I have practiced 2 hours a day. I have practiced 6 hours a day.
Going by the length of practice hours, is it enough to gauge whether or not you have practiced enough?
How many hours do you have to put into practice to be considered enough?
Do I need to practice long hours? I am an adult, I need to work!
The thing about practice is, it’s not about the number of hours you put into practice but how effective your practice is.
Even if your practice is only for a half hour, it may be more than enough if your practice is of substance and effectiveness.
- Sections
Playing a piece from top to bottom might seem like the fastest and surest way to a practice session but it will not work.
If one section of the piece is something that you always get it wrong, by repeating the same mistakes and not rectifying it might cause you to instill bad repetitions and habits into your practice.
Thus, dragging your practice process down.
By separating your score into smaller chunks and practicing it in small sections, it will help you target your mistakes and rectify it accordingly.
- Scales, scales, scales and more scales
Jumping straight into your pieces is not the most effective way to a good practice.
If your technique is not honed well, you might not be able to play your instrument to the best.
By utilising scales in your practice, it helps you gain control of your finger strength, the relaxation of your wrist and the agility of your fingers.
This helps with fluency and phrasing of your music. Hone your techniques while learning your pieces. Never neglect it.
- Goal setting
You have a long piece of Beethoven’s sonata in your hand.
By practicing it from the start to the end of the piece each and every day is not useful.
One, you’ll get bored of the piece. Two, by re-emphasizing my first point, you are unable to pick out the mistakes you have made and the mistakes still remain.
Make it a goal to clear one section a day until the whole sonata is rectified.
- Feedback
Here, I don’t mean peer evaluation but a personal recording of your own helps you to identify the sound that you yourself has made.
Find out what you can improve on from your own playing.
You might be surprised at how certain things can be missed out when you are actually playing your songs without listening closely.
Effective practice can help you improve at a tremendous rate and allow you to have ample time to rest and recover.
Remember, by practicing 8 hours a day without putting in much effort into thinking will not help you improve.
By having effective practice 4 hours a day helps. Find a teacher to guide you today!