How much/often do you play? Options

[Gertrude]

Some days I may only play 15 minutes but then I can sometimes play for 5 or 6 hours. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[louise1712]

I do as much as I can. I don't have a set length of time or time of day when I practice because if I don't do the practice I feel guilty, this way I play when I want to and find it overall a much more productive and enjoyable way of organising my sessions (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[SkyT13]

I definitely don't play nearly enough - I think these days I'm lucky if I get in a couple of hours a week (mainly because I'm usually home late, and I don't think I'd be very popular if I played the violin past 10pm!). It's a bit depressing as it means I'm not progressing as quickly as I know I could if I had more time to practice, and I sometimes play "air violin"...!

[Collyermum]

Five days a week I can do an hour or slightly more on violin.

Considering my life as a working woman, wife and mum, this is alot of a time commitment and I sometimes get grumbled at. My house is never entirely clean or tidy and we often have convenience food. I have a strong tendency to an addictive personality so have to force myself to stop and pay attention to other human beings otherwise I'd never leave my practice room. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blush.gif)

Katemorrisviolin you are my sort of woman! I don't work (haha! meaning I don't get paid!) but I have four children at primary school, one disabled, two twins, and I could have written that.

I do an hour's harp practice on school days and try and fit in the same at weekends but it can be a bit patchy due to said human beings. I like to justify it as being a good musical example of one who actually enjoys practicing (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Collyermum

[katemorrisviolin]

Five days a week I can do an hour or slightly more on violin.

Considering my life as a working woman, wife and mum, this is alot of a time commitment and I sometimes get grumbled at. My house is never entirely clean or tidy and we often have convenience food. I have a strong tendency to an addictive personality so have to force myself to stop and pay attention to other human beings otherwise I'd never leave my practice room. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blush.gif)

Katemorrisviolin you are my sort of woman! I don't work (haha! meaning I don't get paid!) but I have four children at primary school, one disabled, two twins, and I could have written that.

I do an hour's harp practice on school days and try and fit in the same at weekends but it can be a bit patchy due to said human beings. I like to justify it as being a good musical example of one who actually enjoys practicing (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Collyermum

Good for you Collyermum, do your practice BEFORE anything else because your work is never finished anyway. You don't need any justification to spend an hour a day doing something for yourself, you deserve it.

[Roseau]

I usually play around an hour and a half five days a week - the other two days I get home too late.

My lesson is theoretically 45 minutes but often over-runs. I play in a wind-band and an orchestra which both meet once a week for an hour and a half and another wind-band and orchestra which meet roughly once a month for anything from two hours to all weekend. I play duets for an hour and a half or so with a flautist fairly regularly (not quite every week but almost) and also get invovled periodically in other short-term projects which involve rehearsing for an hour or so for a couple of weeks.

[Collyermum]

Good for you Collyermum, do your practice BEFORE anything else because your work is never finished anyway. You don't need any justification to spend an hour a day doing something for yourself, you deserve it.

Thank you Katemorrisviolin, *so true* about the work never being done, sigh! Sometimes it gets undone within 5 minutes! Harp is what keeps me sane and I really look forward to it. It is so nice to have a passion, and I really look forward to my mornings when I get to drive all on my own to my lesson, have a wonderful adult only lesson, and drive home again! Bliss! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Roseau]

Harp is what keeps me sane and I really look forward to it. It is so nice to have a passion, and I really look forward to my mornings when I get to drive all on my own to my lesson, have a wonderful adult only lesson, and drive home again! Bliss! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I feel the same about the oboe (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
I had a particularly stressful start to the academic year at work last year and in one lesson my teacher said if I felt the oboe was adding to the stress, it wouldn't be a problem if I cancelled a couple of lessons until things had sorted themselves out. I was appalled at the idea and told him that my lesson was the only bright spot in the week at that particular time and that it was the oboe and my lessons that were keeping me sane.

[niobe]

I'm interested to know how much time other adult learners spend playing their instruments.


How much time do other people manage to spend playing?

I aim for-
piano = an hour per day
treble recorder = 15 mins per day.
However, I often find an additional 10 mins or so for the piano when I am waiting for veg (or whatever!) to cook so it's amazing how practice time can add up during the week. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
Despite a reasonable (I think) amount of practice I sometimes have a piano lesson and feel totally unprepared (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

[ianporsche]

People are often baffled by how much practice I get done. I on the other hand am always baffled by how much time they spend staring at the goggle box, which is usually far more time than I spend practicing! I can never join in with conversations about TV shows (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) (apart from Big Bang Theory of course, can't miss that!)

I practise for about an hour a day during the the week (from 6pm to 7pm) with Big bang theory on in the background!

[flobiano]

I practise oboe for about 1 hour every day, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less.
Between September and May I have orchestra once a week for 2 hours, this replaces my normal practice session on those days.
I have a 30 minute lesson once a week during term time and don't normally practice on those nights unless I have the house to myself.
I have come to accept that there will often be one day a week when family, friend or work commitments will mean that I just can't fit in a practice session -so I don't worry at all about having 1 day off a week but I start getting very twitchy if I have to miss 2!

I usually manage somewhere between 5 and 7 hours playing a week - sometimes more when my other half is away and I don't need to be sociable! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Piano is fitted in amongst everything else, usually in shorter, more frequent bursts. Piano is generally for fun so I don't worry too much about playing every day, or even every week.

[Pixie*Porsche]

I'm glad to many more multi-instrumentalists seem to play one much more than others! I used to think some were actually superhuman ... seemed to fit far too much, (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)!

[VH2]

Piano, on most days about 2 hours, but sometimes much more (6, 8, 10 hours or more) if I am preparing for a concert or recital.

[dcvos]

I practise clarinet about 45 minutes a day except when i have lesson or trainingorchestra. i have a lesson every two weekes for 45 minutes and orchestra is an hour a week. in the weekend i have two sessions a day. And when i have time left and i'm in the mood i do some keyboard and guitar practise.

[muffinmonster]

This thread has made me confront what I already knew- I am not practising enough (about 45 minutes at a time, about five times a week).

It has also made me realise something I didn't know ? I am not watching The Big Bang Theory anything like enough. Could the two be connected?