Exercise Survey (Please contribute!!!)

[lamia]

Hi everyone! Out of curiosity, I'm making a general survey regarding pianists's practice habits. Please Submit your own answers, as honestly as possible. The more answers I get, the better. No need to fuss over the survey's details; just answer as best you can. Though I may not reply to each post, I will certainly read them all. Thank you for your time! 

1. What do you consider the most difficult piece you've ever learned at performance-level?

2. Are you  a professional painist (i.e. do you get paid to perform)?

3. Where did you learn/are you learning to play piano? Private teachers? A music school? If you'd like, please say which school and with whom.

4. When you began learning piano, were you ever given piano exercises to practice (e.g. Cramer, Clementi, Chopin, etc.), or drills (e.g. scales, arpeggios, or other non-repertoire warm-ups? Which? How many? Please be specific. 

5. Today, do you use any kind of concert piece or non-concert study or drill to "warm up"? If so, which, and about how often do you work on it/them?

[mike_lang]

1. Beethoven's Op. 57 was quite difficult for me.

2. Not yet.

3. I studied piano with Linda Smith of Cary, Illinois; followed by Emilio del Rosario of the Music Institute of Chicago; followed by Emile Naoumoff of Indiana University.

4. I studied Hanon, Czerny's School of Velocity, and Chopin Etudes.

5. I warm up with scales/arpeggi/thirds/octaves/chords/etc.

Best,
ML

[lamia]

1. Beethoven's Op. 57 was quite difficult for me.

2. Not yet.

3. I studied piano with Linda Smith of Cary, Illinois; followed by Emilio del Rosario of the Music Institute of Chicago; followed by Emile Naoumoff of Indiana University.

4. I studied Hanon, Czerny's School of Velocity, and Chopin Etudes.

5. I warm up with scales/arpeggi/thirds/octaves/chords/etc.

Best,
ML

Thank you!

[ted]

1. What do you consider the most difficult piece you've ever learned at performance-level?

I don't perform at all so the question is not applicable.

2. Are you  a professional painist (i.e. do you get paid to perform)?

No.

3. Where did you learn/are you learning to play piano? Private teachers? A music school? If you'd like, please say which school and with whom.

I had private lessons in my teens but nothing in the forty years since.

4. When you began learning piano, were you ever given piano exercises to practice (e.g. Cramer, Clementi, Chopin, etc.), or drills (e.g. scales, arpeggios, or other non-repertoire warm-ups? Which? How many? Please be specific.

None.

5. Today, do you use any kind of concert piece or non-concert study or drill to "warm up"? If so, which, and about how often do you work on it/them?

No.

[lamia]

1. What do you consider the most difficult piece you've ever learned at performance-level?

I don't perform at all so the question is not applicable.

2. Are you  a professional painist (i.e. do you get paid to perform)?

No.

3. Where did you learn/are you learning to play piano? Private teachers? A music school? If you'd like, please say which school and with whom.

I had private lessons in my teens but nothing in the forty years since.

4. When you began learning piano, were you ever given piano exercises to practice (e.g. Cramer, Clementi, Chopin, etc.), or drills (e.g. scales, arpeggios, or other non-repertoire warm-ups? Which? How many? Please be specific.

None.

5. Today, do you use any kind of concert piece or non-concert study or drill to "warm up"? If so, which, and about how often do you work on it/them?

No.

Thank you! I look forward to any replies to my simple survey!

[donjuan]

1.Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2  (although I hope to finish Spanish Rhapsody to perform later this year in recital)

2. no.  and I wont ever be

3. Private teachers

4. When I began playing, I had a bad teacher who didnt properly teach me to develop my technique.  After quitting her and learning to play by myself, I went to another teacher who tried to give me Hanon and arpeggio, scale type of excercises to do.  I got bored and never bothered practicing this.  now, my teacher teaches me technique as it comes up in pieces, which I find most effective.

