How Long Should I Practise?

An interesting question, and one I hear a lot.

Practise is less about how quantity and more about quality. If you practise for 20 minutes a day and always practise the same thing over and over again, if you make a mistake in your practise and keep that mistake every time you practise, this becomes the way you play/sing that piece.

Practise makes Permanence not Perfect.

The best thing you can do, is pick a section of a piece or a song and practise that section, rather than the piece as a whole. Focus on what you want to achieve about that section, then once you are happy with that section move on to another, then piece them back together.

This sounds really boring!

Which is another reason not to practise for lengthy amounts of time. It makes practise and playing/singing a chore, rather than something that will help with performance.

All musicians want to just play or sing a piece all the way through perfectly, however, this takes time, and does not always happen as quickly as we would like. Therefore perfecting a section at a time can give a sense of achievement and accomplishment before being able to play or sing the whole piece.

More important than duration of practise is consistency. Practise everyday, for a few minutes a day, build in a routine and reward yourself for your practise. Stickers, treats, screen time etc... all of these can be good rewards for consistent practise.

Practise Tracker - Sticker Sheet

Remember no musician woke up one day and just decided that they want to sing or play, and were suddenly able to do it. It takes time, practise and patience.