Piano exercises

[infectedmushroom]

Since I'm not taking pianolessons it's kinda hard for me to learn cool technics and scales etc. Of course, playing songs helps me a little to learn more technics, but it's not that much I think.

Is there any book/or something else to get or buy online, about piano exercises? I'm aiming a bit at "Liszt exercise" book or something. I read about it yesterday, but I don't know where to get it.


Thanks. 

[pseudopianist]

Hanon or Liszt Ecericses possibly. I would maybe recomend Czernys etudes?

And now, the reason for this post:

Infected Mushroom rocks!!!!!!!!!

[orlandopiano]

Since I'm not taking pianolessons it's kinda hard for me to learn cool technics and scales etc. Of course, playing songs helps me a little to learn more technics, but it's not that much I think.

Is there any book/or something else to get or buy online, about piano exercises? I'm aiming a bit at "Liszt exercise" book or something. I read about it yesterday, but I don't know where to get it.


Thanks. 

Depends what level you are. If you're a beginner, I'd recommend the more recent Schaum. If you're more advanced, I'd say Isidor Philipp's Complete School of Technic.

[xvimbi]

I recommend Seymour Fink's "Mastering Piano Technique" plus accompanying video.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0931340462/103-7725445-6203010?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance

[bernhard]

You can always have a look here:

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,11179.msg117263.html#msg117263
(Extensive list of technical exercises and studies)

But then again, you may wish to consider that this may be an entirely wrong approach to the acquisition of technique. If so, you may wish to explore some of the ideas in these threads:

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/board,4/topic,4880.3.html#msg46319
(discusses how to acquire technique and what technique actually is)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2948.msg25927.html#msg25927
(Czerny x Scarlatti to acquire technique – Ted gives an excellent contribution)


https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,3987.msg36197.html#msg36197
(etudes and alternatives to them)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4082.msg37362.html#msg37362
(one cannot learn technique in a vacuum. At the same time one cannot simply play pieces – comparison with tennis)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4182.msg38775.html#msg38775
(Hanon: pros and cons – Robert Henry’s opinion)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4385.msg41226.html#msg41226
(technique is personal and relative to the piece – Fosberry flop – the best books on technique)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4734.msg44770.html#msg44770
(how to acquire virtuoso technique – aiming at 100 pieces in five years)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4880.msg46339.html#msg46339
(definition of technique: quote from Fink, Sandor and Pires – Example of the A-E-A arpeggio)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4887.msg47334.html#msg47334
(more on Hanon)
https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,5034.msg47829.html#msg47829
(The finger strength controversy – some excellent posts by xvimbi)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,5352.msg50998.html#msg50998
(Exercises x repertory – why technique cannot be isolated from music)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,5375.msg51272.html#msg51272
(Defending technicalexercises – two different philosophies regarding exercises – chopstick analogy)

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,7341.msg114168.html#msg114168
(repeated note-groups for difficult passages – correct technique is never uncomfortable – rotation as the solution to 5th finger weakness – criticism to misguided technical exercises – trusting the unconscious)

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,8112.msg113575.html#msg113575
(Scarlatti x czerny to acquire technique – quotes by Sankey and Kirkpatrick)

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,2619.msg104249.html#msg104249
(Scale fingering must be modified according to the piece – Godard op. 149 no.5 – yet another example of the folly of technical exercises)
https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2998.msg26268.html#msg26268
(Scales HT, why? – why and when to practise scales HS and HT – Pragmatical  x logical way of teaching – analogy with aikido – list of piano techniques – DVORAK – realistic x sports martial arts – technique and how to acquire it by solving technical problems – Hanon and why it should be avoided - Lemmings)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,4123.msg37829.html#msg37829
(How to investigate the best movement pattern: Example Scarlatti sonata K70 – How to work out the best fingering. Example: CPE Bach Allegro in A – Slow x slow motion practice – HS x HT – practising for only 5 – 10 minutes)

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2429.msg21061.html#msg21061
(Technical studies x pieces – the genesis of Studies and how Czerny derived his exercises from Beethoven sonatas - why scales are useless and at the same time essential – Chopin x Kalkbrenner story – Unorthodox fingering for scales).

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,1867.msg14268.html#msg14268
(Getting technique from pieces – several important tricks: hand memory, dropping notes, repeated note-groups)

Tip of the iceberg.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[infectedmushroom]

Thanks a lot for your replies, especially bernhard: thanks for all the links and information!!


And orlandopiano: I'm still a beginner when it comes to technic. I can play some cool songs etc. but I never really trained technics, so it's time for me to start training that (that's why I opened this thread). 


Well, time to do something and check all the links bernhard posted. 

[finn magnus]

I use Alfred Cortot's book. Works for me, but I prefer to look for which technique problems in the pieces I am playing. Then I find some exercises for that specific problem.

[baadshah]

hi,
Chang's book is a must, particularly if youre without a teacher. its title is "fundamentals of piano practice", and contains a mine of practical information and do's and donts which are definitely worth considering, if not following.

 whats more, you can download it for free. although its 300 pages long,you dont have to read it all in order to benefit. the first section alone is only 30 odd pages and immediately deals with key issues such as parallel sets, thumb over etc (the rest of the book is also great though!)
https://members.aol.com/cc88m/PianoBook.html

[infectedmushroom]

Thanks a lot for the link baadshah. I downloaded the book and I hope I will learn something from it. 

[xvimbi]

Thanks a lot for the link baadshah. I downloaded the book and I hope I will learn something from it. 

You reading this book is a good idea, because it tells to some extent HOW to do things, and also WHY. Pretty much any excercise collection is useless if nobody tells you HOW and WHY you should execute the exercises. That's why I suggested a general text like Fink's book.

[timothy42b]

You reading this book is a good idea, because it tells to some extent HOW to do things, and also WHY. Pretty much any excercise collection is useless if nobody tells you HOW and WHY you should execute the exercises. That's why I suggested a general text like Fink's book.

Is there a good/better way to approach the Hanon, then?  Usually in these threads the comments are simply negative to the whole technical exercise approach. 

This is not an academic question.  My teacher wants to start with them next, right after completing the next set of scales.  Misguided?  Perhaps.  But I don't argue these things with her, just try to do them as efficiently as possible. 

[xvimbi]

Is there a good/better way to approach the Hanon, then?  Usually in these threads the comments are simply negative to the whole technical exercise approach. 

This is not an academic question.  My teacher wants to start with them next, right after completing the next set of scales.  Misguided?  Perhaps.  But I don't argue these things with her, just try to do them as efficiently as possible. 

I have come to the conclusion that it is mainly a personal choice whether one does technical exercises or not. In any case, though, for both "real" repertoire and exercises, one needs to learn proper movements. This is particularly important for exercises because the same movements get applied thousands of times within a short period. The proper approach, IMO, is then to discuss proper movements and how they apply to piano playing in general and a given musical passage in particular. That passage can then be a Hanon exercise or a fragment from the Waldstein, it does not matter, the same basic principles apply. Just make sure you don't follow the instructions that Hanon himself gives. Hanon obviously did not understand how human anatomy works.