5.  I bang dissonantly a few chords just to feel the piano in a cause and effect type of thing before playing Liszt's Transcendental Etude No. 1  (I would like to learn some more warmup pieces) and moving on to work on the 'current project'

[canardroti]

1. Chopin Etude 10 n 12.
2. No. probably won't ever be.
3. Private teachers.
4. I was given scales and arpegios to practice. I've bought a copy of hanon and could never play those exercises without zoning out , I think it's really hard to focus on those exercises because they're so boring and just mindless repetition, my fingers were just moving non musically. I was given burgmuller op 100 which is a set of 25 short pieces developing techniques which is much better.
5. I warm up playing pieces I've already memorized, I dont warm up with hard pieces risking injuries. I also improvise for warming up.

[thalbergmad]

1. The Pabst-Tchaikovsky-Sleeping beauty

2. No thank God

3. Private teachers

4. Czerny, Clementi, Hanon

5. Trills- single notes, thirds, sixths.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

1. Either Alkan: Festin d'Esope or Liszt Norma Fantasy.

2. No, though I have received money for public performance.

3. Most years I attend a summer school course; other than that, no tuition since I was at school.

4. I can't remember what my very first teacher gave me, but my main teacher when I was at school gave me scales and arpeggios in all the keys (contrary motion and chromatic scales included), and later on, scales with the hands a sixth apart (probably also a third apart, I can't remember for sure),  arpeggios in all inversions of the root chord and arpeggios of the dominant seventh.

5. Improvise using standard technical figurations ie arpeggios, rh chromatic scales in thirds, etc

[BoliverAllmon]

1. What do you consider the most difficult piece you've ever learned at performance-level? Haydn sonata in D maj.

2. Are you  a professional painist (i.e. do you get paid to perform)? no

3. Where did you learn/are you learning to play piano? Private teachers? A music school? If you'd like, please say which school and with whom. music school Houston Baptist Univeristy to be exact.

4. When you began learning piano, were you ever given piano exercises to practice (e.g. Cramer, Clementi, Chopin, etc.), or drills (e.g. scales, arpeggios, or other non-repertoire warm-ups? Which? How many? Please be specific.  nope, none of it. (wish I had at least scales though)

5. Today, do you use any kind of concert piece or non-concert study or drill to "warm up"? If so, which, and about how often do you work on it/them?
Bach fugues, every day

[lamia]

1.Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2  (although I hope to finish Spanish Rhapsody to perform later this year in recital)

2. no.  and I wont ever be

3. Private teachers

4. When I began playing, I had a bad teacher who didnt properly teach me to develop my technique.  After quitting her and learning to play by myself, I went to another teacher who tried to give me Hanon and arpeggio, scale type of excercises to do.  I got bored and never bothered practicing this.  now, my teacher teaches me technique as it comes up in pieces, which I find most effective.

5.  I bang dissonantly a few chords just to feel the piano in a cause and effect type of thing before playing Liszt's Transcendental Etude No. 1  (I would like to learn some more warmup pieces) and moving on to work on the 'current project'

Very interesting reply; thank you!

[lamia]

1. Chopin Etude 10 n 12.
2. No. probably won't ever be.
3. Private teachers.
4. I was given scales and arpegios to practice. I've bought a copy of hanon and could never play those exercises without zoning out , I think it's really hard to focus on those exercises because they're so boring and just mindless repetition, my fingers were just moving non musically. I was given burgmuller op 100 which is a set of 25 short pieces developing techniques which is much better.
5. I warm up playing pieces I've already memorized, I dont warm up with hard pieces risking injuries. I also improvise for warming up.

Thank you! I especially appreciate your opinions on Hanon. Such details are very welcome in this survey.

[dnephi]

1.Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2  (although I hope to finish Spanish Rhapsody to perform later this year in recital)

2. no.  and I wont ever be

3. Private teachers

4. When I began playing, I had a bad teacher who didnt properly teach me to develop my technique.  After quitting her and learning to play by myself, I went to another teacher who tried to give me Hanon and arpeggio, scale type of excercises to do.  I got bored and never bothered practicing this.  now, my teacher teaches me technique as it comes up in pieces, which I find most effective.

