How many minutes do you practice daily?

flutestudent · Post by **flutestudent** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 8:25 am

I was wondering how many minutes does a flute player is supposed to practice daily to be in OK form?

I am flute beginner. Though I intend to practice 20 minutes daily(minimum), sometimes I don't practice for 2-3 days. No excuses, just no good mood at all...

Whenever my practice is low that week, My teacher notices this in my weekly class. Though she doesn't preach me much on practice, I can sense that she isn't totally happy about it either. And that weekly lesson becomes a supervised practice for me and no new music that week!

I am interested to know how many minutes does each member of this forum practice daily?...........Come On, be honest!

bladibla · Post by **bladibla** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 11:22 am

I used to never practise for flute, (teacher comes every saturdays) but now i play about 30 mins - 1 hour every day. Dunno why, if you keep listening to flute CDs, you get addicted to it..

pandagirl11 · Post by **pandagirl11** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 3:08 pm

I haven't practiced for about...5 weeks now.

But that's okay, 'cause my vibrato speed is still, somehow, increasing every week. =)

powayflute01 · Post by **powayflute01** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 10:37 pm

mmm...much less than I would like to. I only practice about 3-4 times a week and for only about 45 minutes or so per session. My teacher is all about short practice sessions, so they're really intense. Plus I listen to recordings of the pieces I play, which means I can usually cut out about 5ish hours of practice a week...it really helps a lot for me, for some reason.

MeLizzard · Post by **MeLizzard** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 9:43 am

I've often heard that, simply to maintain our current level on an instrument, we need to practice about 30 minutes per day. If we'd like to improve, however, much more is needed. I usually suggest my students practice at least a minimum number of minutes based on the length of their lessons--thirty-minute lesson, thirty-plus minutes of practice; an hour-long lesson, at least an hour of practice. Naturally, some days' schedules prhibit such work, but SOME practice every day is essential to continued progress, even if there's only time for a few tone or scale exercises. (Ok, six days each week instead of seven!)

powayflute01 · Post by **powayflute01** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 12:22 pm

I've found that a lot of people/flute teachers have conflicting views on how much to practice. It is generally agreed that the more practice you get, the better, as long as it doesn't strain you. My present teacher (a symphony flautist and a very busy woman) claims that teachers who make their students practice for 2 or more hours a day are very "old school" and simply don't understand that most people don't have the time or attention span to do really good, focused practice for that long. I guess ideally the way I would practice is a total of an hour and a half, divided up into three half hour sessions throughout the day.
I cannot do the ideal setup though-- I can't practice in my dorm room (I live on a floor in my building with extended quiet hours, so I can get in trouble for making noise) so I have to rent a room in the music building on campus and trek over there whenever I want to practice...

Burke · Post by **Burke** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 12:49 pm

Practicing for a long period straight through was quickly taking a toll, so I began to practice for the same amount of time everyday but in increments. I probably practice for a couple of hours every day.

I don't know if I'd call it practice right now though. I'm starting to develop the habit of sticking with the familiar instead of improving skills that are more difficult.

flutestudent · Post by **flutestudent** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 7:36 am

MeLizzard wrote:I've often heard that, simply to maintain our current level on an instrument, we need to practice about 30 minutes per day. If we'd like to improve, however, much more is needed.

I have a full time job and finding more than 30 mins a day for practice is difficult for me. Not sure if it is a good excuse

Or is it that young people always find more time to practise than the older ones?

Burke · Post by **Burke** » Wed Feb 23, 2005 8:07 am

flutestudent wrote:
MeLizzard wrote:I've often heard that, simply to maintain our current level on an instrument, we need to practice about 30 minutes per day. If we'd like to improve, however, much more is needed.
I have a full time job and finding more than 30 mins a day for practice is difficult for me. Not sure if it is a good excuse

Or is it that young people always find more time to practise than the older ones?

Careers are legitimate impediments! And isn't a good bet that you have other tasks to fit into your schedule at home besides practicing the flute? Perhaps you should be congratulated for getting in that half hour every day.

In reading Powayflute's post about having to rent a practice room, I am again inspired, as I have been all along with the young people here. I'd call not being able to play in one's own room an impediment as well. I'm sorry that she has to deal with that constraint.

Lifeisunfair 101. Nobody intends to take that class, do they?

flutestudent · Post by **flutestudent** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 4:10 am

Burke,
Yes, Both you and Powerflute are a good motivation to people like me.

How do you manage 2 hrs at a stretch?...Do you do any breathing exercises?

I am a beginner. I tried to practice for 2 hrs, a couple of times before during a weekend with some resting intervals in between. I wasn't feeling comfortable, felt dizzy later. I felt my heart beating fast and had to take full long breadths for the next half an hour. The worst thing that I could imagine at that time was.....land up in a hospital with a stroke! Both C3 and D3 are a nightmare to me. I have this problem whenever I practice anything with these notes for more than 10 mins. 1st octave and 2nd octave notes are fine. My practice duration and quality of sound has improved compared to last year when I started, but still a long way to go.

-Vish

Burke · Post by **Burke** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 8:14 am

flutestudent wrote:Burke,
Yes, Both you and Powerflute are a good motivation to people like me.
How do you manage 2 hrs at a stretch?...Do you do any breathing exercises?

Hi Vish,

I'm a beginner too. We're in the same camp, but I'm retired. That's why I have a little more time to practice. I don't know that I'd be practicing as much otherwise, but my choir director at church gave me an assignment within the first month that I was playing. I thought I was going to have a stroke when she handed me that music!

