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 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.
These are only a few points I took out and I would not want my students to read this type of advice and make decisions without knowing what it exactly means. The problem with students is that they may read something but not understand the context or the exact meaning behind it, they may make guesses and go off on a wrong path. Thus a teacher can never be replaced by a book and a book alone can never act as a tool to improve a student if they have no understanding as to how to apply the principles that they read from it and see it in action
I also doubt that many of my students would read 200+ pages about piano playing (and understand it) let alone practice on their own what I set them.I also noticed on page 27 it is written: "the most important message of this book, is that piano skills can be learned in a short time, if the correct learning procedures are applied."This seems to be a paradox because the correct learning procedures is in fact a very complex and long term issue that we are constantly striving to improve.and a little before this was written:" The innate dexterity of accomplished pianists and ordinary folk are not that different. This means that practically anyone can learn to play the piano well. "I think this is overly optimistic that practically ANYONE can learn to play the piano well. " Acquiring technique is mostly a process of brain/nerve development, not development of finger strength. "I also disagree with this since if this was the case then a 90 year old with a healthy brain should be able to play the piano well, in fact the muscular strength and stamina of a person is a key point to piano playing."Hanon implies that the ability to play these exercises will ensure that you can play anything -- this is not only totally false, but also reveals a surprising lack of understanding of what technique is. Technique can only be acquired by learning many compositions from many composers."I think that the treatment of hanon wasn't fair either in the book. Hanon does not completely teach technique, but it also is not completely useless. The statement that Technique can ONLY be acuqired from learning compositions is incorrect. Hanon for beginners is essential and if an intermediate or advanced student is unable to perform hanon in the correct manner then they should question what the problem is. Of course pieces will improve technique a great deal more but for the beginner Hanon in fact acts as a catalyst for their understanding of playing groups of notes at a time with a single position of the hand, a key building block for the understanding of piano playing for beginner/intermediates. My response to the importance of hanon is posted in more detail here: https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=13583.msg146475#msg146475These are only a few points I took out and I would not want my students to read this type of advice and make decisions without knowing what it exactly means. The problem with students is that they may read something but not understand the context or the exact meaning behind it, they may make guesses and go off on a wrong path. Thus a teacher can never be replaced by a book and a book alone can never act as a tool to improve a student if they have no understanding as to how to apply the principles that they read from it and see it in action
I beleive you are missrepresenting what Chang wrote here.
First of all, everything you write in your post may be true, and I have not even read Chang's book, but I think some of your comments are a bit blunt.
He writes "that practically anyone can learn to play the piano well." This doesn't mean that anyone can learn to play the piano well, it means that most have the possibility to do so. Just like practically anyone can learn to sing, a few people still cannot learn to do so.
" Acquiring technique is mostly a process of brain/nerve development, not development of finger strength.Your interpretation if this quote is completly wrong. Notice the word "mostly". Add to this that amazing pianist like Volodos have said the same thing.
Topic: Fundamentals of Piano Practice - Chang 