how much time practicing?

<p>This may vary hugely, I'm not sure. Our son is a talented jazz sax player, and is considering majoring in music, either w/ a BM in performance or education. We have some concerns as he has never been a very dedicated practicer... His inate abilities have taken him pretty far, but clearly will not, by themselves, cut the ice in a college setting. This is not to say he never, practices; it's just that we've been hearing that it is typical for kids to spend 3-4 hours PER DAY in the practice room. I'm having a hard time envisioning him doing so! -I could be wrong of course. Are BM's typically this rigorous? Does it depend on the school? He's not interested in a conservatory, but does want a good jazz program w/in a school that has a good liberal arts program. We know the schools, but don't know what life is actully like.
Thanks for any and all advice/info, etc!!!!
mom</p>

<p>A couple of prior threads:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/446958-how-many-hours-do-you-practice.html?highlight=practice[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/446958-how-many-hours-do-you-practice.html?highlight=practice&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/277993-practice-innate-talent.html?highlight=practice[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/277993-practice-innate-talent.html?highlight=practice&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Four to six hours a day is typical for a BM performance track, but will vary given the individual, the program, and the short term demands. Practicing effectively is key.</p>

<p>I think it depends on the instrument. It is not unusual for string players to practice many hours. (Not my string player, though. I think she aims for 2 hours, but is easily distracted. But she’s not conservatory. And on days she has long rehearsals, she practices less.)</p>

<p>It is physically impossible for brass player to practice that long without physically injuring themselves. However, my S “practices” by listening to recordings, studying parts, etc. He still manages to put in a couple hours on his instrument, by breaking it up into smaller chunks. On days he has to perform, though, he cuts way back.</p>

<p>No idea what is normal for sax players or jazz in general.</p>

<p>binx is right, I was commenting from a string perspective. Mea culpa.</p>

<p>First, from what I can tell, conservatory students on average probably “practice” a lot less than you might imagine. Much of the practice is in rehearsals and actual playing. I would guess most do less than a couple of hours per day in solo practice.</p>

<p>Second, it appears that the OP is asking about a high school student. My D did very little practice in high school - - maybe an hour a day, at best, most days. That all changed when she decided to apply to conservatories and needed to get ready for auditions. Then she found the time for 2-3 hours per day.</p>

<p>When I was in high school, I did around 1.5 hours per day on average, some days much less, some days a bit more. </p>

<p>Now that I’m in college, I think I do around 2-4 hours per day. Some days I get in as many as 6 hours of practice time, but that is very rare… there are also days when I don’t get to practice at all. The important thing is to make good use of the practice time you do get.</p>

<p>My cello playing son did 2-3 hours a day in high school and 3-4 hours a day in conservatory. That was hands on, solo practicing - not listening to cds, or rehearsing with others other than perhaps his pianist. In addition to this he had 2 hour orchestra rehearsals 3 days a week, chamber music rehearsals, lessons, studio classes, etc. It was not unusual for him to be playing his instrument 7-8 hours a day.</p>

<p>I do 1 hour a day for electric bass</p>

<p>I use to do 30 mins for clarinet</p>

<p>30 for bass clarinet</p>

<p>In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell posits that practice is the key to accomplishment. A review of his book I read the other day summed it up as follows: “[Gladwell] contends that the single most important difference between the amateur and the pro, between the good and the brilliant, between the failure and the star, is sheer hours of practice, and 10,000 hours is the ‘magic number of greatness.’ The Beatles, starting off as unknowns in Hamburg, played for hours at a time, seven nights a week; Bill gates, having discovered computers, became obsessed with them, working on them morning and night, every day of the week…Yet, again, readers may wonder about the thousands of computer geeks who spend countless hours at the keyboard without becoming much of anything, or the legions of boys who spend thousands of hours on the basketball court and do not become Michael Jordan. (They get damned good, though.) Moreover, we may wonder what it is about high achievers that makes them want to spend ten thousand hours practising the piccolo or doing whatever else they love…”</p>

<p>Nice quote Mamenyu!</p>

<p>Shennie’s son and mine must bee cut of the same cloth - I’d say my son’s practise experience has been about the same. He has his lesson on Monday and he puts in more time on solo practise on the weekends (6-7 hrs).</p>

<p>The question as to innate talent vs hard work… I saw a kid at a band competition once with a t shirt that said “hard work beats talent when talent won’t work hard.” Not sure if it’s entirely true, but it’s food for thought.</p>

