Fundamentals of Piano Practice - Chang

[CC]

Amazon is now giving excellent author discounts which enables me to give 55% discounts to teachers who order my book, Fundamentals of Piano Practice, in packs of 8 books. Please go to my web site:

https://www.pianopractice.org/

for details.  Students: please inform your teacher.

[m]

Amazon is now giving excellent author discounts which enables me to give 55% discounts to teachers who order my book, Fundamentals of Piano Practice, in packs of 8 books. Please go to my web site:

https://www.pianopractice.org/

for details.  Each pack is $90 (including S&H) and can be resold for up to $200.  Above that ($25/book) the student is better off buying from Amazon ($25.25 ea., free shipping).

I am sure it is an excellent book! There is however, something in odds here, which I don't get... Usually, teachers make living with other means than re-selling or re-distributing books.
Those means in fact, those means are teaching fundamentals (and not only of practicing, but also the way of thinking about music, technique, as well as practical implementations), which give the students strong foundation, so they don't need to go and buy books on that particular subject . 

Of course, only my opinion. As always, YMMV (your milege may vary). 

Best, M

[CC]

I did this because so many teachers have emailed me that they are referring my book to their students.  I believe it saves the teachers a lot of time by not having to struggle with teaching practice methods so the teachers can concentrate on teaching musicianship and making faster progress.  Because parents don't always attend the lessons or understand them, it is equally important for the parents to be familiar with correct practice methods. They tell me that their students are very happy with the results.  Read the book if you don't believe that, because you can read the entire book free on my web site (below) -- I don't need to make money from my book, I'm just working on the book for the benefit of everybody. And what's wrong with teachers generating extra income?  I'm barely breaking even with this discount deal and I make a lot more from royalties if the students ordered the book from Amazon. The reason why the book is priced higher than I would like at Amazon is because the buyer saves money by not paying shipping. It is also a good idea to give teachers the choice of selling it cheaper to students with limited resources.

PS: sorry my link did not work for couple hours because my site is hosted at my daughter's  server, and there was a terrible storm and she lost power; she is not only a pianist but also a computer geek.

[m]

I did this because so many teachers have emailed me that they are referring my book to their students.  I believe it saves the teachers a lot of time by not having to struggle with teaching practice methods so the teachers can concentrate on teaching musicianship and making faster progress.  Because parents don't always attend the lessons or understand them, it is equally important for the parents to be familiar with correct practice methods. They tell me that their students are very happy with the results.  Read the book if you don't believe that, because you can read the entire book free on my web site (below) -- I don't need to make money from my book, I'm just working on the book for the benefit of everybody. And what's wrong with teachers generating extra income?  I'm barely breaking even with this discount deal and I make a lot more from royalties if the students ordered the book from Amazon. The reason why the book is priced higher than I would like at Amazon is because the buyer saves money by not paying shipping above $25. It is also a good idea to give teachers the choice of selling it cheaper to students with limited resources.

PS: sorry the link to my web site did not work for many hours because it is hosted at my daughter's server, and there was a terrible storm and she lost power; she is not only a pianist but also a computer geek. Apparently, her backup power also failed.

Dear Mr. Chang,

I think you have some good points here. I guess, I am talking rather about "ideal world". I myself did not study piano or teaching from books, but rather from excellent teachers. I believe that if the books on the topic have any value, then this value is only to refresh some ideas learned in actual classroom, i.e setup when every little detail comes from that unique interaction between student and teacher, triggered by momentary music ideas.

In this respect I disagree with your notion "I believe it saves the teachers a lot of time by not having to struggle with teaching practice methods so the teachers can concentrate on teaching musicianship and making faster progress.". I believe, the practice methods are inseparable part of the musicianship and are a natural continuation of that unique interaction. It is my believe, that it's impossible to learn music from books, as every student has their own individual problems (most often, much deeper internal ones), every piece of music needs different approach, and every lesson is a unique act of interaction. In other words, without actual seeing the SOURCE of the problem, it is impossible to offer a more or less intelligent solution.
 
Of course, I realize, the teacher should be on a certain level not to only understand it, but also have sensitivity, knowledge, experience, and wisdom to follow those principles. Unfortunately, MOST of the time this is not the case.

I deeply wish your book could help people...

Best, M

[daniloperusina]

Just a word of caution for students and parents who might consider this book:

Always consult a professional teacher/pianist before taking anything in a book like this at face value. There might be things useful for you in these kinds of "method" books, and yet again, there might not be. No one will be a better judge of that than your real-life teacher.

[scottmcc]

A while ago I posted this, and received no reply.  I intended it as constructive criticism, and was hoping that some revisions of the book would be at least considered.  reading it again now, it sounds a little mean, but such was not my intent.  anyway, I reprint it here: 

I read Dr Chang's book and found it interesting, but also had a few very specific criticisms.

First off, writing style and mechanics: This book read like a series of compiled message board posts, as opposed to a coherent book.  It is repetitive and/or rambling in all the wrong places but fails to flesh out some of the important details in places and really feels like it is in drastic need of an editor, or at least someone to read it with the red pen in hand.  I admire that it is self-published in many respects, but it could certainly be improved by a careful, thoughtful overhaul.  If it were up to me, the book would begin by introducing a standard practice routine for a day, then it would break each aspect of that down and analyze each facet, then finally conclude by reexamining that day's practice, in light of what was discussed above.  I think that with good editing, the book could be about 1/3 the length.

Next, lack of diagrams:  it would really help to have the passages of music referenced in the book printed in line with the text, so that the reader can understand what is being discussed.  The whole piece doesn't need to be there, just the specific bars.

Next, overdependence on acronyms:  A good book can get by without using acronyms much at all, and is much easier to read.  Some are inevitable, but any time that one feels they are repeating a word too much, their first instinct should be to rephrase, second to get a thesaurus, and finally to use a standard acronym.  Making up acronyms should be avoided, as it is confusing at best.

A side point, semi-medical advice:  Dr Chang is not a physician, and should not speak on medical matters as though he is.  Much of his section on health is simply incorrect.

Next, the anti-Hanon bent:  fine, you don't like Hanon, and there certainly are limitations to it.  But, you espouse frequent playing of scales and arpeggios, which are also known as exercises 39-43 of Hanon.  I'm confused.  We can argue endlessly about the value or lack thereof in doing exercises, but we should be honest about it.

Furthermore, the rigidity of the method:  the Chang means of practicing is but one of many approaches, and likely to work for certain people, but not everyone.  There are many ways of learning any task, and while some are probably better than others in general, they may not work equally well across the board because of different learning styles.  Additionally, different styles of music may call for different practice routines--the obvious difference would be classical vs jazz, but more subtle differences could be based on your performance goals--are you playing for personal pleasure, as background music in a bar, or at a concert hall?  Each of them are vastly different standards, and if you practice in the same way you won't be as efficient.  Further examples:  for me, it is most efficient to practice with separate hands only until I get the basic gist of a passage, and then to combine, especially for pieces with heavy involvement of both hands or heavy syncopations.  For really tough passages, I end up spending a lot of time on the more difficult hand, but I try to get my hands together relatively quickly.  A great example of where this helps me is in passages with the melody being carried partly by both hands, or passages where the two hands run into each other--playing them separately is actually injurious.

On a related note, linear learning, math, etc: There is a lot of discussion about how quickly one can learn a piece, how many minutes it should take to do a certain task, etc, and really, this is an oversimplification at best.  Some things come more quickly than expected, others take longer, and applying a rigid equation to learning speed is in general counterproductive.  Sometimes we hit not just a "speed wall," but a big fat learning wall.  Sometimes we make rapid progress overnight, and other times we plateau. 

Final criticism for now:  self praise and testimonials.  I'm pretty sure the "review" of the book was written by Dr Chang, and that's just something you're not supposed to do.  You're supposed to pay someone from a minor newspaper or magazine to write an effusive blurb. 

Ok, I've criticized enough.  I actually agree with the majority of the compliments to the book earlier in the thread, and overall I think it is a noble effort to improve people's piano practice time. 
 
 

[go12_3]

Books and the Internet can serve a purpose but it's limited.  The students do not have
the time to read books on technique and method and therefore, a real live teacher
is more effective, because of audio, visual and experiencing the learning process. 
I feel that each pianist has their own unique method and technique and no one plays
the same.  It's interesting to gain some insight through reading books though, but
students are so busy with their schooling and activities.  And if they are interested to read the method books then that's fine.   

[landru]

As somebody who needs to thank Dr. Chang for the insights I've received from the book, I think I will do so by adding my 2 cents to the tempestous teapot.

Dr. Chang's book is mostly about what happens OUTSIDE the music lesson - the individual practice time. Every poster is correct in that a music teacher imparts invaluable information to the piano student in the course of a lesson. However, many teachers do not dwell too much on how to practice efficiently and many students are left to do it the "intuitive way" i.e. start from the beginning on a piece with both hands and play as fast as you can and then repeat until magically the piano fairy comes along and you can play.

As everyone knows - this "intuitive" way is a disaster. "Intuitive" is in quotes because it is really the "Not really thinking about it" way. Beginning students fall into it because they think that you have to start practicing a piece like you will end up playing it. Much of Dr. Chang's book is showing ways to stop doing this!

In my own case, my teacher is wonderful at imparting the sense of music and other vital areas of piano playing, but she has hardly said one word on how to structure my practicing - rather like leaving me to the piano fairy. This book showed me how wrong I was practicing. And I think there are a lot of beginning students like me.

I applaud that Dr. Chang's book can be read for free on his site or by download - he certainly can't be getting rich. It isn't the most professional book out there and he does have his idiosyncrasies, but that kind of endears me to it  , we all are a little weird!

[rmbarbosa]

During about five years, I`ve spent my time with Hanon, Czerny, etc... During those five years, I could play nothing! Then, I discovered Mr. Chang and, now, I can play grade 8 pieces. Only with <> 3 months of Mr. Chang method. I have no teacher. I dont Know how to put here one "performance" of mine, but I gave an audition in my Hospital, last Christmas, with a great sucess:
Prelude-fantasy (Chopin), Nocturne op 27,nr 2 and post Brown-Index 49 (Chopin) and Apassionata. I`m deeply grateful to Mr. Chang. I do think his book is really a new way. It`s a wonderful gift for people like me. Without Mr. Chang, I`ll be, today, a "wonderful" player of that "wonderful" Hanon "music"...
A lot of a lot of thanks, Mr. Chang.
Rui

[jcabraham]

N.B. It's also available for the Kindle (and thus for the iPhone Kindle app). That's fantastic, I can now read it while standing in line at the post office, or in a boring meeting, or some such. Thanks!