Parents ask me all the time, “How long should we practice?”

This is my simple response. Practice length matches lesson length.

• If your lesson is 30 minutes, practice 30 minutes
• If your lesson is an hour, practice an hour
• If your lesson is 90 minutes, practice 90 minutes

I like this rule of thumb because it works both ways. You shouldn’t practice less than your lesson length, but you also shouldn’t practice more than your lesson length.

It is up to me (the teacher) to make sure I am not assigning more in home practice than can be reasonably done in that time frame.

This also means that in lessons I can truly model what home practice should look and feel like.

I think many parents come into violin lessons with instincts about the work it will take, but not certainty. They need and want to be told what ‘normal’ and ‘good’ looks like. This framework is a really simple and reasonable way to express what ‘good’ looks like in our studio.