Is it possible to practice the piano for long hours?

ranjit · 2026-01-15T05:38:03+00:00

At least on the surface, it seems like professionals work 40 hours a week or more in various fields (engineering, medicine, etc.). However, this seems pretty...

rogerch

ShiroKuro @rogerch and @ranjit have you ever tried taking a walking break?

Definitely! Most days I either run, walk, paddleboard, bike or ski. I’ve had lots of musical, work, and personal breakthroughs while out in nature getting my exercise!

ShiroKuro

ranjit reading your post, yeah, napping is probably far better than going for a walk or a run for piano. When I'm working (e.g., doing analysis or writing) it's different because I'm doing something I'm already really good at, so the walk clears my head and helps me focus when I get back.

But piano learning is different, at least for me as an adult-beginner (no longer a beginner player).

Anyway, five hours a day is completely out of the realm of possibility for me regardless, so it's moot! 😃

BartK

The guy at whose house Yunchan Lim stayed during the Van Cliburn competition says he would practice all waking hours of the day. Even when not at the piano he would be sitting with a score open and doing some mental practice. I can't imagine being so obsessed and being so focused all the time!

Animisha

BartK he would practice all waking hours of the day. Even when not at the piano he would be sitting with a score open and doing some mental practice. I can't imagine being so obsessed and being so focused all the time!

Sounds like great piano playing and very meager life.

iternabe

I am reading Basic Principles in Pianoforte Playing by Josef Lhevinne. Here is what he wrote about practice, on p. 43:

Four hours a day of practice is good measure. Over-practicing is just as bad as under-practicing. It should be the younger student's aim and desire to get done with technic as soon as possible. There is no short cut. One cannot go around or under the mountain. One must climb straight over it. Therefore in the earlier lessons more attention must be given to technic than in the later lessons when a really masterly technic has been developed. The trouble is that most students seem to look upon it the other way. Two hours a day for those who are not advanced in music (not beginners by any means) are not too much for technic. I do not see how one can climb over the great mountain of modern technic at a less speed than two hours a day. Otherwise, they would be old men and women before they could hope to compare with others in these days of enormous technical competition. Everybody knows that technic is only a means to an end; but without this means one does not reach the end. There may not be anything very beautiful about the great, grimy engine of an automobile; but if one would get to the journey's end—to the dreamland of wonderful trees, gorgeous flowers and entrancing beauty-he must have the means. You must travel just so many scale miles and arpeggio miles and octave miles before you arrive at the musical dreamland of interesting execution and interpretation.

Always divide your practice periods. Do your technic at one time and your pieces at another. Approach the two sections with different aspects.

pianoloverus

iternabe I am reading Basic Principles in Pianoforte Playing by Josef Lhevinne. Here is what he wrote about practice, on p. 43:

Four hours a day of practice is good measure. Over-practicing is just as bad as under-practicing. It should be the younger student's aim and desire to get done with technic as soon as possible. There is no short cut. One cannot go around or under the mountain. One must climb straight over it. Therefore in the earlier lessons more attention must be given to technic than in the later lessons when a really masterly technic has been developed. The trouble is that most students seem to look upon it the other way. Two hours a day for those who are not advanced in music (not beginners by any means) are not too much for technic. I do not see how one can climb over the great mountain of modern technic at a less speed than two hours a day. Otherwise, they would be old men and women before they could hope to compare with others in these days of enormous technical competition. Everybody knows that technic is only a means to an end; but without this means one does not reach the end. There may not be anything very beautiful about the great, grimy engine of an automobile; but if one would get to the journey's end—to the dreamland of wonderful trees, gorgeous flowers and entrancing beauty-he must have the means. You must travel just so many scale miles and arpeggio miles and octave miles before you arrive at the musical dreamland of interesting execution and interpretation.

Always divide your practice periods. Do your technic at one time and your pieces at another. Approach the two sections with different aspects.

I think advice like this is not relevant for 99% of those studying piano, and it's not clear who Lhevinne was speaking to In the article. Four hours is more appropriate for those thinking of applying to a conservatory or for those already in a conservatory(probably more for them) or professional pianists. IMO two hours would be a reasonable amount for an ultra serious high school or junior high school piano student who loves the piano but is not thinking of a career in music. My guess is two hours of practice still puts someone in the 99th percentile.

ranjit

iternabe I have heard this quote, as well as others by different concert pianists. They mostly tell students what worked for them and aren't meant to be read literally imo. In the early 20th century, pedagogy was less advanced and more people seemed to have held on to the 'enlightenment optimism' that students could follow the master and mostly do what they did. It's now far more established that students have their own strengths and weaknesses, and so modern texts read differently.

For instance, Hoffman says you shouldn't practice more than 3 hours a day in his book, but the intensity of focus with which he suggests practicing (like the negative of a photograph where every sound and gesture is kind of committed to memory during practice) is well beyond most people. Ashkenazy suggests 6. Richter apparently practiced 10 hours a day often. The discrepancies between what people say and do should also be noted.

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