How Long should you Practice Violin | Violin Lounge TV #490

by | Sep 7, 2022 | Practice Tips | 4 comments

How much violin practice is enough for the goals you have? How much should you practice daily on your level?

Video content

01:56 Quality of your violin practice
05:52 10-20 minutes of violin practice
06:44 20-40 minutes
07:36 1 hour of violin practice a day
09:21 2-4 hours
10:27 5+ hours a day

10-20 minutes of violin practice a day

This is suitable for very young beginners (under six) who don’t have much of a concentration span yet and have to get used to the instruments. 

Combine this with general music education, for example according to Music Learning Theory. Consider a book like Music Play.

20-40 minutes

Great for beginners. You can even consider to split this up into two sessions of 20 minutes, so you’re refreshed. In my studio I noticed ‘more than 30 minutes’ makes a big difference.

1 hour of violin practice a day

This is really the minimum you need when you want to maintain your current level and want to improve in the long run.

Very young children or adults with some physical challenges should practice less or divide up the hour into two or three chunks divided over the day.

Hi! I'm Zlata

Classical violinist helping you overcome technical struggles and play with feeling by improving your bow technique.

2-4 hours a day

Great to get good progress on your instrument. You can do scales, exercises and etudes and have enough time to work on your repertoire and orchestra scores.

Lots of great concert violinists, like Janine Jansen don’t practice more than 2 hours a day, but please note that they probably don’t count concert and rehearsals as ‘practice time’. Their ‘play time’ is probably longer.

“Practice with your fingers and you need all day. Practice with your mind and you will do as much in 1 1/2 hours.” – Leopold Auer

5+ hours a day

Heifetz, probably the best violinist who ever lived, practiced no more than 3 hours a day and said excessive practice is just as bad as practicing too little.

Perlman, one of the best violinists of our time, advices a 3 hour practice schedule and advices against practicing more than 5 hours.

Average conservatory students practice 2 to 4 hours a day. Often they say they practice more of course ;).

When you want to practice over 5 hours a day, make sure you are doing quality practice and not just ‘making as many hours as possible’. Take enough breaks and keep an eye on your body to prevent injury.

Love this video? Then you might be interested in these as well:

How long does it take to learn violin

Violin practice tips to get fast progress in little time (my espresso routine)

How long do you practice violin a day?

Let me know in the comments.

4 Comments

  1. Yona

    Great video.
    Its like with everything if you think tomorrow or today I have to do something for 2, 3 hours.
    It can be much harder to start.

    The good thing with the violin is if the left hand needs rest one can just focus on the bow arm. Or practice for a 30min, just the bowing. Stress and pressure is not helpful in my option.

    Saw one violin teacher online, he wrote. You can have fun in the playground. Playing the violin is hard work. Its a big issue in our society . People are not robots. One can start hating his passion his, job one studied for years, his hobby just bc of that…

    Reply
    • Zlata

      That’s right!

      Reply
  2. Robert Virden

    I’m 76 years old and I practice .5 to 1 hour a day. I enjoy all your videos and all your tips. Thank you so much!!!

    Reply
    • Zlata

      Wonderful, Robert!

      Reply

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.