Is there a "How to Book" on...

[barnowl]

how to  attack Czerny's Opus 740, The Art of Finger Dexterity for the Piano?

You know how Hanon tells us to do this exercise 700 times under a full moon and that one 684 times whenever Dubya tells a fib, etc.

Not with the Czerny book. It just sits there. No commentary, no threats, no nothing. So, I'm a perplexed beginner. I don't know how to approach  Czerny. If there's an instructional  book on the subject (other than the music, which I have), would you please recommend it?

For what it's worth, I just bought the CD at

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CS45WE/ref=pd_rvi_gw_2/102-0589077-4478555?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=5174

...in which Francisco Libetta plays all 50 exercises. And the one reviewer - scroll down to see at amazon.com -  drools over Libetta's pianism and adds that Libetta plays them twice as fast as Vivien H. Slater does in her "pedantic" recording, which according to the reviewer has been floating all over the web. Which is another problem.

Although I've tried, I have not successfully Googled the Slater recording that's supposed to be all over the place, and whose tempo almsot certainly is more my speed than Libetta's. Does anyone have a link?

Please help, even though I am invading your space. The folks at the Student's Forum aren't too interested in this subject.

   

[debussy symbolism]

Greetings.

I love Czerny, it helps me so. Barnown, do you study under a teacher, because without her Czerny might be a "waste of time" if done incorrectly. Have you done any easier Czerny, because the harder etudes are composed of the same material found in the easier pieces.

As to how to approach them, play them slowsly, with good finger action and precice touch. My teacher has me do a dozen excercises on each etude that cover finger strenght, wrist action, ect. A lot of people seem to frown on the raised finger method, but I find it an indespensable part of finger dexterity. In fast tempo, you won't have to raise the fingers, but their dexterity will remain. Such as in scales, raising fingers slightly whilst playing slowly ensures a good tone, but touch and importantly, a control over youself, which includes the wrist, arm position and good finger activity and position overall.

[debussy symbolism]

Sorry for my misspellings. I type fast and don't read over my post. I really need to proofread my posts.

[bernhard]

No, there is no instructional book on the subject because this is not the way things were done in the 19th century (and before).

The way to play the piano with ease was a closely guarded secret – in the Baroque by musician´s guilds, and in later times by “schools” of piano playing.

Piano “methods” consisting of collections of exercises were the public side of the enterprise, but without a knowledgeable teacher to guide you through the book, you would never get there.

Czerny published like crazy during his life time, but his real money came from teaching. The books were a sort of advertisement for him as a teacher, so you would buy the book and then you would have to get him or one of his pupils to teach you how to use the book. A bit like getting a computer, but having no software to use on the computer. Czerny was the Mycrosoft of piano technique in the 19th century!

He did write a most interesting book with actual instructions (rather than just pieces) to acquire piano technique. It makes for most interesting reading:

Klavierschule (“Complete Theoretical and Practical Pianoforte School”) – op. 500.

Published in 1839 (Czerny died in 1857), this four volume treatise is of great interest since it shows us the origins of many of the superstitions plaguing piano pedagogy today. To make an analogy, it is like coming across a medieval medical textbook. Fascinating as it may be to read, I doubt you would like to be treated medically in the way suggested therein. In any case, the first volume deals with the basics and is directed at beginners. Volume 2 concentrates on fingering (and many wrong concepts are put forward here). Volume 3 is most interesting since it is not really about technique (or the “mechanism”) but about interpretation and public performance. Finally volume 4 (the most interesting and perhaps the most useful) is about the interpretation of Beethoven sonatas and describes the six schools of piano playing in Czerny´s time. (Since Czerny was a student of Beethoven and premiered many of his piano works it is always wise to hear what he has to say. On the other hand, Beethoven was deaf, so for all we know, Czerny may have been playing it all wrong ).

Theodor Leschetizky, who was arguably the most well known piano teacher of the late 19th and early 20th century, having produced more superlative pianists from his students than any other, was himself a disciple of Czerny, so anyone interested in his pedagogy (which is somewhat mysterious – the only book about it is very unsatisfactory – mostly because he seemingly adapted his teaching to the student so there are many conflicting and contradictory accounts), should have a look at Czerny´s treatise, since it surely must have influenced Lechetizky´s own teaching.

Also have a look here where I answered the same post in a different way.

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=19145.new#new


Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[barnowl]

Darn it. I went and blew $20-odd for the Czerny CD. But it nevertheless looks like I'll
get more from hearing Libetta playing Czerny, than I would listening to Dick Czeney telling how we're winning the war in Iraq. 

Thank you all for your contributions. I'll try to play Czerny slowly at first.

And then I'll give up.

Or as Czeney would say, "Cut and run."

[debussy symbolism]

Actually, the point in Czerny is that you don't give up, but rather repeat the excercises or musical pieces to gain the technique that is used in Mozart, Beethoven and such. Just going over them isn't going to do anything.