My teacher hasn't asked me for ages how much practice I do, so I guess I do enough, but I've been browsing some old threads about grade 2ers practising for an hour a day etc which has made me wonder!

I play the violin, and took grade 5 in May. I'm now working on expanding my repertoire and have lots on the go, almost all of which I love. I don't do everything I'm working on in every practice session because there's just too much. I currently have:

Scales - C maj & A min, 3 octaves, plus the arpeggios, dominant 7ths, doubllestopped in 3rds, 6ths and octaves and harmonics - eeeeeek.

Studies - Kreutzer 2 (working on one of the weird bowings) & 3.

Pieces - From my teacher: Kreisler Tempo di Minueto, Massenet Meditation from Thais, Bach Doule 3rd Movement.

From orchestra: 2nd violin parts of Elgar Pomp & Circumstance March No. 4 & Chanson de Matin (don't take much practice as there are only a few tricky bars in each).

From trio: Haydn's Divertimento no 7 in A, 1st violin part.

Obviously it's quality rather than quantity when it comes to practice, but how long do you think I should be practising for? at the moment I do 45 mins - 1 hr a day, 6 or 7 days a week. And how much of the stuff I'm working on would you have in each session?

Sorry this is a bit of a long rambly post!
Rosie x

What you're doing sounds fine, Rosie. It's not so much a matter of a specified length of practice as what works for you. If your teacher hasn't said anything about your practice, then you can assume it's not an issue. I only ask my students about their practice when things are not progressing as well as they might.

You're doing loads, Rosie! Wish I could put in that much time!

I agree with the others, it looks like you are on the right track and 45 to 60 mins 6 days a week is well appropriate for where you are in your learning.
I have never asked myself how much I should practice, I started off saying I'd do at least 10 minutes every day but it soon turned into 30 minutes then an hour then an hour and a half at about once a week I go crazy and do 2 hours Sometimes it may not be high quality but fun playing but it does all add up!
now I can't practice every day anymore but I do practice about 4 days a week, still same lenght of time.
Jo

You seem to be able to do so much! I spend almost half an hour on scales and arpeggios alone! How do you squeeze so much into 45mins?

That's the trouble, I don't! If I was going to do everything in each session, that would probably take about 2 hrs - so for example yesterday I actually did quite a long practice - 1 hour 10 mins - but I only worked on 2 scales (scales take 15-20 mins at the moment because they're hard double stops and harmonics), 3 lines of my Kreutzer, a bit of Kreisler and the Bach Double up to the solo section (1st vln).

So I kind of alternate what I do in each session, which means everything has had some work from week to week, but the improvement on each piece/scale/study isn't very noticeable.

Thanks for your replies, everyone.

Ooooh you sound so advanced and those scales sound scary!

I'm lucky today - I took the day off work and did my violin practise after breakfast so I was nice and awake

I spent half an hour on scales going back over the ones I know then working on D maj two octaves (poor intonation but I am only grade 3 ), then E major and then all the arpeggios I know in three-notes-to-a-bow.

Then I spent almost half an hour on the position shifts in the Pachabel canon that I'm playing in a concert soon - I'm playing first violin so I don't want to sound crappy.

Then I spent another half hour or so on my Grade 3 pieces and some Scottish fiddle tunes. I didn't have time to look at studies because I'm so slow at learning the position shifts it's taking me heaps of repetition trying to get the intonation correct - it's soooo frustrating

But... I may not be able to practice again until Thursday depending on work although I'm desperate to get into a routine of doing practise every day after I've let the dogs out and had a cup of tea so I would start at 7am. Even an hour then would only be 8am and I could start work at 9 and have it all done *idealist*

Lottie, they ARE scary!

They are great though, because the playstation is in the room I practise in. I usually have real troubles getting 11 year old brother off the thing so I can play, but now I can just start bashing away at a sclae in harmonics and he scarpers!

I practice for between 90 minutes and 2 hours a day 13 days out of 14. I've been playing properly for just under 2 months and am at grade 3 level or there abouts.
I can certainly see I'll have to increase my practice time considerably though as I move up the grades, to give ample attention to scales etc.
Currently I have material I need to work on for two seperate teachers so I allow myself a bit more time than perhaps I would if I were just working on grades and not playing fiddle too.

I'm fortunate though that finding time to practice isn't an issue, if in the end I find myself needing to practice 8 hours or more a day to get to where I want to be with my music then that's what I'll do.

8 hours a day! Gulp!

I practise about 45 minutes 5 times a week and I have a lesson every fortnight.
Sometimes I only do a few scales and then put Ellen away again because nothing goes right and I don't want to be practising bad habits. If I'm on a roll, I'll do 75 minutes.

To be honest, I don't think I'd ever get around to doing more than that, even as I advance. I just don't have the time- too many more important things to do! Just work (which is so not important, but I have to make a living) and looking after family etc takes up the whole day until about 9pm, sometimes even 10. Sometimes I wish we had 48 hours in a day

The worst thing is when someone comes round that I can't possibly practise in front of . Our house is quite small so there's not much chance that I won't be heard. Bah.

DITTO littlelady, same for me.
BUT if I did have 8 hours of free time every day I'd see myself EASILY spending it on the violin

I didn't say that I do currently practice for 8 hours per day, just that if and when I need to then I'm prepared to do that amount.

At the moment my muscles (and brain) would fatigue long before I clocked up 8 hours so two hours-ish per day is plenty.

Even two hours is loads! And if I was asked to practise eight hours a day, I think I would say no. I don't have eight hours at home and I wouldn't give up six hours of sleep!

Anyway, as you say, it's all conjecture at this point. You sound really motivated though, Ms.Fiddle. Where do you aim to get to? Are you just muddling along like me or do you have something in mind?

Thanks, maybe obsessed would be a more apt word than motivated.

Ultimately I'd like to teach but also I hope to play English style fiddle and maybe sing in a folk group of some description and also play in an amateur orchestra and/or chamber ensemble.

I'd love to have even an hour a day to practise... Perhaps I should start the getting up at 6, getting ready for school then practising first thing in the morning lark - at the moment I barely manage any practise. think thats a good idea?

In my last year at school I would practice the piano for 1 - 1.5 hours before leaving the house; finger exercises and scales. Then I could fit in an hour of piano and an hour of clarinet in practice rooms at school. Then I'd do another hour of piano when I got home which sometimes ran into two hours. Then I'd do 1-2 hours clarinet in the evenings with homework usually coming last. Oh and on top of that I would have lessons, orchestra practice and band practice. At the weekends I'd spend 5hours on the piano and maybe 2 hours on the clarinet. If I had an exam coming soon it was more. My piano lessons were once a week in the evening and were more than an hour of utterly intensive work - I was just a ragdoll when they finished.

I was knackered all the time and did make myself quite ill so I'm not sure I'd 'advise' anyone to try it.. but then again, music is not an 'easy' option and you've got to drive yourself to succeed.

Try even doing half an hour before school. That will give you a head start on the day.

In my last two years at school I used to practise the piano for half an hour in the morning before I went to school and for about an hour and a half when I came home before doing homework (although I did use to prop things I had to learn up on the music stand when I was playing scales and learn them at the same time). I used to play more at weekends. (The violin I only practised for about 20 minutes a couple of times a week).

Thanks Lottie that sounds like an awful lot!! But I think I will try getting up and doing practise before I leave - hopefully it'll make a difference.