probably yet another silly question

I find that in my practice I often follow a schedule
ie: 20 minutes scales/arps/broken chords, sometimes 30 mins followed by 20/30 minutes of pieces, this sometimes it is 20/30 minutes of learning new pieces or practicing these in order to get confident and be more fluent and pick up some speed, sometimes I do 20 minutes learning and 10 minutes of playing/revising something 'old'

Now, sometimes I throw out of the window all of the above (like in this last week) and often have short sessions (ie: 10 minutes) alternated by breaks of 10/20 minutes several times in a day (ie all together maybe 5 or 6 of these 10 minutes sessions) where I either learn/practice new pieces or revise old ones but no scales (mind you, I still do scales at least twice a week though, I don't forget to do these).

The crunch of this is: is it ok to chop and mix practice like this or would it be more productive to stick to my usual routine?
I think I 'chop and change' to keep my interest up (I think I do ), I also sometimes practice some pieces (ie at present am doing 3 from grade 2 booklet and 2 from grade 3 booklet) then leave them for a week or two while I do others then go back to them and leave the others for a couple of weeks.

I feel like there is a million things to do and no time do it!

Is it doing me any good to leave some pieces for a couple of weeks while I do others? or shall I stick to fewer pieces but do them regularly?

Am I making any sense here? as I feel like I am not

Hey!
Here's what I think about practicing:
Well, first, it depends on the difficulty of your pieces, and also their length. It is good that you do scales'arpeggios first, as a warm up, but the problem with so much broken practicing is that it actually takes more time becuase you should be warming up before each practice session (although.. hehe... sometimes I don't...)
I do think, though, that sitting at the piano for extremely extended periods of time is a bad thing. For me, 2-3 hours is my limit and after that it is really not productive. I need to take a mental break and come back so that my practicing can be effective. But for shorter pieces, perhaps after 20 minutes you need a mental break.
This being said, though, too much broken up practicing simply will not work. In order to achieve a high standard of playing, especially for technically difficult works, there needs to be time spent drilling sections at slow speeds and working up to faster speeds. This takes a chunk of time, and one must be focused during this time.
Good luck in your studies! Its awesome that you're considering the best ways to practice and I know that becasue you are thinking about it, you will do so well!

As far as leaving pieces goes, I have found that if I leave a piece for a few weeks, it germinates inside you and you tend to play it better. But, when you do pick it up again, there needs to be some more time spent to re-develop technical passages, but overall I think its a good idea to just drop some pieces for a short period of time.

Good luck!

*Sarice*

This being said, though, too much broken up practicing simply will not work. In order to achieve a high standard of playing, especially for technically difficult works, there needs to be time spent drilling sections at slow speeds and working up to faster speeds. This takes a chunk of time, and one must be focused during this time.
*Sarice*
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Thank you Sarice, I was wondering that maybe doing 10/15 minutes followed by 10/20 mins break may not give as good results as my 'usual' one hour session, but was not sure....I did feel like I was maybe just 'playing about' rather than 'being serious' but was hoping it was going to have the same end result...
At the moment I am only learning grade 2/3 pieces so nothing too complicated yet (well, they are challenging enough for me, I can learn them slowly ok, the challenge is in getting right rythm at right speed without tripping LOL)
I'll stick to my 'serious' one off session and will leave the 'playing about' for that one day a week when I feel just too tired!

I reckon playing often is better than not playing at all or playing for a big chunk of time and then not practicing another day.

Jojo, I think what you re doing sounds fine. Varying your routine is a good thing because you look at things differently. Yes, you need decent length sessions sometimes in order to play pieces all the way through, lose yourself and really get inside things, and build up a bit of stamina for longer pieces. But little and often can also be a good tactic - if you have ten minutes you can sort out one bar that's been giving you trouble.

Progress achieved in little bites can be no less real and useful than progress achieved all in one go - as long as you have some longer sessions on some days too.

