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It has been sometimes from the day i start piano till today.Ever since 2003 July,i have been attending regular piano lesson unless my teacher need a holiday.Presently,i am still in the midst of practising grade 2 examination pieces and taking my theory grade 2 on March

I am wondering how long to take to practice each day and to speed up my process in achieving Grade 8.

Is it adviseable to skip some theory grading for lower grade?

Not sure how long does it take to have Grade 8 and wondering how you guys achieve?Any experience or advises to share?

Some say stop at 40 minutes, take a break.

Hi Jac, How are you doing ?

As I say I barely started learning piano with a teacher from 1.11.04 (Good Date to remember) and I try to practise at least an hour each day. Wish to have more time but got to work, eat, sleep, play with kids etc etc ....

Personnally I think 1-2 hrs for an adult should be
ideal.

Hmmm so far I am quite happy with my own progress and so do my teacher

You know what everyone says, it's not how long you practice but the quality of your practice that matters. This is something I totally agree with! having said that:

I prefer to practice for at least two hours whenever possible. I start out with an exercise from Czerny, then work on my first piece, and then I always stand up and move around after that (maybe about 45 minutes) so that I don't get tensed up or tired. Then I usually switch to my next piece, work on that and then get up and take a slightly longer break than the first break. After that, I usually play a piece from my repertoire and then my time is about up. I write a few comments in my piano diary and then usually have housework or work-work to do!

If I can spend more than 2 hours (if it's a weekend or holiday or I am just really lucky) I either take a break every hour or so, or I split my practice up and do one session in the morning and one in the evening. This is definitely my favorite way to practice, but I can almost never find this much time.

Regarding how much you "should" practice each day, it depends on your schedule, and what you are practicing, but I always think an hour is a good length. If you are working on more than one piece, or doing lots of exercises or scales, than you might need more time.

If you start to get tired or frustrated, or are just stuck and not progressing, taking a 5 to 15 minute break is an excellent way to refresh your mind.

OTOH If you are busy with work or other non-piano things, even 15 minutes of practice is better than nothing.

Regarding skipping theory or advancing to a certain grade, I'll leave that up to someone else because I don't know what your course is etc. However, although there are some general guidelines about how long it takes to achieve a certain level, in the end it's always up to the individual.

Hi all,

Thanks for sharing .It is always nice listening

Chwee,
Ya i am fine!
Hope that every thing is fine as well for you!

Yeah Jac, the right way to practise is more important than the time spent on practice.

By the way, how are you getting along with your teacher ? I've bought the super sight-reading book and the complete idiot guide to music theory. If you are interested, can let you take a look