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Hi, I'm Bibi, violinist, writer, history buff and traveler.
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IMHO, without tremendous talent and the right wiring, incl. the ability to focus during long periods of practice and performance; a prodigious memory and knack for learning quickly; facility in managing huge amounts of data; natural brain and hand flexibility; a suitable central nervous system etc, no amount of practice will allow a pianist to climb to the top, regardless of the teacher. Some pianists became great in spite of their teachers, and not because of them. Richter, Horowitz and Heifetz were not products of any school - in fact Auer said that God was Heifetz's teacher, and not he... The ability to listen to oneself very deeply and with a major "shit detector", both in terms of the quality of the sounds one is producing and the music represented by those sounds. An aspiring concert pianist has to listen to countless performances of the greats throughout history - not just study scores... as great interpretations don't happen in a vacuum... and one has to develop a big musical and cultural bandwidth out of which unique Personality emerges. If one has all of the above, plus the dedication and discipline to put in the work and make major sacrifices in life, then the only other crucial elements are that x-factor on stage, great representation, perseverance, health and luck.
I think, exception for Glenn Gould which as a phenomenon by himself, that the amount of practicing is related to the size of your répertoire. Marta Argerich has a very tiny one, so basically 2 hours a day will be enough to revisit it. Arrau or Richter have an enormous repertoire, which requires many hours to learn new stuff. Of course the size of your repertoire doesn't define how great pianist you are, is about your personality : stay in confort zone or take risks and explore everything.
Many quality hours she practices since she was six years old y now the joy y pressures of her passion. I just exposed my little Japanese grandson to keyboards ukulele, guitars, harps, Korg keyboard,percussion tools y singing,drawing on iPad y listening to cool jazz y classical music…y nature walk❤…I mainly play by ear but started piano y organ in the 60’s🎉
I have been thinking about this for at least ten years. "How much does a 'great musician' really practice?" This is the wrong question. I more helpful question is, "How do you stop him?" To count how much time one needs to practice is the wrong emphasis.
💥 But there's a difference between practicing the pieces and practicing exercises, scales, arpeggios, etc. Many pianists dedicate part of their practice to that and some, don't. Horowitz was "allergic" to study scales and technique. He said that he didn't study scales or arpeggios, but he studied the music that he was learning. His technique came naturally. But other pianists, when do not practice scales and arpeggios, lose their technical power. So, it depends on how the person practices. Liszt said that he used to play his scales on the afternoon, but he was joking with a woman who insisted him to play anything, even some scales, and he didn't want, because it was a party at a house of a rich person, and his invitation was a trap that the woman made for him to play for her guests ( for free, of course ). There are several interesting books about the routine of the great pianists. I use to collect all of them. It's wonderful to know the great composer's lives with more intimacy. 🎉❤
My favorite classical pianist is Philippe Entremont. His performance of Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, works by Chopin and Rachmaninov really touch my soul. It is as if he was playing at the direction of those composers. I play tenor saxophone. My instructor said I should practice at least 10 minutes a day to warm up. When I am more comfortable extend the time. My saxophone instructor in junior college told me that he started out practicing at least 8 hours a day. He started young and unlike today, didn’t have many distractions. I have tried to learn the piano, but I was at a disadvantage because I didn’t have a piano where I lived. Just my saxophone. I practiced more on that. Great information about these pianists. Great video. Have a great day 🎷😎👍
This woman is on nuts, how can be mentioned lang lang or yoja wung besides these great musicians! Some say chinese polluted air, water the most, nope!!! They polluted EUROPEAN classical music the most!!! that horrible exotic woman yoja vunge, f i l t h nightmare of European classical music!!! And in west there are no audiences there are public bathroom mobs and crowds in the halls and here on youtube comments sections!!! The problem is not nightmares sitting on stage, but in these ubiquitously existing t r a s h quality crowds in the west!!!
The real question is how much they practiced until they reached the ultra high level. Once you're there you can relax a bit because you are a different beast, with millions of miles behind you.
