Your Child Practices Every Day, but Are They Really ‘Practicing’?

Many parents often ask me:
"How long should my child practice each day?"

The truth is, there’s no standard answer. What matters more than the amount of time spent is —
Are they really practicing when they sit at the piano?

True practice is not just sitting at the bench and playing notes.

When your child practices, ask yourself:

• Are they focusing on the details the teacher taught last week?

• Are they looking carefully at the notes and fingerings on the sheet music?

• Are they listening attentively to the sounds they produce?

• Are they paying attention to the dynamics and markings in the music?

If they are just playing notes repeatedly,
playing wrong notes over and over is not practice—it’s memorizing mistakes.

What are they really practicing?

I often tell my students:
Practice = Preparation

Preparation for what?

✔️ Eyes reading the notes and fingerings
✔️ Brain planning which finger goes where
✔️ Hands getting into the correct position
Before producing any sound, they are already “practicing.”

(For intermediate and advanced students, preparation also includes tone, touch, dynamics, and phrasing.)

Why do so many students keep making mistakes?

It’s not a matter of seriousness—they simply don’t give themselves enough preparation time.

When speed increases, eyes, brain, and hands can’t coordinate. Mistakes and hesitations accumulate, and after a week, the piece becomes full of errors.

A simple example:

Suppose there are five notes: A B C D E. If C is often played incorrectly:

The solution is not to keep playing from the beginning over and over. Instead —
Practice the “preparation” between B → C:

1. Slow down until it’s played correctly every time

2. Repeat 3–5 times to solidify the correct version

3. Gradually expand: ABC → ABCD

4. Once stable, gradually increase speed

This ensures that C will no longer be a sticking point.

Slow down, give yourself time to prepare the correct version, and repeat.

This is real, effective practice. Simply sitting and producing sound for a while is not the same as practicing.

If you have any questions, feel free to DM me or reach out for guidance.