Shortly before the Easter week let us come to the question “how much time should we invest for practicing?” Or, to be more precise, how should we arrange our practicing time?
As a teacher I’m tempted to say “as long and as often as possible”. But this is only partly true. Our concentration will upset this plan sooner or later. After our concentration decreased significantly it can be even harmful to continue with our practicing work. Chances are good that we practice the wrong things just because we are too tired to listen carefully to what we are doing.
Much better is to divide the time into several stages. The average school lesson lasts about 45 minutes. This is a reasonable amount of time. After that we can take a short break of 5 minutes and continue with another 45 minutes.
Then again a break of perhaps 10 or 15 minutes and off we go to the third stage.
Do not wait until you are tired. Start your break before you are exhausted. It is much easier to focus on your problems when you are fresh.
Even more important is the daily work with the instrument. It’s not much sense trying to manage all our ignored musical problems during eight hours on Sunday.
How do we arrange our time?
It depends on which level you are playing on. Are you learning new techniques? Have you just switched to a new teacher? Are you unsure performing your shifts? Are you altering your bowing technique?
All those issues influence your time management.
So if you changed anything recently or if you are still working on new techniques you should divide your practicing time in thirds, consisting of technical exercises, repertoire (i.e. your pieces you are working on) and, as a bridge between our technique and the repertoire, the etudes.
That means for instance 45 minutes scales, shifts, bowing. Then 45 minutes etudes by Wohlfahrt, Kayser, Mazas, Kreutzer, Fiorillo, Gavinies, depending on your playing level, followed by 45 to 60 minutes of repertoire.
This way you will end up with about 2:15 to 2:30 hours.
You’ve got only 90 minutes? Reduce technique and etudes to 30 minutes and see what’s left.
If there aren’t any new issues to practice, no new techniques, you can adjust your time management accordingly:
Reduce your technique in favor of your repertoire. This is about the arrangement that is also recommended for music students at university or academy.
Is there an upcoming concert, an audition or an exam? Here we go:
This arrangement is sensible only if you are going to play anything really important within the next two or three weeks because this way technique and etudes are neglected.
After your hopefully successful audition return to version two. Your technical skills will be thankful.
Time management for children looks a little different. Usually they begin with a compendium by Sassmannshaus or one of his numerous colleagues. When they finished their One-Book-Learning policy they mostly turn to the above mentioned method as well.
In this case they should practice with method two or even three, depending on their age, to minimize boredom.
But, no matter what you are planning to do with your instrument, never ever neglect your technique. Technical exercises and etudes should be part of your daily work. Your repertoire will improve even more!
