How much should I practice the flute? Great question! A musician can greatly improve their skills by adding extra practice sessions weekly or daily. So how much is enough? How much is too much?
One might think that by working round the clock, a learning flute-player can quickly excel through the levels. The downfall to this is if the practicing musician is repeating with technical issues (aka: bad habits) then more practice will only make these problems more solid.
It will do wonders for the speed you are learning at.
So the secret is to make better use of the practice time you already have by focusing on a set agenda of sorts. There’s lots of great advice on exactly what to practice and when on this website in other articles, podcast audios, and lesson module videos.
Extracting one or two (only) parts of your practice session and then doing it again later in the day will do wonders for the speed you are learning at. As I mentioned before though, you’ll want to always keep in mind that you’re using the best technique and skill as possible.
For example, if you are a beginner and are just at the stage where it’s time to learn to move from the C to D and back again, then you’ll want to work on it as a ‘repeat loop’ in your first practice session of the day, use it in a small tune, and then end with a shorter practice loop. Then later that evening you can repeat this whole section (but not include any of your other practice items).
Keep it short, and very concise. You’ll have awesome results this way.
Taking notes on your progress is a super way to keep focused and also to notice your progress. We humans love to see progress! Just think of the billion dollar gaming industry. We love checking off levels and moving through mazes and puzzles.
Keep in mind that learning to become a musician (one who plays music for any reason at all) is exactly the same. The only difference is that the game doesn’t really end. It’s a forever fun set of progression that is very, very rewarding.
When a brand new student asks me how much they should practice the flute I tell them that 20 minutes will do for the first day. But, it’s kind of hard to only practice 20 minutes when you’re raring to learn everything you’ve ever wanted to! So, this is where it’s perfect to start with 20 minutes in the morning, and do it again later in the day. Your muscles need time to adjust anyway, so be a little patient.
After the student has gotten over the initial stages of being a novice player we move up to 30 minute practice sessions. For the ambitious learner I suggest your first session of the day is 30 minutes and the second session only 15 minutes.
Once the student is snowballing, I tell them to up it to 45 minutes for the first session and take a 20 minute second session of the day.
Yes, you can exceed this (as long as you are not hurting your muscles).
Finally, we move up to 1 hour per first practice session. And musicians who are following directions super carefully (using superior technique and skill) will add to this.
My students who are preparing to play in college will practice 2+ hrs per day.
Let your enthusiasm guide you.
Here is an audio that can help with this subject also (I have many more on the podcast page):
https://learnfluteonline.com/lfp-063-advantages-self-learner/
Does this help give you an idea? Let me know what you think! Hope to see you in a lesson soon.
