Richter claimed 3, but others said he did up to 12.
How many hours did the legends of the past practice and how many do our current legends?
Is there a too little and a too much? Is it quality vs quantity?
Cziffra has admitted upwards 10, Liszt likewise. People who’ve hosted Sokolov and Wang say they practically always practice when a piano is at their disposal. Kissin has refused to answer the question when I’ve seen it pitched to him.
da XSDC theory? The 3 hours/day mantra is rubbish. Or at best for the Rubinsteins, Schnabels, Cortots, xsdcs, etc. All pianists with good tech have put in significantly more.
Also, remember Dreyschock. 16 hours a day with the left hand alone! 
Arrau probably practised the most, 13-14 hours a day for Mazeppa! I really admire his work ethic; he played the complete Bach in public by memory only to drop him for many years shortly thereafter.
I agree with those pianists who state that as a general rule, anything more than four hours a day is a waste of time. If you organize and concentrate really well, four hours as a daily practise is enough, really.
That said, there are sometimes certain short periods wherein you have to do more for the preparation of certain concerts where you have to learn a new piece in a relatively short period of time. Of course in those cases you are practically playing the whole day.
On days of a concert, in general I think it’s not wise to do a lot of practising before or after on the same day.
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Pozz da least prax?
: I did not even own a fuckin 88.
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:wank:
Pozz to “maintain tech”, an hour a day is enough.
That said, if you keep learning new rep n setting da BAR high… you need to do as much as you can concentrate… pozz burst of 90 mins, followed by chillin den repeat.
I mean, you can only do what yo limitations iz anyway…
Tru, my max time concentration is about 4/5 hours, spread during the day.
But what I didn’t mention is the time you also practise your sheeyat away from the piano. Either by thinking over the pieces intensely while you do something else, or by reading/checking the score in your chair.
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It’s probably easier for you do to this than some of us, given your perfect pitch, although I did like to run through programmes when I was going to sleep. I think the amount you practise probably also depends on how much technical work you need. Once you reach a pro level tech 4 hours is probably fine, in order to get there you might need more (God knows I did). And if you wanna be world class I’m positive you have to do more. I’d be very confident that the top concert pianists put in some serious chair time over a long period, at one point in their lives (probably during their student days). FWIW, I could do 6 hours a day (with breaks every couple of hours) long term, provided I had nothing else on. This is why I skipped as many academic classes as possible.
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