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I can also get into the church and especially if I have to be there for meetings, I just have lunch, practice for 25 minutes, then later, for one or two hours while I'm waiting for folks to show up.

When I am home, I finish what I need to do,(grad work, housework, dinner) then have two hours with a couple of five minute stretch breaks. Weekends are my real fun practice times!

I just started piano 5 months ago. I've played (jazz) guitar for 30 years, including bands, 3 nights-a-week gigs, etc. What I've learned in studying guitar I'm applying to the piano and am hoping to make fewer mistakes: here are some random guidelines.
1) I never practice when it feels like a grind. Less hours of high-intensity practice far exceeds slaving away for the sake of more hours at the piano.
2) Half the time should be "lesson" related stuff; the other half "fun" stuff like repertoire, jamming with yourself, experimenting, improvising, composing, etc.
3) Always be musical; when practicing a scale make it sound like music, not a scale. Don't be fooled into thinking that just having your hands on the piano and playing notes is the same as making music. It's about the music, not the technique.
4) If possible I give piano-playing my high-intensity time of the day. I try to get 1 hour in just after breakfast, before work. That's when I get all my lesson related work done. Then when I get back to the piano later, I have my "fun" time ahead of me so I don't dread the second practice session of the day. I always practice before bed, when the house is quiet. As my concentration by then is a little off, I don't expect too much of myself at that session, but if I can get 20 minutes of high-quality playing in, then it's a win.

Overall, I practice about 1 1/2 to 2 hours a day, up to 3 on weekends, and probably take one day a week off to recharge.

I think FRYCEK said it all when he said he doesn't watch TV...that's what I gave up for the piano...with all those channels and nothing on...it wasn't difficult to do at all. I try and practice about 2 hours a day, and if I miss I'm not hard on myself, it is a hobby. But it's easy for me to forget a lot if I'm not rehearsing it often. I try to cover every piece I've learned, even the simple ones that got me started. I have a great teacher that I visit for an hour every other week, I'm basically teaching myself and he re-affirms my questions, etc. I have been at this for about 5 months now and this works for me. I'm happy and that is what a hobby should do.
Jim

Hi everyone. I practice 3-4 hours a day. Please read my practicing information below.

The amount you practice depends upon if you are serious about piano or you just playing for fun. It also depends how many things you have to practice. If you have just one piece to work on and you have an hour a day to practice that one piece you can improve a lot in that one piece in a weeks time.
Also, keep in mind that lessons twice a week will make your development faster. Of course you will have to practice more time daily for this.

Because I have so many different pieces to work on at once if I practice just an hour or two a day it definetly is not enough. 3-4 hours a day is good and is what I am doing now although I would like to move it to 5-6. Keep in mind that the more you practice the better the results. While I was preparing for college auditions, for 9 months, I practiced 10-12 hours a day on top of three 90 minute piano lessons a week and my teacher told me I improved 5 years during this 9 month period!!!!!

You have to gradually work your way up in practice time. Jumping into long hours right at once is dangerous. If you work your way up too fast you could get pain in your hands or wrist...However if you practice with the correct technique you should not develop any type of problems whatsoever... However, it is true that even advanced pianists struggle with technique.
Because of this it is important that pianists of all levels know that IF YOU DEVELOP ANY PAIN YOU NEED TO SEIZE PLAYING UNTIL IT GETS BETTER. If it is only in one hand, play with the other until you can play with both hands again. You may even have to take a two week break. The break might need to be only a day though! :-) If you take a break when you notice the pain even the slightest then it will never develop into anything seriously but will go away :-)))))
But if you do not take a break during the onset of pain you may develop a serious problem.
During my intense 9 months I only had to stop practice once for about 3 days :-)

Remember also that your piano practice time is specifically when you sit down at the piano. Ear training should also be practiced daily. The David Lucas Burge course is the BEST. I have used this with several of my friends and they ALL developed perfect and relative pitch!
:-)) Even some of my young students parents developed it! And they are non-Musicians! :-)

Stick to a strick practice schedule. Get a day planner you could carry with you everywhere and keep a log of all your practice. EVERY pianist should log their practice time. This is very important and will help develop good practice habits. Add up your weekly practice total and try to practice a little more each week, even if each week you increase by only 1 minute. :-)

If you take a day off piano and another day off, it is VERY easy to get off your strict schedule and start slacking...My one day off often turns into two or three so I try really hard to not take a day off. On days you can't practice try to sit down at the pianoto practice- even if for only 20 minutes.

