Favored Musical Exercise

[kelly_kelly]

I personally favor Pischna. It is far more effective and less boring (in my opinion).

[stevie]

there are many more, you know.

pischna is less boring than hanon , yes, but cortot is more comprehensive, and dohnanyi is more(imo) practical and time-efficient.

[jeremyjchilds]

I like hanon...only to the extent that it makes beginners feel competent...cause they are moving both hands for a longer period of time than "mary had a little lamb"

I have only gone through the entire "beginner" hanon book once with a student, and would not do it again..."dry dry dry"

[hannon_freek]

I love hanon (I have typically mispelt his name in my username  )I think his work he has done to develop hand and finger excercises for the beginner is fantastic - it has surely helped me. You say hanon's work is dry, well why not add water? I get my students to sing pop melodies along to his excercises (obviously only when I believe they are ready), which helps develop finger & voice combinations.

[jeremyjchilds]

I love hanon (I have typically mispelt his name in my username  )I think his work he has done to develop hand and finger excercises for the beginner is fantastic - it has surely helped me. You say hanon's work is dry, well why not add water? I get my students to sing pop melodies along to his excercises (obviously only when I believe they are ready), which helps develop finger & voice combinations.

Just add water...that's catchy...

I wish I had your communicational smoothness...

I agree that the excercises are good to an extent...provided that they are used properly...not just finger movers.

I guess the reason why I generally avoid them, is because it takes a lot of energy to have them not degrade into brainless finger movers...singing is one of those ways for you to ensure that, and I am glad that it works in your experience.

[shoshin]

Here we go again....

OH GOD NO DONT DO THESE EXCERCISES! There is so much more to life and music than Hanon.

[hannon_freek]

Many thanks jeremyjchilds for your kind response regarding an earlier post of mine. I was delighted to read the compliment about my communicational smoothness! 

As I read shoshin's reply of 3:51AM, an ominous cloud of gloom spread across my eyes. What is this I was reading, about one of my favourite technical whizzes Charles-Louis Hanon (1819-1900)? Needless to say I was devastated - although I appreciate that you do not feel the same way as I do about his work.

[raffyplayspiano]

i wish i could take back the time i spent doing hanon...for me, it was a waste of time.

raffy

[xvimbi]

As I read shoshin's reply of 3:51AM, an ominous cloud of gloom spread across my eyes. What is this I was reading, about one of my favourite technical whizzes Charles-Louis Hanon (1819-1900)? Needless to say I was devastated - although I appreciate that you do not feel the same way as I do about his work.

Are you giving a performance of this work anytime soon? I'd love to attend.

[quasimodo]

My Favored Musical Exercise : Learning pieces which, whatever their supposed level is,  are too hard for me  .

[hannon_freek]

Are you giving a performance of this work anytime soon? I'd love to attend.

My dearest apologies but I do not understand - I am afraid I am not holding a performance of Hanon's excercises?! Perhaps there seems to be a basic communication deficiency in what I wrote. By saying 'work' I meant 'all he has done for developing technical difficulties on the piano', most notably The Virtuoso Pianist.

Apologies on my behalf once more 

[shasta]

None.  The pieces I work on provide plenty of challenges (both technical and musical) for me and are my "exercises."

[jerry xie]

CEFGAGFEDFGABAGFEGABCBAG...-----i hate that...
i think schmidt's quite interesting

[tenn]

I love Hanon. My favourite at the moment is No.6 Book 1. It's like Bach, only better.

[xvimbi]

I love Hanon. My favourite at the moment is No.6 Book 1. It's like Bach, only better.

Wait until you get to No. 20. It's like Rachmaninoff, only better. No. 26 is better than Mozart, and No. 17 is way better than Scriabin.

[tenn]

Wow. I can't wait.

[tenn]

Wait until you get to No. 20. It's like Rachmaninoff, only better. No. 26 is better than Mozart, and No. 17 is way better than Scriabin.

I think you're pulling my leg. No. 20 is nothing like Rachmaninov, but I did hear a hint of Little Arrows by Leapy Lea. I must have the expurgated version because there's no No. 26 in mine and if 17 is like Scriabin I'll have to add that man to my collection.

[bernhard]

Wait until you get to No. 20. It's like Rachmaninoff, only better. No. 26 is better than Mozart, and No. 17 is way better than Scriabin.

