About Practicing

How Much is Enough?

The only way to learn to play an instrument is to practice. Practice means repeating your music lesson plus playing for fun at home. Practice can be lots of fun. The more often you practice, the quicker you’ll get better and the more satisfaction you’ll get when you play your instrument. Don’t think of it as work. Play your instrument! Play it for fun!! It feels so good to be able to say, “I pretty much mastered that one.”

Guidelines. Fourth-grade students should play four times a week for about 10 minutes each time. Fifth-grade students should practice five times a week for about 15 minutes each time.

Sixth-grade students should practice six times a week for 30 minutes each time.

You may count either your lesson or your band rehearsal as one practice session.

The number of times per week you practice is much more important than the total amount of time you practice each week. In other words, it’s much better to practice six times for 10 minutes each time than to practice one time for 60 minutes. That’s because your brain learns to play an instrument more easily with frequent repetition. You can even practice more than once in one day.