I also log in my planner my internet time and I am working on gradually lowering it to have more practice time.

Another important thing. If you are a serious pianist and want to get good you will need to give up TV. :-)

Reduce the internet, try to only watch 30-60 minutes a week on TV or less, and PRACTICE!!!

God bless!
Corinne
I can be contacted at:
Corinnemk8@hotmail.com

Some- most every day... it varies greatly.

I had to Wikipedia that one

Since I got back from winter vacation, I've been practicing 2 hours a day 6 days a week. I'm in school full-time (not studying music), so it's hard to do more than that - I feel guilty enough about the 2 hours. And really, it does feel like a guilty pleasure - the practice room is where I go to escape my responsibilities.

I practice on average about one hour per day. I don't watch tv in the evenings so I generally have plenty of time to play. On the weekends, I often get in 80 - 90 minutes total each day.

About 5 years ago my old TV broke down. This was shortly after I had begun taking serious classical piano lessons. I procrastinated about getting it fixed or getting a new one. Time went by and I found that I wasn't missing it and that I was spending more and more time at the piano. Five years later I still don't have a TV (I bought a Steinway B instead!) and I'm playing pieces I never dreamt I would be playing...like Chopin etudes. Giving up TV was the best thing that ever happened to my piano playing!

By the way, welcome to the forum Corinne! Rochester NY...are you at the Eastman School?

The TV and Internet can very easily eat away at precious practice time! :-)

Get a planner and keep track of how much time each day you practice piano, watch TV and are on the internet...Then add the TV and internet time to your practice time and you will have lot more practice time. :-)))

The best thing to do is set a time limit on the internet....I am addicted to the internet.....I can't get enough....I love it! Especially youtube. :-) I start watching Child piano prodigies and next thing you know 4 hours has gone by!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi I play every day

sometimes 30 mins sometimes 4, 5, 6 hours!!

Lee

Everyday 30-60 min

I'd like to make a comment about this from another perspective. Sometimes it's OK to do something that you don't really feel like doing. It's not going to damage you psychologically if you practice when you're "not in the mood", in fact, just the opposite happens: often when you practice on those days you weren't in the mood, you feel better for having done it anyways. Just doing something is better than nothing, and accomplishing even one task is a good thing. You can even counter the "I don't want to attitude" before it even sets in by saying, "I will be glad I did it after it's done."

Funny ... I'm not in the "mood" only when I'm away from my studio ... so yeah, I'm in the mood when I do practice, and am usually grumpy and grouchy when not playing (i.e. at work)

As many others have said, I practice every day. Most days it's a good 1hr (30mins or so before work, 30mins or so after) Some days when I work from home or finish up projects early I can get in 2-3hrs.

As this journey continues I sometimes wish I had many more hours in the day to get more practice in

I get in 1-2 hours per day, everyday sometimes more. But still not enough. So much music so little time.

I agree. Practice needs to be an automatic habit - something that you just do on a regular basis whether you feel like it or not. It's a lot easier to tell yourself "I am doing my X minutes/ X hours of piano practice today" than to engage in an internal dialogue every day about whether you really want to practice, whether you really feel like it, how tired you really are, what's new on TV, and whatever other factors go into your decision.

I've got a complicated and intense schedule, and if I were to go through that kind of internal negotiation every day, I'd never practice - there's always a very compelling excuse. So I make practicing non-negotiable. I do give myself one day off a week - this gives me some flexibility in case my schedule gets too crazy, and also allows my hands to rest - but the rest of the week, I have to be at the piano for 2 hours a day. If I don't manage to get to the practice room for my session before the practice rooms close, I use my digital piano late at night. And yes, sometimes it feels like I'm dragging myself through my practice session and watching the clock for the entire 2 hours; but I still do it, to keep up the habit.

I use the same approach for exercise, by the way - it's non-negotiable. I have to go to the gym 6 days a week. No ifs, ands, or buts. If I don't feel like going to the gym, I still go. After a couple of months, habit took over; now I don't feel like my day is complete unless I've done my workout.

And interestingly, I feel a lot better about myself since I started doing this.

from 1 to 5 hours-usually at night. Sometimes Longer if I've had a stressful week.

Great advice!

Some of you people have just got to learn to stop whinning, learn how to kick yourselves in the butt and get busy doing what you know you have to do - and no excuses!

And besides, often if you're not "in the mood" to practice and you force yourself to sit down and start to practice a little very often inspiration grabs a hold of you and you really get into it afterall.

I typicaly practice 3-5 hours per day - whether I'm in the mood or not!

Regards, JF