How long do you practice?

[sherbert789]

I was just wondering how long the average flutist practices each day . . . especially if you are planning on a career in music . . .

[flutepicc06]

Well, it's really not how long you practice that matters, it's what you get done that does. You could practice for 17 hours per day, but if you were playing the same wrong notes and rhythms, with a consistently poor tone, it's not going to matter very much. Within the college setting, for performance majors who seriously intend to take a shot at orchestral positions or a solo career, it's not at all unusual to practice 6 hours per day. Of course, not everyone can (or wants) to do that, but most music majors will practice at least 3 or 4 hours per day. If you make it as a performer, your practice times will vary, as you likely will practice more in preparation for a tour or recording session, and once on tour may not have time to practice much at all. I guess what I'm getting at with this is that there is really no definite time you should be practicing as you prepare for a music career, though to include a proper warm up, maintain your basic technique through exercises and etudes directed to various facets of flute playing and then work on new material will likely require at least 2 to 3 hours of your time.

[apleasuretoburn]

For me it all depends on how much I need to work on. I just finished my first year as a music major, and right now I usually practise about 2 hours a day, sometimes more and sometimes less. Like flutepicc said, it's not so important how long you spend practising, but how you spend that time that is really important. I try my best to make any practise time as productive as possible, as opposed to just playing through my pieces for the sake of playing them.

[Band_Geek]

I practice anywhere from 1-3 hours. Not all of it is on the flute though... sometimes I switch to other instruments and play different music.