usually practices every day, though if he misses a day per week I don't worry about it. He is diligent and happy about practicing but I am trying to see if I am on track with the amount of time per day.

 

(I know he is a bit younger than the logic age kids but he does most work at that level and thought you guys would have experience with 9yos).

 

I think our teacher has a nice rule of thumb. He suggests minimum 5 days a week for the length of your lesson. For many beginning early intermediate that would be 30 minutes and up from there. He says frustration will rise if you can't see continual progress.

 

My 10 year old has been playing going on 5 years. He practices 45 minutes to an hour a day on average. He is quite advanced for age though. Depends on level. It took us a long time to get to this length and level of practice. We have goal oriented practices and not time oriented practices. We do scales, drills, working on 3-5 pieces at a time with various drills and special practices on difficult sections and then review. On a light week, it might take closer to half hour. When he's prepping for a recital or competition it might be more than an hour.

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I think our teacher has a nice rule of thumb. He suggests minimum 5 days a week for the length of your lesson. For many beginning early intermediate that would be 30 minutes and up from there. He says frustration will rise if you can't see continual progress.

 

My 10 year old has been playing going on 5 years. He practices 45 minutes to an hour a day on average. He is quite advanced for age though. Depends on level. It took us a long time to get to this length and level of practice. We have goal oriented practices and not time oriented practices. We do scales, drills, working on 3-5 pieces at a time with various drills and special practices on difficult sections and then review. On a light week, it might take closer to half hour. When he's prepping for a recital or competition it might be more than an hour.

 

The problem is my son has been having a 45 minute lesson since he was 5 1/2! I am happy to hear some are doing that long of a practice. He has improved so much the past few weeks with 45 minutes that we are sticking with it. I am sure he would have gotten farther by now with more practice, but this seems a good level for now.

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I think our teacher has a nice rule of thumb. He suggests minimum 5 days a week for the length of your lesson. For many beginning early intermediate that would be 30 minutes and up from there. He says frustration will rise if you can't see continual progress.

 

My 10 year old has been playing going on 5 years. He practices 45 minutes to an hour a day on average. He is quite advanced for age though. Depends on level. It took us a long time to get to this length and level of practice. We have goal oriented practices and not time oriented practices. We do scales, drills, working on 3-5 pieces at a time with various drills and special practices on difficult sections and then review. On a light week, it might take closer to half hour. When he's prepping for a recital or competition it might be more than an hour.

 

This is almost exactly the way piano practice works at our house.

 

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