Recommended Practice Time

In this article, I will provide my most honest and direct opinion about how much students should practice as this is one of the things that parents and students need to consider before signing up for lessons, and also be informed ongoingly because as students study more, their lesson time, practice time should also be increased accordingly. All my students and their parents should know that my least expectation for all my students is to attend their weekly lessons, consistently. It is a commitment that I promise to my students, if I accept a student, my time for my student is all year round, that means I don't plan my kid's activities around that time, I don't plan vacation that would interrupt the progress of my students, the time I put aside as your regular timeslot is dedicated to you or your child only. That is why too, my studio is with a max cap and I can only accept 30 students per year. I am committed to high quality lessons, high professionalism and successful learning. I hope it is not too much to expect the same time commitment from my students. Sickness is of course sometimes unavoidable but the commitment to show up for lessons -even if you have practiced or not - is expected. It is also not fair to ask a teacher to sacrifice family time to make up lessons so student can (for example) go for a friend's birthday party because I serve 30 families, not just one. It is all about priorities in life and as a parent, I am in it too so I get it but it makes a huge difference if there is a good mutual respect and understanding, we can always find solutions together. I would like to train my students to have self motivation and responsibility to commit to their own practice routine too because no matter how fun our lessons could be, it is not as fun if students come with low confidence (knowing that they have not tried things out at home...). Practice is a combination of pain and gain but if balanced correctly, I promise that the outcome is rewarding and it accelerates the growth of students. This article is not to talk about the need of practice because I think all parents of my students do understand this and would agree with me but I do want to talk about the HOWs.

How can parents support situation of practice at home? My role as the teacher is to show them how to practice, give proper advice but the consistency is to be practiced and supported by parents. Now, not all weeks are great week, we need to just accept that. There will be highs and lows but we can always try, reflect and try again to have a good routine. The least support parents can give is to sit down with your child, discuss a realistic practice schedule and make it a habit to remind your child (young learners need that). Young learners of age 6 or below also need parents' help to sit next to them and support their piano practicing for the first year of learning. I highly suggest you to sit in lessons for the first year so you can observe and understand, or just have a chat with me, the last 2-3 mins of each lesson. Next, what you can do to show some encouragement is to be your child's audience, be genuinely interested in what they are learning, ask them to play something for you after your long day of work, also a perfect way for you wind down your day! Beyond this? You can listen to some piano music with your child, talk about what music is interesting and share this journey with them, or take them to the concert halls for concerts. Make music part of your familiy activities and every day life, immerse.

How much should my child practice? I will give you the scope of minimum and maximum recommendation, and by ages and period of learning. Of course, parents have to look at this, and then look at your child's schedule, and make a realistic balance but this should give you a good reference! Very Young Beginners (age 3-5) - their attention span is 10 minutes daily to begin with. After 6 months, they should be able to sit for 15-20 minutes. Always with parent's support please (yes, parents sitting next to them, teaching them how to care for the instrument, guide their practice, etc) Ideally, 20 minutes every day in the week. The least, 10 minutes per practice session, not less than 3 days a week. Young Beginners (Grade 1-2) - I have a large pool of students of this age, so I decided to extract this age group to give more precise recommendation. Attention span of this age group is 15-20 minutes daily to begin with. After 6 months, they should sit for 30-35 minutes each practice. Their weekly lessons should be 45 minutes, that is optimum learning time for this age group. Parents' support is required for their first year of learning to help them establish correct posture, foundational understanding and give reminders of their homework. Ideally, 30 minutes every day in the week. The least, 20 minutes per practice session, not less than 3 days a week. Beginners (Grade 3 and up) Ideally, 30 minutes every day in the week. The least, 30 minutes per practice session, not less than 3 days a week. After 1 year of learning (very young - young beginners): Ideally, 40 minutes every day in the week. The least, 40 minutes per practice session, not less than 3 days a week. After 1 year of learning (Grade 3 and up): Ideally, 45 minutes every day in the week. The least, 45 minutes per practice session, not less than 4 days a week. After 2 years of learning, all students should aim for: Ideally, 1 hour of practice, daily. The least, 1 hour per practice session, not less than 4 days a week. Students who are doing RCM Level 1-4: Ideally, 1 hour of practice, daily. The least, 1 hour per practice session, not less than 5 days a week. Students who are going for RCM exams Level 5 and up: Ideally, 90 mins of practice, daily. (40 mins, take 10 mins break, another 40 mins) The least, 1 hour per practice session, not less than 5 days a week. Students who are doing RCM Level 5 and up must also take theory/ear training/harmony lessons separately (2 lessons a week, or occassional intensive lessons during school breaks) or extend lesson time to at least 75 mins or I won't be able to cover all that the student needs to not just ace the exams but to really have the level and knowledge as intelligent musicians. This must be planned at least a year ahead because of my compacted teaching schedule. Last but not least, I must also mention that a good instrument is to be considered and a good instrument is a huge motivation booster. Often time, my students tell me that their instruments sound odd at home or they would be playing very softly at my grand piano, that is because their pianos are out of tune at home, or the keyboards no longer meet the needs of their finger strength, so I might reach out to parents and give my feedback if I think it's time to upgrade your instrument (though I would always at the end respect the decision of parents) or if you have been using keyboard for more than 2 years of learning then it is definitely time to have a piano, have a chat with me and I can give more designated advice. That's it. I hope this is helpful!