Hi -

I don't know if this has been a topic before, but, for those of you who play multiple instruments, I was wondering how you balance your practice time between them (especially with other things in life!)? Do you practice both consistently (i.e. each day, every other day, etc), or is one your primary instrument and the other(s) secondary? Do you find that you're making equal progress on them?

Thanks!

I'm a clarinettist who plays other things (those other things being saxophone, flute, recorder, cello, voice and piano), and my general rule is 'if all else has to fall by the wayside, then so be it : the clarinet has to take priority'.

I've worked out that with my current lifestyle I have to be content with being a single instrumentalist.

I was a competent clarinettist when I was younger, and about a year ago I unexpectedly acquired a clarinet. However I just can't find the time to do enough to practice to get it back up to a reasonable playing standard. Every hour I spend practicing clari is potential sax practice time I'm not using. I haven't even managed to practice my alto for months, let alone trying to fit something else in!

But then I do tend to be an "all or nothing" type of person in many aspects of my life.

For the last year I tried to look after singing - the major instrument - and flute, needed for the band. Mostly it was singing that was practiced, and then flute/pic when there was a gig coming up and at band rehearsals.
That was also working nearly full time and teaching too.

Now I've given up work, it is still really difficult to fit in 4 instruments, but easier than before! I now make sure I do an hour of each singing and violin, and then fit the others in when I can, pic taking priority when I have a gig.

I find that one takes priority if there is a concert. But yes, it's difficult.

I do try to practice all 3 every day, but I work fulltime so sometimes can't manage this, The oboe always takes priority, & on a good day I'll practice this for about an hour & 20 minutes each for the cor anglais & cello. If I've had a very long & tiring day at work, then the oboe just gets about half an hour & the rest, nothing. If a concert is coming up, such as next month where I'm playing the oboe & cor then the cor gets priority over the cello. I try not play the oboe & then the cor immediately afterwards as this can mess up the finger spacing I look forwards to retiring, (if only the Govt didn't keep raising the retirement age!) when I hope to have more time for my musical activities. Most of the peopel I play chamber music with are already retired, & fitting in playing sessions with them is difficult.

I have rehearsals with a rather good wind band every Friday, so my horn playing need attention all the time. Also, the horn is the instrument that is least tolerant of neglect. I play bass and piano with other people at much longer intervals, so I practise them intensively before the occasions. E.g., I have a concert on bass on 15 October, so bass is now getting some practice and this will gradually increase until then. After that I have no bass outings until the Spring, so the piano will take over, in preparation for some chamber music near Christmas and possibly some more before that.

I try to do some work on each (clarinet and piano) each day.
Doesn't always happen, but at least I can do piano (electric piano with headphones) if the neighbours are in or if I've left it till late at night.

For most folks, unless music is your life and career, it's pretty tough to find the time to practice all your instruments "equally"--which is really not a realistic goal, as instruments are vastly different and actual "time" (or minutes) spent in profitable practice on each cannot be compared.

I practice cello intensively as I find left/right arm coordination, finger dexterity, and aural training extremely critical to producing a musically mature sound.
However, I tend to slack off slightly on the piano. As someone else mentioned ealier, I too have an electric and can practice late in to the night if I need to.
The funny thing is, I find that improvement on one instrument leads to improvement on the other in quite encouraging proportions!

When I first took up the oboe I also started having lessons with the same teacher - I'd have an oboe lesson one week and flute the next. I tried to practice both each day but would tend to focus on the instrument for the next lesson. I did an exam in each with her so in the run up to the exam would focus more on that one. I managed that for a couple of years ago but I found it unsustainable in the end. It was really hard work and I found myself saying no to a lot of other things and when work became busier I found that the whole thing collapsed and I ended up dropping lessons in both.

I've since made a conscious decision to focus on just one. I don't play my flute at all now, I play piano for fun when I want to and have spare time, but I don't worry about trying to do regular practice. In reality that means I play when I am down on the rota for church and need to learn the hymns, and when my OH is away. Oboe is my main instrument and I aim to do about 1 hour practice a night on it usually allowing myself one night off a week. I also have lessons and orchestra rehearsal. This feels sustainable for the long term as I can still fit that around work/ social engagements/ chilling out/ spending time with partner etc without having to make a choice between them. I think it is important to find a balance that works for you - and ensure that it remains enjoyable without becoming a burden or a chore. I pretty much decided that oboe was the one that I really wanted to learn and even if I could free up another 30 minutes practice time, I would spend more time on the oboe than play one of my other instruments....(until I buy a Cor of course.... )

I try to play the piano everyday. Clarinet comes out to demonstrate to pupils and on odd occassion.

