Practice Hours

<p>Just sheerly out of curiousity, I'm wondering what hours your kids were/are putting in during HS, and are putting in at college now?</p>

<p>Our drummer generally gets in 2-3 hours a day (often interspersed between 2 sessions) a day (which I unbelievably in awe of given his 4 APs and 5 days a week tennis schedule and actually having a social life!), and generally anywhere from 2-5 on weekends, depending on the day. Of course on a day with a ton of homework or rehearsals, this can be much less...He also plays classical piano about 20-30 minutes a day.</p>

<p>David.</p>

<p>I practice double bass for about 4.5 hours per day, but I break it up a lot so I don't hurt myself. I'm in high school so I can't tell you how long I practice in college, of course.</p>

<p>In high school I did about 1.5-3 hours/day; in college, I do 4-6, usually 5. I wish I had started doing more earlier.</p>

<p>I practice around three hours per day, and usually try to make reeds for one or two hours per day.</p>

<p>In high school, I practiced around two hours per day. In preparation for college auditions, however, I practiced around six, and my schedule forced me to do so in one sitting. I don't advise doing that, ever. It was absolutely exhausting, and by the end of college auditions, I was burnt out to the point that I didn't practice again until a month before college began. I think I could have accomplished the same amount of work in half the time, had I practiced more efficiently.</p>

<p>My son has two instruments, and practices at most three hours (for both), sometimes quite a bit less. I don't think it is enough, but he is efficient in his practicing, and basically playing music most of the time in other capacities (ensemble work, etc).</p>

<p>Some days he isn't even home for three hours; how do very busy kids get in all their practice time?</p>

<p>When in high school, my cellist practiced for about 90 minutes in 9th and 10th grade. He realized that was not enough and, through some changes to his classes, he upped it to 2-3 hours for his last 2 years. In college he practiced anywhere from 3-5 hours per day.</p>

<p>Trumpet playing son practiced about 3 hours per day in high school (more on the weekends) but did it in shorter segments. Three hours continuous didn't work for him. I'm not sure how much he practices now...but I would guess closer to 6 hours a day depending on ensemble, and chamber music schedules.</p>

<p>I'm a bad example for many reasons. When I was in high school I spent about 1-2 hours a day on trumpet and the same amount composing. Now that I'm three years into a composition degree I've started shifting to conducting. Lately I haven't been composing much at all, as I'm spending so much time with other activities (conducting, rehearsing, singing in a local symphonic chorus, etc.)</p>