Never heard this before

[funkybass]

My teacher told me today 3 hours of practice a day is around the max you can do productively, and anymore is a waste. Anyone have thoughts on that?

[snyderz]

I think it is totally relative to the individual. There are no hard numbers. My wife used to play bass in the Phoenix symphony. Sometimes she would practice 6 hours. Sometimes 1 hour. My band rehearses twice a week. I don't practice at home.

[tangentmusic]

When I was younger (in HS) I would practice about 5 hours a night, picking apart songs off records. I couldnt put the thing down, i loved it so much. I did not feel it was too much or a waste at all.
These days, a half hour a day or less is all I need to keep fresh.
It's all about what works best for you at any particular point in your development as a player.

[kb9wyz]

An in-law of mine once said that he doesn't play piano much any more. He only practices about 3 hours a day. I guess he used to practice 8 hours a day. Frankly, I'm boggled over how someone can practice that long and still love to play the instrument.

[John Wentzien]

Depends on the material you are practicing....an hour of actual musical learning ...is
worth more tha 6 hours of "waking"...

[lowfreq33]

Everyone has their limits. Sometimes all you need is a break. I used to play for a guy who'd do these 6-7 hour rehearsals. Easy for him, most of the time he'd just sit in a chair and tell the band what to do. Maybe sing for an hour total the whole day. That got old really fast. We would get a dinner break though, and things always got more productive after everyone had a chance to clear their head a bit. So maybe do 3 hours, take a break for an hour, then cone back to it.

[MalcolmAmos]

As a Certified Training Professional (Texas A & M) Department of Education Administration and Human Resource Development - Texas A&M University » Training and Development we are taught that short sessions with frequent breaks are more effective than long session with few breaks.

Two one and a half hour (1.5 ) session followed with a 20 minute break occupy a morning session very well. My afternoon sessions would normally include group discussion and problem solving exercises based upon what was taught in the morning sessions. No, it did not involve music training. And after lunch I did not turn out the lights and show a video. LOL

An hour and a half seems be a good time limit. Frequent breaks and group interaction (if available) are also recommended. Short sessions as outlined above could be used in a two to three day seminar. So if you must practice for extended periods........................ Short session with frequent breaks is the best way to go.

[cire113]

Charlie Parker practiced 12 hours a day for. 4 or 5 years !!!

[mambo4]

Frequency trumps duration, when it comes to benefiting form practice. In other words it's more important to do it every day then to do it for hours at a time.

[Chris K]

Originally Posted by mambo4

Frequency trumps duration, when it comes to benefiting form practice. In other words it's more important to do it every day then to do it for hours at a time.

Very true.
I used to play several instruments and what Mambo says was true for all of them.

In addition: taking breaks does help. 2x2 hours is better than 4 in one go.

[BassChuck]

It comes down to the individual. One aspect of playing you have to know yourself and what you can tolerate. For someone who doesn't play much to suddently move to 4-5 hours a day can be a disaster in many ways including physical. You really have to work up to long practice sessions. You have to know enough music and technical studies to fill that time, have you physical technique together so you don't hurt yourself and you have to have your mental game in order or you will just be wasting time.

One point to consider is this. If you don't truely love playing your instrument, really look forward to spending time with it; even organize your daily schedule so that you do have a block of time... then you really shouldn't be playing all that long.

Music is like any other drug. You will benefit from it when you understand it and use it wisely.

[jmattbassplaya]

Originally Posted by tangentmusic

When I was younger (in HS) I would practice about 5 hours a night, picking apart songs off records. I couldnt put the thing down, i loved it so much. I did not feel it was too much or a waste at all.
These days, a half hour a day or less is all I need to keep fresh.
It's all about what works best for you at any particular point in your development as a player.

This.

Back in high school I was (literally) practicing 6-8 hours a day, every day. These days I'll practice anywhere between 15 minutes to 2 hours depending on what's going on that week in rehearsals or if I'm writing.