How much should your child practice piano?

Probably the question I’m asked most frequently is, “how much should my child practice?” To answer this properly, there are mainly three factors to take into consideration: Your child’s age, ability to focus, and their level of experience at the piano.

How to calculate the right amount of practice time

If your child is six years old and just starting lessons, I might recommend 10-15 minutes of practice daily. But if they’ve already been taking lessons for three years and are pretty advanced for their age, it probably makes more sense for them to be practicing 30 minutes per day.

The biggest mistake you can make – maybe you did something like this in college? 🙂 – is to cram all the practice time into one day right before the lesson. Success with piano is less about the time spent practicing, and more about consistency. If your child is practicing five days a week, they’re destined for success!

It can still be helpful to have a number to use as a rule of thumb, so I’ve created a chart for you to use to determine how much your child should be practicing every day:

Make reasonable goals

If your child is a five or six year old beginner, it might be unrealistic to expect them to practice for 30 minutes every day. If you expect too much, you might be setting your child up for failure.

Conclusion

You know your child better than anyone else! Practice time is so important for your child. Not just for improving at the piano, but for teaching discipline and focus. If the current practice routine isn’t working, switch it up and try something else. Just do what you can to get your child to the piano every day, and he or she will be a rockstar before you know it!