Now, she has given me music for Easter, as well as Pentecost. I have to practice a lot! If I don't, a lot of people are going to know. By golly, they might know anyway.

She is giving me easy work though. She knows my level.

I'm not the best person to make suggestions about breathing since I'm new. I can tell you what I do, but I don't know what others do. Hopefully, someone will come along to talk about this, and I certainly don't mind being corrected, especially if I'm telling you something wrong. Breathing is also probably mentioned in various places on the forum. I've found a lot of useful information just by going back through the threads and reading. That's been a good excercise for me.

I'm paying closer attention now to the way I breath all the time, which is from the diaphragm. I fill up my lungs from the bottom first, letting my abdomen extend as I take in air. At the same time, I keep my upper body and shoulders still. I continue to inhale until my lungs are completely filled to the top. I was taught to be conscious of my diaphragm and breath that way as a child, so that's more or less how I do it anyway. I'm just paying more attention to it now.

When practicing, I work on my ability to take in as large a volume of air as possible and quickly, slowly exhale, not letting too much air escape while playing. I spend a little of my practice trying to play through the time that I would ordinarly inhale again, and I play until I'm completely expended of air. Then, later, it seems much easier to sustain the notes I have to play until I'm supposed to breath. Again, that's just what I'm doing. Maybe someone here will come and say that it's wrong. If they do that, remember that I'm the new person. I could very well be wrong.

I have recently decided to love the third register. Once I learned to relax my emboucher instead of thinking about the word "tight," the notes in the third register started to come more easily. I am not easily above G3 myself, but it's coming. I haven't been working above G3 too much either, so shame on me. That's the problem.

Finding happiness in the third register is another topic that is addressed on the forum in numerous places. If you can take a few moments to delve into the posts of the past couple of years, you'll find a lot of information that may be helpful.

flutestudent · Post by **flutestudent** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 9:58 am

Thanks Burke,
Your post was quite refreshing. Perhaps, I should pay more attention to Boglarka's online lesson on breathing.
I also try to breathe from my diaphragm and fill up my lungs. Maybe I am not doing it the right way......
I can play for half-hour fine and then, after that the struggle starts.... Perhaps I should try to increase the duration of my practice gradually.

Sure I will go thru the old posts about the 3rd register. At the moment, 3rd register simply doesn't seem to like me.

thanks again,
Vish

MeLizzard · Post by **MeLizzard** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 9:59 am

Hey, when we grow up, we have to work to afford the flute and the lessons! Of course, this cuts into our practice time!

But it's still great to enjoy music enough to fit it into our lives as adults... Many adults I know who still take lessons do so somewhat irregularly, or at least no more frequently than every other week--just not enough time to practice--argh! This works well if a teacher is willing to do this for you. When something public is looming, however, more practice is almost always necessary. Was it Rampal who once said, "If I don't practice one day, I know. If I don't practice two days, the critics know. If I don't practice THREE days, EVERYBODY knows."? Breaking up the practice is good, because fatigue contributes to poor posture, sloppy/lazy mistakes, etc. Many instrumentalists, like with Poway's rental situation, endure inhibiting/prohibitive/just-plain-ridiculous practice circumstances, which either make us more determined, or make us quit (if we didn't really wanna be good anyway). That which does not kill us... Welcome, Vish! I'm attempting to recall the title of that renowned Arnold Jacobs (famous tubist) book about breathing. It escapes me. Check Amazon.com, maybe.

Burke · Post by **Burke** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 4:00 pm

flutestudent wrote:Thanks Burke,
Your post was quite refreshing.

You make me sound like a soda fountain drink. "Ahhh ...."

Perhaps, I should pay more attention to Boglarka's online lesson on breathing.
I also try to breathe from my diaphragm and fill up my lungs. Maybe I am not doing it the right way......
I can play for half-hour fine and then, after that the struggle starts.... Perhaps I should try to increase the duration of my practice gradually.

I think I understand what you're saying. I'm working on the way I breathe when I'm playing too. This will become easier and easier for both of us as we continue to practice. Yes, Boglárka's lessons are very good. I couldn't resist the urge to look at all of them, even though the more advanced lessons aren't for me yet.

Sure I will go thru the old posts about the 3rd register. At the moment, 3rd register simply doesn't seem to like me.

thanks again,
Vish

You're very welcome, Vish. The third register will like you. It will like us both.

powayflute01 · Post by **powayflute01** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 4:57 pm

Wow, lots of action on this board today!

From what I've learned, the best way to breathe while playing a flute (and almost any other wind instrument) is from the diaphragm; to expand your stomach when you take a deep breath. Also, before you begin a piece you might want to try to "top off" your air; that is, take a deep breath like mentioned above, but then also take a breath through your nose, filling up the remainder of your lungs with air. I find this helps me out a lot at the beginning of a piece.

I don't really do any breathing exercises myself, though I have always wanted to get one of these things: http://www.wwbw.com/Powerlung-Breather-i103165.music. My breathing has never been especially powerful and it looks like it might be pretty beneficial.

Also, (I thought this was kind of common knowledge but the flute players in my band seemed to be oblivous to this) if you smoke or did at one point smoke for a long period of time, your air strength is probably not going to be as good as it could be. I'm not implying anyone here does, but I figured I might as well throw that out there.