amateur musician

This is a simple piece of advice appropriate to anyone who is entertaining the idea of taking up any kind of musical instrument.

You are going to have to practice. You are going to have to practice a lot. If you want to get enjoyment from being able to play your instrument competently and get a return on your investment from your music lessons there is no alternative course of action. I don't want to get bogged down with practice techniques of which there are many. Your music teacher will help you with the specifics. I do want to prepare you for what's involved and what the implications are.

You should expect to practice anywhere from 20 minutes (minimum) to 1 hour every single day. Missing a day happens but it should be a rare occasion. Practice time does not include the time you spend playing your instrument for fun, it's in addition to.

Listening to people practising drives non-musicians crazy. Expect to get grief from anyone who has to listen to you practice intentionally or (especially) unintentionally. As a beginner your early practices will take the form of a particularly nasty form of torture for those within earshot. In fact, in some instances practice can be used as leverage to get things from others ('for the love of God stop it! I'll do anything!) or, out of spite ( 'since I can't watch the football I'll just get my violin practice out of the way!).

Practising for a beginner can be physically painful. Lips swell like balloons and jaws ache and lock up. Faces become beetroot, blood vessels explode. Shoulders and elbows seize up. Fingers blister. Even for an experienced player practice can be exciting, enthralling, boring, hateful, exhilarating infuriating, liberating, uplifting, depressing, all these things at the same time or, non of them at all.

Ironically you will learn to love practice. You will identify two certainties that make practice special. Firstly, proper practice is never ever a waste of time. You always, always stand to gain. Secondly, day by day, week on week, sure as eggs, your ability to play will keep on getting better. How well you can play is exponentially proportionate to the pleasure and satisfaction you will get back. This makes practice the single most important factor in your musical development.

I promise you, practice is something you can't get enough of.