I agree with Malone - little and often is preferable to a long session followed by a gap. And remember it's the quality of practice that matters, not how long you kept at it.

well, that's it really, I do this 'little practice little break' when I am too tired to do my one hour practice session and/or don't have time on my hands...this week I have been feeling really tired as I've gone back to work after 2 weeks off, during my two weeks off I used to do 2 one hour sessions per day warming up first with scales etc followed by half hour on pieces...




thank you Maggiemay

My kids' first piano teacher was a great advocate of what she called "patch practice" - the dipping in for a short shot at odd times of day, as well as more protracted sessions. Given that most humans can't actually concentrate at the same intensity for much more than about forty to ninety minutes at a time, it seems eminently sensible to divide practice up a bit as you're doing.

I agree that little and often is definitely preferable especially for beginners or lower Grade candidates. Long panic-induced sessions on the day before the next lesson with no practice since the previous week's lesson indicate the lowest level of commitment and motivation in a free fall state. I always advocate that mine do theory and practice as soon as ever possible following their lesson when points learnt can be consolidated and built upon.

I also agree that slow bar-by-bar deliberate both-hands practice for the stickier sections of a piece reaps dividends.

LR

-I did a dip that way too

Variety is the spice of life, and all that.

For me doing about half an our at a time works then having a short break etc.
I know that for doing revision people are advised to do 30 or 40 mintue sessions with breaks in between so that you can concentrate like anacrusis says. I guess this applies to anything that requires concentration ie music practice!
Personally I wouldn't do too short a practice session but that maybe because I have to get into a concentrating sort of mood but this maybe different for you.
Hope that helps

I woke up at 6 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep so I thought I had a chance to put in a bit of practice before the family woke up. Expecting them all to have a lie in, at 7 I went downstairs, made myself a cup of tea, plugged the headphones into the digital piano and started off. In no time at all first my wife, then my 2 kids came in and disturbed me. When I complained that I had hoped they might have had a lie in, they looked a little perplexed and then pointed me at the clock: It was half past 11! I try to take a break every half hour or so - it's just that I don't notice time passing when I'm "in the groove". However, a change, "they" say, is as good as a rest. In that time I probably changed what I was doing about every 20-30 minutes (Hannon, Scales, Arpeggios, Chopin, Bach, Debussy, Joplin, Beethoven, different Bach, different Chopin, etc.)

Tomorrow is another day . . . with any luck!

I think varying things is a good approach. Although i think scales and arps are important, i don't play them myself, just concentrating on pieces. Whatever feels right for you, probably is.

I think everyone is different and you'll find out by trial and error what works for you.

I do a combination, depending on how much time and energy I have and how practice is going on any given day. Sometimes I do 10 minute chunks, other times I am going for 90 minutes and don't even notice. As long as it is quality practice IMO it doesn't necessarily matter how long it is. (That said, "just playing" may not be practice as such but it's not automatically a bad thing either )

Better to practise (or just play!) for 10 minutes when you can than not at all, and if you have the time and you get absorbed for an hour, then yay.

Very sensible advice Sarah! Some days the old brain just doesn't kick into playing gear and that's fine. (unless you have a dirty great exam/performance looming in which case...play through it if you can!) But smaller sessions broken up with different activities (doing the dishes/washing/going online for a little while) works best for me. Bring on the summer holidays when I have time to spend the whole morning/day wandering back and forth!

Not adding anything new, but I think that's okay to break routine every while and then. The last thing we want is getting bored with practice!

well...I think that at them moment it has paid off as today I had a lesson and I started saying what I have said many times before to my teacher : 'I feel like I haven't done much in the past 2 weeks but just 'mucked about'', then she asks me to play what I 'mucked about with' (in this case Allegro from grade 2 book) and.....
surprise!!! She says I have wiped out the mistake I kept doing the previous lesson, it is smooth with good rythm and good dynamics! now I just have to practice to speed it up a little
so all the 'messing about' I have been doing has produced some results!

Yay!