Violin grade 3 - how much practice?

[Timetoask]

DS is almost 8, he passed his grade 2 last year with a distinction with about 30 minutes 4 days a week.

Now working towards his grade 3, I am trying to up the practice time to 45 minutes 5 days a week, but he complaining!

I have googled and found different opinions, some people suggesting 30 minutes, others 45 and one website even saying that 60minutes was needed!

So, I am looking for information from someone who has already managed to pass grade 3 please. What is reasonable considering DS age?
Thanks

[Daisy17]

30 minutes 4 days a week still fine for Grade 3. (Music teacher!) If he's done that happily in the past but is complaining about you upping it then I would back off and leave him to it. You don't want to put him off altogether!

[flowery]

45 minutes sounds a lot for an 8 year old. DS is 7 and doing his Grade 2. He does about 20 minutes a day, which is plenty for him.

[omnishambles]

My ds must have done about 10 minutes a day outside of school on the actual grade 3 pieces and scales but was doing orchestra etc in school. 45mins a day is far too much, they are supposed to get enjoyment out of it, not it be a complete chore.

[Timetoask]

Thanks everyone, seems I was overly optimistic. Will back off a bit.

[pigsinmud]

45 minutes 5 days a week sounds loads for an 8 year old! Ds1 is 14 and working towards grade 8 - he does an hour a day. Not far off what you want your 8 year old to do.

[JulieMichelleRobinson]

20-30min a day seems fine to me (violin teacher) as long as it's actual practise and not just faffing around. It's probably more than I did at that age (just started) or level (year after). It probably takes 5min extra to get the violin, music, stand etc. out and ready to go. I suspect that your seven-year-old child can't concentrate for much longer than 30min anyway, so the extra time will be pointless and will also create resentment.

I didn't do 45min until I was 10 or so, working on grade 5 and 6, and did grade 8 plus lots of diploma repertoire on a well-planned hour a day, five days a week.

If you really want to up "practise" time, you could consider adding some theory games/flashcards, even workbook ("Theory for Violinists" is a good series of young-string-player friendly workbooks), music history or listening. It'll help develop knowledge and musicality. But at 7yo it is really not necessary.

[JulieMichelleRobinson]

With 30min... at that level...

Hmmm.....

10min on scales, studies, practising bowing exercises etc.
5min focusing on tricky parts of one piece that teacher has identified as needing practise.
5min on exam pieces, looking at a particular aspect (like dynamics).
5-10min playing things you want to play.

People never focus their practise! What are you trying to achieve? Do you need to practise this particular shift in bar 12? Do you need to make your bowing different to achieve a softer piano still retaining a good tone in bars 18-19? Do you need to think about your right hand thumb all the way through?

[LilyBolero]

You would be better off doing 30 mins every day, rather than saying '45 mins, 5 days a week'.

[Ferguson]

As others have suggested, QUALITY is more important than QUANTITY!