# Practice Habits



## musicalvegan0

I'm not sure how many of you are active practitioners of classical instruments, but I practice classical guitar anywhere from 4-8 hours a day (with breaks, of course). I'm currently on summer break and I've been experimenting with practice organization. I was wondering if anyone has tips, advice, or even just wants to share their current practice habits, ie: How to arrange technique practice, musical practice, slow practice, etc. Thanks.

-Chris


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## Luximus

well..although I'm not practicing alot right now (summer break's almost here for me!), I plan on practicing 6 hours a day. 3 hours on techniques, and the other three on pieces of my choice. In techniques I mean scales and double stops(since I'm a violinist) and different bowings. I tend to practice easier, more straightforward pieces just to master technique. Afterwards, for the remainder of the three hours, i have fun. I sight read some more challenging pieces and try to play them, paying attention to technique still, of course. When there's 1 hour left, it's basically goofing off, doing whatever I like. However, i'd focus alot on technique because once you've basically nailed the technique, it's like freeing yourself from a cage and you can suddenly play anything you want. Sadly, i have yet to reach that level. I hope I've helped you a little.

Regards,
Luximus


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## musicalvegan0

Luximus,

You may want to try breaking up your practicing into smaller sections. I did the half/half technique/music thing for a long time, and I found that I'd be burned out by the time I got done with the technique. For me, a variety of things during practice seems to make the most efficient and refreshing use of time. For example, I work on a specific technical skill, let's say scales, then followed by arpeggios. After those, I might learn a new piece of music, or practice a piece that I'm musically trying to develop or get under my fingers. If it's a large scale piece, I practice a section of it. Then I go back to another technical area and the process continues. The order of my sections changes, and the sections themselves change as well, depending on what my weaknesses are at the time, but this helps keeps things fresh, something that is very important while practicing for long periods of time, in my opinion.

I always try to make the best use out of my time, so I like to cut out things that waste time by making sure I have a list of areas that I need to hit, so as to limit the amount of time spent in the practice room and not getting anything done. Every musician is different, though, but that's just what works for me.

-Chris


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## Woodley6453

I try to practice around 7.5 hours a day, with 3.5 devoted to piano and 4 devoted to violin. 
I start when I get up - I eat, and I warm up on piano with some scales - I start slow and build it as fast as I can, listening carefully to ensure evenness between each note. After that, I spend some time working on chords, appreggios, etc. Then I pull out some solo piece I've never seen before (or maybe have heard but never played) and sight read it. Then I go into working on whatever piece I'm playing for festival, at the moment Beethoven's Waldstein and Chopin's Piano Sonata no. 2.

Violin is in many ways the same: technique, followed by sight reading, followed by working on my assigned pieces (my orchestra is playing Haydn's 85th and 86th, and my solo work for the moment is Bach's Sonata no. 1 in G minor for unaccompanied violin).

-Woodley


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## Morigan

Woodley6453 said:


> I try to practice around 7.5 hours a day


Well, I wish I had that much time to dedicate to music . That's the number of hours I _work_ at the office everyday!


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## Woodley6453

Haha, it helps when you're on summer break though! Usually I don't have that much time sadly.


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