How many hours should you practice violin per day?

Becoming a professional classical musician means lifelong dedication to your craft, no matter which instrument. Did you ever wonder if there was an ideal amount to practice as a classical violinist?

This is a question I get asked from all levels of students. I wish I were able to provide you with a clear-cut answer, but it is much more nuanced. With that said, there are some guidelines.

A violin is an unforgiving instrument: if you neglect practicing even for a couple of days, you will see immediate consequences.

Before we think about the amount of practice at all, we should consider the following first: the importance of practice length cannot be underestimated, but if it doesn’t get combined with the highest focus we can muster, we’ll end up wasting our valuable hours both in the short and the long run. 

Some people claim that excellence in one’s craft comes only after doing that for a minimum of 10,000 hours or more. While I heavily subscribe to the idea of more practicing will make us better, there is hardly a one-size-fits-all amount.

One’s level of musical talent, finding a good teacher, the ability to focus and the dedication to practice are only a few other important aspects, that will impact the efficiency of our practicing, and how much and fast we improve.

Depending on which phase we are on our violin journey, we will need different amounts of practicing. A total beginner, who will need to build the very basics through many hours of work, will not have the ability yet to focus as intensely as someone more advanced.

But the more advanced one becomes, the more one needs to practice: because more practice hours expands one’s horizons, where he/she will see more and more violinistic and musical possibilities. Someone who is in his or her mid-to-late teens, who are on their path for a serious career, need to be practicing for 4-5 hours per day on average.

While I unfortunately didn’t count my hours to see if I reached 10,000, I currently try to practice around 3-4 hours per day, while currently having a full-time orchestra job and having no family at the moment. But there have been many phases of my life, where I practiced upwards of 7 hours per day while preparing for competitions, or just because of the mere joy I’ve got from practicing the violin.

I am curious - how much really do you think the amount is important? Please let me know in the comments.