How Long Should I Practice

I have a close friend in South Africa. We email or “WhatsApp” nearly every day even though our time zones are 7 hours apart. Let’s just say, we have some midnight conversations, her time, from time to time.

She started taking piano lessons recently, and her first text about it was to tell me she had practiced 2 hours the day before, and when she came back to the piano the next day – she was back to ground zero. Aaaarrrrgh! Nothing she had practiced the day before stuck. She recorded herself trying to play, and I could tell she’s not a beginner, about intermediate level, but it was rough going.

My advice to her was too much to text, so I fired off an email. Our culture, and apparently her culture as well, seems to push the idea that more is better, more practice will result in more improvement. However, when learning to play an instrument, it’s not quite that simple.

Without going into an in-depth science lesson, let me just say it has to do with what is going on behind the scenes in our brains. For the brain to carry out a complex process such as play the dulcimer or the piano, the neurons in our brains have to connect and undergo construction. Some neurons need more time to complete this process than others, and they can only process and construct the connections if we rest. As a matter of fact, the more complex the tune is, or a certain measure, the more space (resting time) the brain will need to process it. A lot of the magic even happens while you are sleeping.

My advice to Marlize was to keep practice her sessions short and space them out throughout the day. I encouraged her not to go over the same material every time she sits down at the piano bench, but to focus on a different assignment from her piano teacher each time she sits down. Then sit back and let the brain do its thing.

If you’re feeling like you’re making no progress, try picking up your dulcimer or the hammers for about 20 minutes in the morning, and another 20 minutes in the afternoon. You may see a big change.

Happy dulcimering,
Linda