Any good excercises?

[viktor_lacrimarum]

Besides Hanon: The Virtuoso pianist, could you tell me about any other good books for piano excercises or maybe some good estudes?

I'm also looking for a book which had excercises for each tone. all the excercises are the same, First three not chords and then arpegios with triplets, then four note chords and then arpegios. If you can tell me which book is this, I can't remember the author, or maybe tell me about some similar excercises.

Vic.

[iroveashe]

Besides Hanon: The Virtuoso pianist, could you tell me about any other good books for piano excercises or maybe some good estudes?

Another good book?

I'd stay away from exercises altogether unless carried out with extreme caution not to let them become a mindless routine without any specific goal, and acquire technique through repertoire, two birds from one shot.

[thalbergmad]

Indeed, extreme caution should be applied with all exercises.

At best, you will cripple yourself for life and at worst your hands will fall off completely.

Hanon should only be used for keeping your piano stool at the correct height.

Anyone who claims they have had any benefit whatsoever from Hanon are all liars.

Thal

[birba]

Oh-oh...I sense a coming Hannon pro-anti feud in the makings...

[antichrist]

beyer czerny

[go12_3]

Oh-oh...I sense a coming Hannon pro-anti feud in the makings...

Me too.....     Isn't there another thread about this elsewhere?

[thetamman]

I agree with the anti-Hanon posters... stay away from drilling yourself with exercises - a few to warm up is fine, but rigorous schooling is detrimental to technique. Learn some classical repertoire - e.g. a Mozart Sonata - that'll give you real technique.

[tanman]

hmmm... where is bernhard when you need him?   

but anyway, just to save some people the effort of posting...






HANON IS EVIL

 

[tanman]

anyway...
have you tried the Jazz, Blues, and Boogie-Woogie hanon? 

[go12_3]

Sonatinas  by Clementi, Diabelli and Kuhlau are great for warm ups.   Let those fingers
go, go go!    And sonatinas always have passages with runs.   

best wishes,

go12_3

[thalbergmad]

e.g. a Mozart Sonata - that'll give you real technique.

That will give you nothing. A stupid alberti bass and and a couple of runs.

In addition, not everyone can play a Mozart Sonata (or would want to).

If you want to build your technique, Scarlatti and Clementi are superior.

Thal

[makeanote]

Hey there Viktor,

Cramer wrote some interesting studies. Also, running through some of the Bach 2-part Inventions (they're not beyond an intermediate level of difficulty) and the Preludes (from the WTC) can be really beneficial for clarity and technique.

Despite the Hanon heckling, such focuses on technique and finger exercises all have their place - and too much of any one thing can be detrimental to musical performance. The goal is, after all, to play musically, not mechanically. Exercises simply aim to assist in providing the pianist with the facility to play a variety of different techniques, but as has been stated, they aren't the only way to achieve this.

Ian

[thalbergmad]

What a well balanced post. Well said Sir.

Cramer also wrote some stunning concertos.

Thal

[pies]

push-ups

[scottmcc]

you can play the hanon exercises in any key if you so desire.  or if you want to be really tricky, try them with your hands a 6th or a 10th apart, instead of an octave. 

the liszt technical exercises (available on sheetmusicplus.com) are excellent, but difficult.  all of the tonalities are utilized.

brahms 51 exercises are also excellent, but very, very hard.  they're a lot easier if you just skip exercise 1 though (try as I might, 4 vs 3 timing is just a beast for me).  all tonalities are represented as well.

[birba]

Let's hear it for Pischna!

[tanman]

push-ups

definitely


and I would also recommend pull-ups. It works a lot on finger strength 

[edwardweiss]

Nothing wrong with Hanon-excellent I find after coming back off holiday where all you can find is an out-of-tune Challen or Kawai if your'e damned lucky. But as Thal has wisely said-do too much Hanon and your hands may drop off and you may [in severe cases] foam at the mouth. There is a lot of material in both of these- Alberto Jonas-Master School of Modern Piano Playing and Virtuosity. Also Moritz Rosental-School of Modern Pianoforte Virtuosity. Rosenthal is on IMSLP and Jonas is out there somewhere in Cyberspace as well as in my loft in many green-bound volumes. I used to do a lot of the Jonas stuff when I was a student in the Mid-60's.

[jgallag]

Mastering Piano Technique by Seymour Fink has "exercises" along with an extremely detailed description of the proper technique for playing pretty much anything on the piano. The point of these exercises is to train the body to move in the proper way and several of them are done away from the piano (an interesting approach).

Anyways, the only other traditional exercise book I've used is Dohnanyi's (there's only one) and Moskowski's Etudes Op. 91 (NOT 72, those are virtuosic).

[general disarray]

hmmm... where is bernhard when you need him?  

but anyway, just to save some people the effort of posting...






HANON IS EVIL

 

Yes, Hanon is Satan himself!  I should know.  I was once a fundamentalist Christian -- handling snakes, speaking in tongues, protecting the unborn, killing for peace, liberty and the Holy Way -- but, then I found Hanon.  All those numbing exercises meant to seduce me away from the Lord and into a mindless state where my ossified hands and arms (now rendered useless for piano playing) were turned into weapons of mass destruction.  What else could I use them for after Hanon crippled me for life?

No.  Turn away from Hanon, my children.  Turn away.  And run!