Quantity VS Quality in Piano Practice

And in a way, that is true.

You can sit at the instrument for many hours and achieve very little. And you can spend less time at the piano, but be so focused, attentive, and fully involved that the result is much stronger.

But now, after returning to the habit of recording my practice time every day, I can say: this approach really does work.

Why write down your practice time?

When you write down your practice time, you start to see the bigger picture.

You no longer live only by vague impressions such as “I think I practiced enough today” or “this week was probably quite good.” You see the actual numbers: how much you practiced yesterday, how much today, how much during the week, and what your average was for the month.

In May, I practiced about two hours a day on average. In June, my goal is to increase this to three hours a day. And simply writing the time down really helps.

It gives more structure, more clarity, and more motivation to improve the process.

When less really is better

Since I was young, I have noticed an interesting thing: sometimes the less you practice, the greater the return from each hour.

Especially if you have had a good rest before practicing. For example, after spending a whole day by the sea, in the evening you can almost attack the piano with fresh energy. Your hands are fresh, your mind is free, your ear is sharp, and the desire to play is very strong.

In moments like that, one hour of practice can be incredibly productive.

This is a very important state: when you are not just “practicing,” but truly want to play, hear every detail, and work with maximum involvement.

Such practice can bring enormous results.

The problem with long practice sessions

But there is another side to this.

When you practice for a long time, part of the work inevitably becomes more automatic. You are not always fresh. You are not always inspired. Not every movement is filled with maximum attention.

Sometimes you are almost just “sitting through” the hours.

Of course, it is easy to say that we should practice for a long time and still give our absolute best every minute.

But in real life, this is not always possible. We are not robots.

Attention gets tired. The ear gets tired. The body gets tired. Emotional energy is not endless either.

The main question: less perfectly, or more realistically?

This leads to an honest question.

What is better: to practice less, but with maximum concentration, or to practice more, even if part of the time is not ideal?

If I wanted to sound like a great master, I could say something beautiful and convincing: better less, but deeper. Better to value every minute. Better not to waste time. After all, there is never enough time.

And all of that is true.

But my personal experience still points in another direction: pianistic form becomes better when you practice more.

Why quantity still matters

Pianistic form does not appear only from intelligent thoughts and good methods.

It appears from constant contact with the instrument.

The piano is not only about understanding. It is also about feeling the keyboard, the weight of the hand, distances, sound, and the reaction of the instrument. It is the connection between the ear, the body, and movement.

And this connection becomes stronger through regular practice and a significant amount of work.

Even if part of that time is not spent at the highest level of inspiration. Even if you are sometimes repeating, reinforcing, returning to the same places, working slowly, and not always feeling especially bright or emotional.

The contact with the instrument still accumulates.

The more time you spend at the piano, the more natural the feeling of playing becomes. The hands find the keyboard more quickly, the ear reacts more precisely to the sound, and the body remembers the necessary movements better.

Quantity does not replace quality

Of course, this does not mean that we should practice mindlessly.

I am not encouraging anyone to watch TV series or read books while practicing. Although I can understand pianists who sometimes allow themselves strange experiments, especially when the amount of practice time goes beyond three or four hours a day.

But seriously, my conclusion is this: if the goal is to achieve deep contact with the instrument and a high quality of performance, then the quantity of practice is still very important.

You should practice as much as possible — but without forgetting why you are practicing.

Not just to “sit through” the hours. Not just to tick a box. Not just to prove to yourself that today was a heroic day.

But to gradually build contact with the instrument, develop your ear, strengthen your pianistic form, return to details, notice weak spots, and connect technique with musical intention again and again.

My conclusion

Quality in practice is essential. That is obvious.

But quantity should not be underestimated either.

Sometimes it is the large amount of daily contact with the instrument that creates the pianistic form that cannot be replaced by intelligent thoughts, good intentions, or rare flashes of inspiration.

It is better to practice intelligently.

But if you have a serious goal, one “high-quality hour” is often not enough.

The piano requires time. And the deeper you want to go into music, the more time you need to spend at the instrument.

If you are interested in this kind of reflection on practice, technique, sound, and pianistic development, you can join Slakva Piano Circle: