On any level, whether or professional or beginner, the amount of practice time will always vary. So in a way this question has no right or wrong answer to it. My best recommendation would be to focus in on the aspects of your performance that you feel least comfortable with, and then practice that content. From there, you’ll be able to judge just how much time is needed per day. Your progress will always correspond directly with the amount of time you invest in practicing, so set your goals and schedule your practice time accordingly.

This is a question that is very common among people learning an instrument. It can become frustrating at times to not see progress come fast enough. I think that it’s important to remember that learning an instrument is a bit like carving out a sculpture from a block of marble. You take a few chunks out of one side, but it doesn’t look like anything. Then you turn it around and take a few chunks out, and still it doesn’t take form. But after lots of carving, lots of attention, and approaches from many angles, when you stand back it suddenly has taken shape. Learning piano isn’t all payoffs, it is more subtle, a longer journey, but a fulfilling one. My best advice is to continue practicing and listening and keep exploring with methods and styles. You will see yourself growing as time passes and you become capable of doing things you weren’t able to previously. It’s such a rewarding process, just keep on trucking!

Keeping time with your foot can be a useful tool when it comes to keeping your hands in sync with the pulse of the song. However, it does take time to develop.

The best advice is to start simple and then work your way up. I would suggest practicing tapping your foot in quarter notes while clapping rhythms/drumming rhythms on the piano. After that becomes comfortable, try playing something repetitive, like scales, to the pulse of your foot tapping. Once that feels comfortable, you can start experimenting with some of the written material. Keep at it!

I would explain it the same way, and I would also add that part of the arrangement process is choosing what feels natural under the fingers and going with that. It’s not always necessarily getting it to sound exactly like the recording, but it instead what seems to work organically on the piano.