So, last week, when it was really super hot, we watched a lot of TV

[conuly]

Anything to stay air conditioned, I say.

Ana was very happy to get to see Angelina Ballerina. In order to make that show "educational" they slip in live action clips of real people doing real things, and the episode we watched had three children who are attending youth programs at Julliard. And the first one talks about how he plays the flute, and this and that, and as he's talking on and on I interject "And he practices three hours a day...." into all of this. Naturally, I'm ignored.

Then the two who play the marimba come on, and sure enough, one of them says those exact words, "I practice about three hours a day."

Cue Ana turning to stare at me, jaw fully dropped.

Comments

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

At school, I was a competent musician, but nowhere near making a career out of it. I did an hour per instrument per day (piano and cello). Dropped the piano when I got to sixth form, as I no longer had the time to spare (I was trying to do 4 A-levels rather than the normal 3).

A friend who is a pro-standard harper got that way by practicing 6 hours a day for about 10 years.

Your two are a bit younger, I gather (don't know exact ages?). I think I was only doing about half an hour when I started piano at 6.

[conuly]

Ana is entering 3rd grade, and she's 8. Evangeline is entering 1st grade, she's 5, but she'll be 6 by Halloween. They're almost exactly 2.5 years apart.

Half an hour a day is, as I told leora, perfectly reasonable if all you want to do is learn to play piano. We can't all be best at everything.