QUESTION: "How much time should I spend on clearly technical study? I'm practising three hours a day;how long should I practise at a time?"

ANSWER:"Purely technical work-that is, work of the fingers without the participation of mind & heart-you should do little or none, for it kills your musical spirit. If, as you say, you practise three hours a day I should recommend two hours in succession in the morning & one hour in the afternoon.[I] [COLOR=blue]THE MORNING IS ALWAYS THE BEST TIME FOR WORK. Make no long pauses in your work, for they would break your contact with the piano and ti would take considerable time to reestablish it. In the afternoon, after the major portion of your daily task is done, you may move with greater freedom, though even this freedom should be kept within proper bounds."

This is one of the questtions that had been answered by JOSEF HOFMAN. Just wondering, is morning the best time for practising?

I find I do my best practice in the morning.
But surely this will vary from person to person?
And, of course, a lot of people will be unable to do this anyway, work, school...........

i practise loads and it doesnt really make a difference to me whether i practise in the morning or evening

I generally practise in the mornings, partly because I'm a 'morning-person' anyway and partly because during term-time my teaching hours are mostly in the afternoons and evenings.

During the school week I practise piano in the morning and viola in the evening. My concentration is normally better in the morning (when I can drag myself out of bed!) and my piano practice has improved.

i'm an afternoon person...therefore i practise in the afternoon right till the evening

I'm a night-owl. In the holidays you NEVER see me up before 12, so I do all of my practice in the evenings, I start at about 8pm.

12??? Thats lunchtime!!!!! What a waste!! No offence meant...

QUOTE (Subatomic_Star @ Aug 16 2004, 08:52 PM)

12??? Thats lunchtime!!!!! What a waste!! No offence meant...

Today I practiced from 10-11, 2-3, 5-5:30 and 2200-2220

I never really plan my practice time - I'd have done more but I had a lot to do today

Leave 'em alone! I regularly leave my room at 13:30! It's all good!

I usually practice now in the morning.

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~tremolololo~

QUOTE (Subatomic_Star @ Aug 16 2004, 08:52 PM)

12??? Thats lunchtime!!!!! What a waste!! No offence meant...

before i discovered this forum, iwas regularly in bed till about 2 pm! im not joking! its become a bit of a joke in my family that i never get out of bed!lol

QUOTE (clarinetlover @ Aug 17 2004, 08:21 AM)

QUOTE (Subatomic_Star @ Aug 16 2004, 08:52 PM) 12??? Thats lunchtime!!!!! What a waste!! No offence meant...  :rolleyes: before i discovered this forum, iwas regularly in bed till about 2 pm! im not joking! its become a bit of a joke in my family that i never get out of bed!lol

I have to force myself to get out of bed at 10 in the holidays, else I revert to my childhood patterns of 4am-2pm. Now I just sleep from about 2/3am-10am.

When working, in the last year, I slept 2am-6:30am sunday to friday nights, with 4am-7am on wednesdays, and to recover I had to sleep from midnight to 4pm on a sunday. It's a problem when you have to be up early to supervise breakfast in the boarding house, and also get to sleep late after music practice, lesson planning and all the rest of it

me too...i love sleeping as much as classical music...i'm staying up late coz i'm watching the oylimpics(i'm in hong kong at the moment)

QUOTE (isabelsmells @ Aug 16 2004, 02:10 PM)

I'm a night-owl. In the holidays you NEVER see me up before 12, so I do all of my practice in the evenings, I start at about 8pm.

methinks im a day-owl

i prefer practising in the afternoon...

Ah, not really sure about that. Maybe evenings, nights, or late nights... but not morning. I usually play the worst in the morning actually. But performance varies from person to person.

Im more of a night person, i find it easier to sit down and practice piano later on, however when I practice clarinet its better when ive come in from school or after tea.

I practise in the morning 6.15 - 7.15 before I go to work, I find this very beneficial as sometimes I am too tired in the evenings.

That's very early.............

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~tremolololo~

QUOTE (amati @ Aug 18 2004, 10:24 PM)

I practise in the morning 6.15 - 7.15 before I go to work, I find this very beneficial as sometimes I am too tired in the evenings.

Yup, agree with you. I also hope to wake up early to practise as but I always overslept.

I tend to do my piano practice whenever I find myself in the same room as the piano... I can't help but go and play... which drives my sister mad because the TV is in the same room and I always practise when she's watching TV and she turns the sound up really loud so she can hear over my playing, which annoys my parents!
I do violin practice really late at night most of the time- luckily I don't think the neighbours mind too much, and neither do my family

QUOTE (amati @ Aug 18 2004, 10:24 PM)

I practise in the morning 6.15 - 7.15 before I go to work

that's crazy...absolutely too early for me...i'm still asleep...i'm knid of a night-owl

I play best in mornings,
worst when I'm exhausted.

I practice between 7 - 8.30am before work and then again in the evening if I have time.

Morning is the worst time for me because our neighbour works night shifts !

Most Singers I know hate practicing in the morning.

I like to practice singing around lunchtime, and the piano in the afternoon, but I do have to fit it in around my children and teaching.

People vary.

I find that my day works out that I do my piano, violin and recorder practice as soon as hubby's gone to work (7.30-ish) - and so that's all done by about 9.30.

Then I have a bit of a break before my morning singing practice, which is about 10.30. Then I do a bit of theory. That takes me to lunch.

Then my afternoon singing practice is usually around 2.30.

These get truncated, rearranged or postponed if I'm doing something else, but that's the norm.

I've never really been a morning person and I do much better practice in the afternoon or evening. On the trumpet, I sound absolutely awful in the morning, although sometimes I do a warm up in the morning but a proper practice session later on.

I'm a night owl and perform best then!

According to extensive research spearheaded by RCM, the musicians at the top of the profession (overwhelmingly) do their practice in the mornings. Some do both mornings and a time after naps.

I like splitting up my practice into 3 times: before 11am, before 4pm, and evening. I always make the morning one the one where I do the important things as it's always best, and it often ends up being the longest one. Often though, it all depends on school timetable, and my frees are all in the afternoon, my lunchtime practices are productive though.
Practice before school is good! 6.30-8am And I never ever start a practice after 9pm...

I find that I usually practice better in the morning, but on school days, I have no choice but to practice in the afternoon because of school.

Car Expert

I can't often motivate myself enough to practise before school (I go to bed too late ) but when I do, it's generally very focused, although quite short as I have to leave the house at 8 and I don't think my parents/neighbours would appreciate scales before 7.30am!

I probably play better in the morning, but half the time I can't when I get up as people are still asleep!

My parents would probably think something's wrong if I start practice before school... in any case I wouldn't be allowed because either my dad would be asleep, or my mum is feeling cranky and tell me off. In the holidays, I find that I practice best before lunch, around 11.

Same! And I wouldnt be able to get up in time....

I find I practise best around half 7 to 10ish...so about now I guess...

This is wierd I was having a similar discussion with my flute teacher yesterday. Although he is slightly insane and has been known to get up at 4am to practise! I find I practise best in the afternoon or early evening. Although when I'm really busy like at the moment I just fit it in when I can!

I think I play better in the evenings; I'm a bit of an insomniac. Anyway most of the time I don't get the chance to practises in the morning because either I'm at school or I'm shouted at if I play incase I wake the neighbours. They have been known to comment on my piano and oboe playing; I think we have thin walls