Hi SM,
My name is Liz and I’ve been playing the harp for about 4 and 1/2 years. My belief is that how long you practice totally depends on what you want to do in the future, how busy you are now, how long you have been playing, and how advanced you are. When I first started on a lever harp when I was 11, I practiced about an hour a day. But when I upgraded to a pedal harp, I started practicing in the 2-3 hour range. Now that I’m in high school, my practice time has come very valuable. I go straight to diving practice after school every other day, and have track on the other days. Once a week, I also have youth orchestra, and then I of course have harp, trumpet, piano, and cello lessons. I also did swimming and soccer during the fall and winter. So as you can see, practicing duration depends on the individual. Do as much as works for you, and make sure you dont push yourself too much. And since, I would intending to head to a college and majoring in harp, I’m doing my share of fitting in about 3 hours a day. Of course, I dont get to sleep until about midnight! Feel free to email, if you have anymore questions or just want to chat about harp and youth orchestras!
musicmadness1010@sbcglobal.net