I recently started to revive my harmonica playing AND bought a Spanish guitar to work on alongside the piano, AND have just started singing lessons in an attempt to cure the problem I've had all my life, that although I can sing (more or less) in tune, the voice quality is less than could be desired.

I have to confess that piano still gets over 90% of the effort, time and attention that I devote to music.

I work only 36 hours a day EDIT: week , have no dependents to look after and few other responsibilities, waste very little time commuting, live in a city with endless opportunities for learning and performing ... and even with all those advantages I can find time to study/practice/play only one instrument at all well.

How those of you that learn several very different and very demanding instruments manage I do not know.(I saw one young forumite at a playday that could play flute , clarinet , oboe, violin and piano , and sing too - and all of them well (and probably has yet more talents that she did not reveal that day). I applaud you all .




However, I can report that I have found a compromise nail length for the first three fingers of my right hand, that is long enough to pluck the guitar strings, but short enough to avoid 'clicking'on the piano keys

Unfortunately I have to file them every day, which has some of my colleagues (having seen me filing my nails at my desk) a little worried about my s e x ual orientation !!

They have long days in Holland then?

Being a kept woman I'm lucky in having time to practice.
I have a small teaching practice and have two afternoons a week in school as a Volunteer Reading Helper in term time.
I manage to keep up two instruments which now both need considerable attention.
Sometimes life intrudes but apart from making me feel annoyed at having MY routine (such as it is) disrupted it does serve to remind me that I need to make best use of my practice time all the time just in case.

See correction

I love that emoticon

I practise each instrument every other day though when the music lesson comes, that instrument takes over

For me it's been a case of having and instrument which naturally rises to the fore depending on what I am trying to achieve in life. When I was singing for festivals the vocal practice came through, then I was doing orchestral stuff and it was all viola for a while. In my A-levels I was doing viola for principal and recorder for second study, but when I started at college I was below the required minimum standard on keyboard so I had to take second study piano lessons, so recorder sort of fell back. Then I joined the recorder group and they let me play their awesome beast the F contrabass, so I ended up getting into trouble for the standard of my two main studies! So back to viola for a bit, meanwhile choir became compulsory too. After that music degree gave me a nervous breakdown I calmed down to doing what I wanted to do, the viola sat on the side a wee bit, it came out for fun but not for recitals.

There followed the army band where they wanted wind instruments, so I had to get flute back up to standard and studied for my TEQ exam (forces in-house examinations, grades equivalent to 6, 7 and 8 or thereabouts). Then they threw a piccolo at me for outdoor gigs, then told me there was no flute in the jazz band, you have to learn the alto sax! Then they wanted me on keyboard, then when I truly ran out of other instruments I had to join the percussion section - all depended if we were marching or what.

After coming out of the army band I wanted to go back to teaching, so the viola came back to the first study, the flute went for a long lie down (it's in shocking condition anyway, when I was in the army band I used their flute). But of course people want violin lessons, not so much viola lessons, so I had to start looking towards taking a violin exam.

Just now I am in the SRP so the recorder is coming back to the top of the pile again, so I suppose I would say my first study is viola and second is recorder, the rest I get to if I get to it, and I'll polish it up if someone needs me for a fiddle band or a flute choir. You wouldn't imagine I'd need any more instruments, but I'm off to look at a clarasch in the next few weeks. And they have a Moeck baroque oboe in stock, they'd stopped making them and I WANT IT SO MUCH! But I cannot play the oboe at all, I have no real need to own one, I'm sure it's the recorder player in me that looks at the beauty of the instrument and needs to make it sing, but I somewhat doubt I am the right woman for the job!

Not sung in a serious way for years, but I walked past a copy of Carols for Choirs in the music shop the other day and nearly went weak at the knees.

So I guess you could say I never do manage to keep it all "ticking over", but nor is my first study always the same instrument. And you do have to be ready for multiple nervous breakdowns, I think. How I did 8 choirs, 5 orchestras, put on a nightly performing opera tour and sat my A levels and grade 8 at the same time will never be clear, I counted the hours a week I spent on music and I'm sure it came to more than the total number of weekly hours.

You left out her main instruments Saxophone and recorder. She has been known to play other instruments too.