How much practice?

[Bigginswade]

Curious to know, if your child is learning an instrument, how long do they spend on practice and regularly do the practice? We are really struggling with it. DS has two instruments. Loves both but has a preference for the first probably because he's no longer beginner on it. We often fine that we're not doing as much as we'd like. Curious to know what others do and what has maybe worked for them. In our case, DS loves music so getting him to practice isn't an issue. It's finding the time as he has school and I work full time so we're not usually home until lateish after I've picked him up from after school club.

Piano - we aim for 30 minutes a day but it ends up as 20 minutes 3/4 times a week and rather a lot of nagging (endless nagging). It's DD's 2nd instrument and she's not yet at the stage where she's playing things that interest and excite her. We are planning to do exams at some point.

Voice - DD (just turned 10) probably sings for 2-3 hours a day. Never has to be nagged, although I might occasionally suggest she concentrates on certain songs that aren't her immediate interest. She's probably around G6/7 in terms of level but we don't do exams and have no plans to start.

It's been interesting to see how she self-corrects on the singing and will go over and over and over difficult sections. I pointed out that when she makes errors with the piano she will only go back over once - yet voice she persists till it's perfect. She was a bit taken aback and couldn't quite explain why there was such a big difference in her thinking but could see that she had a completely different approach to them. Then she said that it was because singing was a part of her like breathing but playing the piano was just something she had to do.

She's exceptionally focused and driven on the couple of things that interest her - and the complete opposite with absolutely everything else... sigh...

I am really hoping for quality practices instead(11 yrs old, plays violin around G7 and piano around G8). About 30-45 mins 5 days a week, very focused with clear aim of what/how to improve really helps her. I dont know how she is going to manage both from this Sept when yr7 starts. And opposite from Folk, she couldnt function at all before 7.30 in the morning even how early she went to bed the night before( however my 5 yrs old never wakes up after 6.30 so 2 completely different children).

Mine did not practice massively long hours when they were at primary school. They both went to after-school club and like you, we came home quite late. They practiced most days for probably 20 mins total (two instruments each), and often more at weekends and in the holidays. They liked practicing but sometimes it was difficult to find the time. But that was fine really - neither played instruments that seem to involve hours of practice from an early age, and they seemed to reach a fairly good level by the time they left primary school.

The first few years at secondary they practised before I got home from work. There was a clear inverse correlation between wi-fi access and time spent practicing. If the wi-fi was off they would both practice before I came home. If the wi-fi was on then they would just be online playing games, and then practice often fell by the wayside. So I programmed the wi-fi to only go on in the evening . I have no idea how long they practised for, but their teachers were happy with them and they made good progress. I am sure there were periods when they barely got out their instruments, but they remained enthusiastic about it overall and always kept on wanting to have lessons. I tried to sit with them at the weekends when they practised as I liked to hear them play, and they liked having an audience.

They are now mid-teens and both are very dedicated to music and are in county orchestras and various groups and play a lot. One of them is interested in pursuing a career in music. Thing is, neither of them really has ever had many other hobbies or interest in sports or other things, so it never felt they were really too busy or that they had to chose between conflicting hobbies.

Good luck with finding a pattern that works for you, Bigginswade. I am always so glad we kept going with music - we never expected it to become so important to them, but it really has given them both enormous joy and great friendships.

Mine now wants to give up next year in school as she doesnt want to practice I cant see kuch point in making her. She only has grade 1 but maybe she will come back to it...