If Chopin practices two hours a day for his own piano competition, he won’t even be able to finish his own compositions 😂 If you practice 8 hours a day for two years, you can just finish the assigned repertoire of Van Cliburn competition. If you practice 4 hours day, with today’s competitiveness, you can still get the chance to enjoy an amateur piano competition. If you want to be as virtuous as Ling Ling, you need to practice at least 40 hours a day😂
If you are not playing with passion. Stop. Take a break and do something totally unrelated. Go for a half hour walk or so. Do not become housebound or bench bound.Have a gentle exercise routine that causes you to perspire away from the piano. Drink lots of water throughout the day for clarity of mind with the benefit of stopping fairly regularly to go to the toilet which enhances blood circulation as you practice.Occasionally play for hours on end so that you develop an enduring approach. Ultimately morning and evening are the best times for energetic and relaxed playing respectively. A focused 45 minutes is better than an aimless 4 to5 hours.Play scales melodically not mechanically. Enjoy making mistakes and you will make lots of discoveries. Humility is not cultivated in the presence of others but in solitude. Keep pushing boundaries with close attention to correct technique and fluid finger placement in the most relaxed attitude possible.Find three tempi to play pieces or sections that you find challenging. Deliberately slow, moderately fast and as fast as possible. Spend a little time composing two or three pieces of your own over the course of a year. When you begin and maintain constructing your own pieces you enter the realm of those who have gone before and paved the way for others to do the same by 1° or another. Imagine being a virtuoso pianist and not even having a couple short pieces tucked in your top pocket as an aural autograph from yourself to the aisles of history? Even simple compositions trifling as they may be in comparison get your brain into a creative mode at any level of ability which is key in understanding the composer through their music. Have a second instrument like a classical guitar for example and escape from the piano from time to time. When you come back to the piano you will doubly appreciate it in all its glory.Listen very carefully to the overall construction of a piece as it progresses as played by a handful of your favourite pianists. Sometimes play for 10 to 15 minutes a very challenging section and then leave it for a couple hours before coming back to it again. From time to time play the left-hand only of a section then take a short break and come back and do the same with the right hand. then take another short break and return to make thoughtful union of the two.It has been said countless times in a myriad of numberless human settings “ One hand doesn’t know what the other hand is doing! “ Always remain open to learning. Always play as though it will be the last time you will get to play and you will regularly have a great 15 minutes spell with things just coming together.
I on day 5 piano practice. Spend consistently 4-6 hours a day on the piano practicing reading sheet music and 20 mins of finger independant exercise a day. And spend most of my time practicing a piece. First piece i choose to learn is canon in c since its all white keys and its pretty easy.(Slighly easier version. Just chords and melody) I learnt alot and my finger become so much more independant. I learnt 90% of the song. Well yes 4-7 hours practice is too much but i really have nothing else to do after i finished up my work. And im pretty obbsessed with piano after i got it lol. I used to play guitar 5 hours a day when i was a kid because im bored.
There were many great pianists who did not have an extramusical 'aura.' Just off the top of my head, Serkin, Solomon, Loesser, Levy, Petri all looked like accountants. No attitude, no aura, no wardrobe, no hair, no looking at the ceiling, no throwing their hands around.They let the music and their playing do the job.
There are so many variables. Different people (human organisms), different technical aptitudes, different repertoire, different performance schedules, different philosophies, different temperaments. And of course misleading questioners. I think it's fair to say that certain pianists didn't practice very much, like Gieseking. But if he dropped some notes here and there it didn't concern him. And his repertoire was all embracing. So was Richter's, who practiced like a demon. So did Kapell, who put together the Strauss Burlesque in a week, and played it but once. It was caught on tape and sounds clean as a whistle to my ears.There are few, if any, pianists who can maintain a thriving performing career today with a casual attitude towards practice. Perhaps Yuja can get away with it. But there are more interesting artists out there.
Wanda Horowitz said that Vladimir lied about how much he practiced, he wanted people to think he worked really hard. She said he only practiced before concerts but otherwise he didn't have a regular regime of practice. She also said that many days he didn't even play the piano. Apparently he read a great deal and listened to a lot of opera. We have to remember that genuine virtuosos don't have to practice technical exercises, their main concern is interpretation, getting bookings and making albums. When Rachmaninoff lived in Russia one of his cousins who lived with the family said that Rachmaninoff started every day by playing what seemed to her to be never ending scales. The house was large but there was no escape from the sound of scales. I think that most concert artists only practice their current repertoire to keep it polished and if they play other pieces it's simply for their own pleasure. One of the greatest benefits about being a virtuoso from childhood on is that you don't have to spend a lot of time practicing. Of course, there are always exceptions to every rule.
