This is such a practical question. How much should a beginner piano student practice?
I believe I’ve read every word of Mrs. Curwen’s Pianoforte Method. I’ve read the 14th edition more than once. Now I’m beginning the 31st edition.
I have not ran across any words that specify how much Mrs. Curwen’s expects or recommends a child to practice.
Here’s what I have read though.
If it is possible, Mrs. Curwen suggests a beginner student having a short lesson every day. If you are a parent capable of teaching your own child, this is what Mrs. Curwen recommends. As you work through her step books, she recommends touching on one topic a day. One day you can talk through pitch. The next you talk through time.
She recommends finger or hand work every day. This, I believe, is referring to finger exercises or supplemental music. In other words, the child should be playing a bit of music at least every day.
Mrs. Curwen also addresses the weekly piano lesson with a visiting teacher. How is a weekly lesson with a teacher going to be successful? Well, that’s dependent upon the mother of the student.
The mother must be present at the piano lesson. And the mother must be engaged with the practicing during the week. In other words, if the mother is going to assist the child with practicing, she must understand what the child is learning.
Those words give me plenty to think about as a piano teacher.
Here are a few other words of my own. The following thoughts and ideas are not anything I’ve run across in Mrs. Curwen’s book. As a result of reading her book, here is an additional thought about how much a child should be practicing.
Instead of setting a timer for fifteen minutes, considering wading through a bit of your child’s music and choose five measures or ten measures for the day. Encourage your student or child to perfect as much as possible those five or ten measures.
Here’s why I’d encourage this. Playing something well is very satisfying. If a child can’t ever play anything well, why would they want to continue with lessons?
If you are discovering that your beginner student or child cannot perfect five or ten measures in one sitting at the piano, I’d evaluate whether the music is too far above the student. The beginner student should always be playing music that is well within their powers. If they aren’t, they will easily grow weary and frustrated.
Maybe it will take your child twenty minutes one day to run through their finger exercises and perfect five measures of one simple tune. I’d call that a good day of practice.
What do I mean by perfect those five measures? This means not only playing the notes correctly but also playing with artistic expression.