I would like to keep a running total of how long I spend practising the Piano over the course of the week. I have thought about buying a chess clock - perhaps Mad Tom can answer this!

Or write it on a bit of paper!!!

Low tech, but fairly foolproof!

(unless you lose the bit of paper )

I have been doing that for about one year now and like to work out the average amount of time I spend at the piano pver the weeks/months etc. It is most useful and you get some surprises when all is in black and white ...

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I have been doing that for about one year now and like to work out the average amount of time I spend at the piano pver the weeks/months etc. It is most useful and you get some surprises when all is in black and white ...
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I have bet all my 50 pupils that I practise for longer than all of them put together!

I don't know whether a normal stopwatch works, but I would put it into a Excel spreadsheet. You just enter the minutes for each date, and at the end use a formula to sum everything up. Then you can show them how much you practise everyday i.e. the weekly breakdown. If you want the average later, you can also use another formula

If you need my help to set up a blank spreadsheet by week, just let me know via PM.

Thanks, Teoani. Yes, I think a stopwatch would be a good idea and will record up to 24 hours

Just write start and end times of practice sessions in a diary.

It is revealing. Some weeks I have practiced as little as 14 hours, but that si balanced by the occasional week of more than 40.

Wow!!! 40 hours in one week. That's amazing! I feel humbled. I thought I was doing really well averaging about 10 - 12 hours per week. How do you fit it all in?

A normal week includes about 24 hours of piano practice.

It is not difficult.

I watch very little TV, spend little time on other interests/hobbies, have a short cycle ride to work (no long commute), my working week is only 36 hours, and I wake naturally after 7 hours sleep or less.

Most people cannot achieve this level of practice because they:

work too many hours
live a long way form school/work, and so waste many hours commuting
spend a lot of time on other things
(... looking after children/relatives, hobbies, socialising, ...)

You have to make practise time purposeful. One hour a day of inteligent, structured practise is far more productive than hours and hours of bashing away at the piano keyboard.

^ There is truth in this; but it also depends how many pieces you have on the go at any one time.

I have gone from 3 things to about 7 and I can't fit them all in in one session, so rather than logging the time spent, I need a timetable to ensure that everything gets the requisite amount of attention.

No, I haven't managed it yet.

True.

And four hours of intelligent, structured practice is far more productive than one hour.

I fully agree with Mad Tom on this.

For me, in a regular practice week I aim for 35 hours (5 hours a day).

Recently, my job has been getting in the way and has meant I haven't done that much, but even on a bad week, I will do between 21 - 28 hours.

ANd it is all very conscious, deliberate, structured and purposeful, with every 40 minute session focusing on specific aspects - none of it is 'bashing around on the piano'.

(I work in blocks, doing 40 mins on what subject, having a short break and then focusing the next 40 mins on something else/something related)

I can even give you an exact break down of what I have been doing over the past few days - I concentrate that much!