Piano teachers have a sixth sense for whether a student has practised, don’t we? The tricky thing is there is no number we can simply give to students or their parents as to the magic number of minutes to practise. A rough guide suggests that children can concentrate for double their age. So a 7 year old student is likely to be able to concentrate for 14 minutes, thus a practice session of 10 minutes at a time is probably going to be the most effective for a 7 year old student.
Remember, quality practice is always better than simply quantity. Your student could practise for an hour, but if they aren’t practising the correct things or skipping over the hard parts, they aren’t going to make a lot of progress. Some students have an innate sense for how to practise, and can be very independent in their learning. With other students you are likely to find you need to be very specific about what (e.g. specific bars) and how (e.g. slow tempo or hands separately) they need to practise. You might also need to teach specific practise skills.
It’s also important to keep in mind that children’s sense of intrinsic motivation is still developing. That’s why I love to give my students a lot of agency in choosing the pieces they learn. I love it when they come to the next lesson and the first thing they say is “I’ve been practising!” My goal is always for practising to be fun, and not feel like a chore.
Ultimately the best way to determine how much a student should be practising is dependent on the goals the student and their parent has. If the student is going to be doing grade exams then a regular practise routine is essential, and they will need to be practising more than students who don’t do exams.
Here are a few tips I give to parents and students regarding piano practise:
- build up minutes gradually – we want to ensure we avoid injuries!
- start with 5 minutes at a time, then make it 5 minutes twice a day etc.
- make sure to use the practise skills from lessons
- don’t just play a piece from start to finish
- practise the tricky bits, not just the parts you find easy!
If you need more tips and resources to help with practise, keep your eyes peeled for something new coming very soon!