Musician's toolkit #1

Rebecca from

Hi everyone!

I am posting a series of notices with some general advice for musicians, especially students, of any age and performing ability. I hope you find them informative and helpful.

My first few posts will cover PRACTICE.

Whenever any music learner asks me how much they should practise every day or every week, the answer I always give is "it depends". Then I go on to explain that their individual practice depends on:

1. How much time you can spare for daily practice.

2. Your current performance ability and how much you want to improve.

So first I'll talk about practice times and length. With very young beginners (aged seven or below), I recommend 10 to 15 minutes of practice every day. With slightly older children I recommend starting with 15 to 20 minutes a day, and for adolescents and adults I recommend around thirty minutes after a few weeks of building their stamina.

Now we all have busy work or school schedules during the week, so it's easy for students to find themselves without the time to practise as much as they would like. This is often the case with adult students who work full-time and/or are parents, which is something I have to take into account as a teacher. Sometimes my younger students have school exams which take up a lot of their spare time. Therefore my general rule of thumb for busy students is to practice every day, even if you only have 10 minutes to spare. You'd be surprised at how much you can cover in 10 minutes. Just be sure to warm up with some scales or simple exercises before working on a piece.

The second issue as mentioned before is your current ability and how much you want to before. So as students develop more stamina and develop their cello playing skills, they should gradually increase their practice time. If you or your child has an exam coming up, aim for at least a solid half-hour every day. More advanced students should work towards 45 minutes or an hour of daily practice, and more if you are Grade 8 standard.

So that's my first Musician's Toolkit post! If you have any questions, please feel free to send me a message via Neighbourly. If you would like to find out more about learning my instrument (the cello!), let me know and we can set up a consultation. Remember first consultations are always free of charge.

Happy practising and I'll post again soon!