5.  I bang dissonantly a few chords just to feel the piano in a cause and effect type of thing before playing Liszt's Transcendental Etude No. 1  (I would like to learn some more warmup pieces) and moving on to work on the 'current project'

Now, this is very similar to me.  I have a couple of questions, Don Juan.  What are the technical benifits for learning Preludio?  How easy is it to learn?

Now for me:
1.  Chopin Etude Op 10 No. 12
2.  No.  At best, I hope to do the Amateur Van Cliburn when I become 35.
3. Private teachers, with the latest being Dr. Rhoden at Ball State University.
4.  As Don Juan said, I have a teacher and she wanted me to do Czerny and scales and arpeggios and that worked kind of but I was too lazy.  She then gave me technique through repertoire, IE, Chopin Etudes, MacDowell Virtuoso Studies.  That has really worked out and I am really starting to develop.  I am an odd case, I believe, because of my mental abilities
5.  I play part of March Wind, MacDowell Etude Op. 46 No. 10 to get a feel for the piano's effect.  I then do the octave passagework from Mazeppa to get my fingers ready and my blood flowing.  I keep the March Wind up and for the Mazeppa, I can't seriously play it until I finish the Mendelssohn so it will be a while before I really learn it. 

To Lamia: about exercises, Godowsky said it is not only a muscular exercise, but also a mental, so you must think about what you are playing, not just play it.

[donjuan]

Now, this is very similar to me.  I have a couple of questions, Don Juan.  What are the technical benifits for learning Preludio?  How easy is it to learn?

you can hear me playing this piece here:

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,18400.0.html

the descending arpeggio helps with learning how to shift hand positions.  the ascending pattern helps with relaxation and to develop independent fingers.  the chords are just for fun..  It is easy to learn, but I have played this piece in concerts, and it has a way of falling apart if I am at all tense while playing it.  Therefore, it is a good check on my nerves.

[letters]

1. probably Mozart piano sonata in C major K330(i think) which was a grade 8 piece. i am currently preparing some harder pieces for an A level recital.

2. nope

3. I have been learning from the age of 5 with a private piano teacher (she teaches woodwind as well) who lives up the road from me, i go to a normal grammar school

4 & 5 ive never been given specifically written excerises although i regularly practiced/ practice scales arppegios etc for exams and now ive finished exams im doing double octave scales and the like to brush up technique. if a piece has things like scales in thirds then my teacher will suggest practicing scales in thirds.

[Tash]

1. probably the Debussy Toccata, that was the biggest challenge for me

2. no

3. private teacher, and studying music ed at UNSW

4. always had scales, had hanon for a while but he annoyed me. do a bit of czerny now, oh and in the beginning had those 'a dozen a day' excercises if they count!

5. i do scales (partially because i get examined on them at uni, also cos they warm me up), and some czerny

[nanabush]

(#1) Ravel Sonatine, third mvmt was a b*tch to me 

(#2) No

(#3) Academie Melenik in Ottawa, Karin then Chantal, started at 7

(#4) When I first began, no... I was just a little kid  about a year in though, I did some scales and stuff

(#5) Rachmaninoff Etude Eb major gives me a good wrist warmup, and it's so damn short, so I usually play that once to get my wrist into it... and I also often do kind of a improv. weird thing using scaled and arpeggios.. I'll play the scale then have like an improvised transition into another technical exercise, I find it as useful as normal scales [it's essentially the same thing] but I can get into it usin an improv feel.