 

[bernhard]

I love hanon (I have typically mispelt his name in my username  )I think his work he has done to develop hand and finger excercises for the beginner is fantastic - it has surely helped me. You say hanon's work is dry, well why not add water? I get my students to sing pop melodies along to his excercises (obviously only when I believe they are ready), which helps develop finger & voice combinations.

You may enjoy the Hal Leonard’s edition. It comes with a CD of orchestral accompaniments in different styles to provide an accompaniment for each of the first 20 exercises. No better preparation for concert playing has ever been devised!

[bernhard]

there are many more, you know.

Indeed, Hanon and Pischna barely scratch the surface of the tip of the iceberg. Have a look here for a few more exercises:

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,11179.0.html

[xvimbi]

I think you're pulling my leg. No. 20 is nothing like Rachmaninov, but I did hear a hint of Little Arrows by Leapy Lea. I must have the expurgated version because there's no No. 26 in mine and if 17 is like Scriabin I'll have to add that man to my collection.

Me? Oh, noooooo. Never. I swear! Wouldn't do anything like that at all.

No. 26 is Book II, exercise 6. No. 20 is just like that section towards the end of Rach4, you know where the orchestra fades out. Come on, I'm sure you know what I mean.

[stevie]

the last exercise is in many ways a musical masterpiece, and was the inspiration for liszt's chasse neige.

[kelly_kelly]

I know that there are many more, but as I am unforgivably inexperienced in comparison to the prodigies on this forum, I chose the two exercises that I knew most about.

[quasimodo]

I know that there are many more, but as I am unforgivably inexperienced in comparison to the prodigies on this forum, I chose the two exercises that I knew most about.

Okay, here is the thing : many people here, including me, think that those exercices are more of a waste of time than anything else, which explains the more or less sarcastic tone of the replies to your question. You will see a lot of (controversial) threads about that in this forum.

By learning the piano, your ultimate goal is to play music. So why not start right now ? Just pick pieces which are at your level or slightly above. Learn them. All the technique you need is in the repertoire. And you only need technique in order to play the repertoire. Plain simple (though very complicated  ).

[kelly_kelly]

I also think that exercises are useless for the most part. However, some of my teachers have thought otherwise; therefore I have been forced to practice them forom time to time. It is true, in my opinion, that exercises can be used for strengthening fingers; for this, I believe that Pischna is preferable to Hanon. I do not excessively practice either. 

[hannon_freek]

It disheartens me to read all these arrogant comments... they are blasphemy to my ears!!!!!  It will be a sad day when people of your calibur will think of Hanon as a waste of time - I hope this will not occur soon. Once again I persist to persuade people not to think of them as excercises but diminutive masterpieces - Don't let your mind say TECHNICAL FINGER STRENGTH but rather, musically helpful delights ... Hopefully you might now find Hanon's excercises attainable, after all my students have been getting more 'gigs'.

Many thanks and good luck.

(PS I have since returned to a favoured computer, hence my 'R'egular use of the R key again! )

[xvimbi]

Hanon is not useless (provided the exercises are carried out correctly), but there are certainly ways to achieve the same results, and even superior ones, with other approaches that are musically much more fulfilling and satisfying, that are much less boring and mindless, and that develop both technique and musicality at the same time.

[twinkletoesfaery]

Never played any Pischna but I won't vote for Hanon ... brrr... *shudders*  I never like music exercises.  I disliked Beyer (played one for my Grade 1 exam, I knew that's my worst, no feeling whatsoever).  I disliked Gurlitt, Duvernoy, Schmidt - those are the only cool people I've played.

I'm trying hard to like them though, I know it will help me.  Since I stopped having lessons, I never touched them, have always been more attracted to pretty or at least interesting pieces.  However, I'm trying to properly teach myself and I'm going through them again - perhaps I will like it later on, an acquired taste...

[joachimf]

I've never been into Pischna either. But I've tried Hanon, Czerny, and Cortot. And at the moment I only use the Cortot exercises because I think his exercises are a lot more "fluent" (in lack of a better word). They're pretty different than the others, and my teacher really recommends it.

[twinkletoesfaery]

I'll give Cortot a try then. Ta chuck!