练习曲，是指专门提供某乐器的练习特定技巧的音乐作品，钢琴练习曲是最常见的练习曲，著名的钢琴练习曲作者包括拜厄、车尔尼等，他们的作品很适合初学者。

但并不是所有练习曲都是仅为初学者练习而作的，有不少练习曲甚至要求演奏者有极高的技巧，因此这些曲目常常成为音乐会上的演奏作品，也可能成为著名的乐曲。例如萧邦的钢琴练习曲中，有几首比较著名的作品（如Op. 7、Op. 10、Op. 25），以及李斯特的超技练习曲（12 Grand Etudes）就经常出现在钢琴家的演奏会曲目中。

An étude (/ ˈeɪtjuːd/; French pronunciation: ​[eˈtyd], a French word meaning study) is an instrumental musical composition, usually short, of considerable difficulty, and designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular musical skill. The tradition of writing études emerged in the early 19th century with the rapidly growing popularity of the piano. Of the vast number of études from that era some are still used as teaching material (particularly pieces by Carl Czerny and Muzio Clementi), and a few, by major composers such as Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt and Claude Debussy, achieved a place in today's concert repertory. Études written in the 20th century include those related to traditional ones (György Ligeti) and those that require wholly unorthodox technique (John Cage).