[lagin]

1.  Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata - First movement
2.  No.  I've played in old folks homes and the mall at Christmas time and in various group recitals of my teacher's students, but it's all for free.  I pay to play in workshops, but that's about all, besides performing with a group of friends for each other, which we've started doing. 
3.  So far I've had 2 private teachers registered with our local music school (just switched to number 2 a month or so back) -- they teach at the school (really an old victorian mansion transformed), and we pay the school who pays them, but it is just like signing up with a private teacher otherwise.  In fact, sometimes (like next year), I take lessons at their house anyway because it's more convenient, and they have nicer pianos at home than what is provided by the school.
4.  Yes, I did hanon, czerny, phillip, berens (left hand), scales, arpeggios, chords - solid and broken, ect.  But I don't know what my new teacher will want me to do - definately scales, arpeggios, chords, ect. in all keys because they are required on our exams, but as far as czerny and stuff now, I don't know.  (I'm tempted not to ask and just not do them!)  For the scales and such, I used to do them all 2x a day to build strength, but now I'll probably just work on a couple keys a day or something that doesn't eat up so much valuable practice time.
5.  Nope, I jump right in!  Usually I butcher the first piece the first time through because I'm cold, but then after that I'm good to go.  Sometimes I'll do my scales and such first if it's early in the morning and I don't feel like thinking!

[lamia]

Now, this is very similar to me.  I have a couple of questions, Don Juan.  What are the technical benifits for learning Preludio?  How easy is it to learn?

Now for me:
1.  Chopin Etude Op 10 No. 12
2.  No.  At best, I hope to do the Amateur Van Cliburn when I become 35.
3. Private teachers, with the latest being Dr. Rhoden at Ball State University.
4.  As Don Juan said, I have a teacher and she wanted me to do Czerny and scales and arpeggios and that worked kind of but I was too lazy.  She then gave me technique through repertoire, IE, Chopin Etudes, MacDowell Virtuoso Studies.  That has really worked out and I am really starting to develop.  I am an odd case, I believe, because of my mental abilities
5.  I play part of March Wind, MacDowell Etude Op. 46 No. 10 to get a feel for the piano's effect.  I then do the octave passagework from Mazeppa to get my fingers ready and my blood flowing.  I keep the March Wind up and for the Mazeppa, I can't seriously play it until I finish the Mendelssohn so it will be a while before I really learn it. 

To Lamia: about exercises, Godowsky said it is not only a muscular exercise, but also a mental, so you must think about what you are playing, not just play it.

Thank you for the reply and quote! I certainly agree with Godowsky; even as concerns scales.

[lamia]

1.  Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata - First movement
2.  No.  I've played in old folks homes and the mall at Christmas time and in various group recitals of my teacher's students, but it's all for free.  I pay to play in workshops, but that's about all, besides performing with a group of friends for each other, which we've started doing. 
3.  So far I've had 2 private teachers registered with our local music school (just switched to number 2 a month or so back) -- they teach at the school (really an old victorian mansion transformed), and we pay the school who pays them, but it is just like signing up with a private teacher otherwise.  In fact, sometimes (like next year), I take lessons at their house anyway because it's more convenient, and they have nicer pianos at home than what is provided by the school.
4.  Yes, I did hanon, czerny, phillip, berens (left hand), scales, arpeggios, chords - solid and broken, ect.  But I don't know what my new teacher will want me to do - definately scales, arpeggios, chords, ect. in all keys because they are required on our exams, but as far as czerny and stuff now, I don't know.  (I'm tempted not to ask and just not do them!)  For the scales and such, I used to do them all 2x a day to build strength, but now I'll probably just work on a couple keys a day or something that doesn't eat up so much valuable practice time.
5.  Nope, I jump right in!  Usually I butcher the first piece the first time through because I'm cold, but then after that I'm good to go.  Sometimes I'll do my scales and such first if it's early in the morning and I don't feel like thinking!

Great! Thanks for the reply!

[lamia]

1. probably the Debussy Toccata, that was the biggest challenge for me

2. no

3. private teacher, and studying music ed at UNSW

4. always had scales, had hanon for a while but he annoyed me. do a bit of czerny now, oh and in the beginning had those 'a dozen a day' excercises if they count!

5. i do scales (partially because i get examined on them at uni, also cos they warm me up), and some czerny

Thank you! Dozen a day is important too; anything you consider non-repertoire exercise interests me.