<p>Agreed with Binx. DS, a brass player, does some significant practice time, but it is most often broken up into smaller practice sessions. He also spends significant time listening to music and sight singing the music. But as a brass player, he cannot practice hours on end in one session. At one point, he was practicing four to six times a day for some period of time. If he has ensemble rehearsals, this would make his practice sessions reduced for that day.</p>

<p>Conservatory students/parents - how long do(es) you/your child practice?</p>

<p>I read that as well mameyu…and thought about it in the dedication people aside from muscians put into their “passion”, doctors, lawyers, writer…on and on. The most successful ones are generally the ones who have put in tons of hours and energy. My sons voice teacher in high school told me once, that my son has a natural gift…but, if he didn’t practice and want it so badly he would probably be an average singer. On the other hand, there was another young man at school, who probably was one of the most beautiful tenors I ever heard…he however, missed lessons, never practiced…preferred skateboarding, lol…and ultimately decided to forget the thought of a conservatory in favor of being a rock singer. The nice part of this is, though he didn’t persue the classical route, because it really wasn’t where his heart was…he is working with a producer on a cd, as I type:) And, his mom tells me, he never stops singing these days…lol. You can’t soar to great heights at something you don’t love with a passion…even with talent. I love that tshirt saying hard work beats talent, if talent won’t work. I think thats very true, imho. My son found his love of singing classical music early on…which makes me happy. Sometimes, now when he’s home and singing with the radio to say…U2…it kind of makes me laugh, cause he’s tooooo classical sounding now…not “scratchy” enough. And U2 is my fave band!! Once again, I went on a tangent…lol. I guess this is how I’m beating stress these days. Thank God for these messageboards:)</p>

<p>How about for voice? How much time is about right? It seems one could really overdo it, or practice a bad habit without realizing it–and damage the voice. Would it be better to break it up, say 2 one- half hour sessions each day? Can/should a voice major practice 2 or 3 hours per day?</p>

<p>When I was a voice major back in the dark ages…I practiced MUCH more than 1 hour a day. I did several practices a day that were about an hour. Each had some relaxation exercises (physical…not vocal), vocal warm ups, and practice of some piece or pieces of music. If I had a voice lesson or had a lengthy ensemble rehearsal, I would eliminate one of my practice times.</p>

<p>Thanks for all the great replies… very helpful.</p>

<p>Again, it’s important to emphasize that one can over practice, and/or practice incorrectly. Marathon sessions may do serious temporary (or even long term irreparable) harm to both instrumentalists and vocalists.</p>

<p>Flexibility exercises, loosening up exercises can be instrument specific and there are many fine articles on line and in instrument specific publications. Please, please, please do not over do it. Know your limits, and if it doesn’t feel right, stop. Don’t be a casualty.</p>

<p>MickeyLeah, my son is a sax player who loves jazz and practices about an hour a day if prodded. When he plays he really plays, so I know he is improving, but the motivation to practice is still not there. He is also at a high school where he is the best player, and that hasn’t helped. He got into every honors band he tried for last year as a freshman, and that didn’t help his practicing either. But this year he didn’t make a few, and I think that has been a help. I think he’s getting that his natural talent alone won’t get it done for him. I still hope his inner fire will light. I’ve read that it generally happens in junior year, so I’ll keep prodding until then.</p>

<p>i’m a HS senior (string-player) who just finished auditions, and this year i’ve only practiced about 2 hours a day in order to stay rested and get enough sleep. in 9th grade i practiced about 2-3 hours a day, but then in 10th and 11th grade i kept a rigorous schedule of literally 5 hours a day. this is what allowed me to improve rapidly and be able to scale back a bit this year.<br>
many friends/colleagues have warned me against injuring myself, since i practiced so much, but i have stayed injury-free due to a stretching routine i do before starting my first practice session EVERY DAY. i NEVER start practicing without stretching my upper body out, and i would highly recommend this to string players (i don’t know much about brass, woodwind playing).<br>
also, sleep plays a huge role in memorization, retention, and learning music and techniques. studies have shown that people who practice a certain amount but then sleep less than 8 hours retain far less information than people who practice much less but then sleep at least 8 hours. i used to have days where i practiced more than i slept…trust me, staying up to finish that homework isn’t worth it. get your sleep and practice consistently (with stretching) and you will notice the results.</p>