Exercises!!!

[gregwer]

Hi well i'm preparing to enter to the conservatory, and i started to practice more than i used to, i want to start to practice 13 hours a day, but i need good excercises, you know, i'm thinking about czerny, right now, i need excercises to improve the agility of my left hand, i also need excercises for trills, especially with the LH, i'm working with the school of velocity of czerny, i saw czerny's "school for the left hand", but i think i need to start from something more basic, could you recommend me a book? i already have "the virtuoso panist" but i need to concentrate on my left hand, Thanks!

[lostinidlewonder]

13 hours a day? Sorry I can't help you unless you do 15 hours a day.

[keyboardclass]

If you have that kind of time you'd be better off using most of it with harmony and counterpoint studies.

[voltmail]

go..go...just do it..!!

[pianist1976]

i want to start to practice 13 hours a day

Why? The effectiveness of the rehearsal time is not about how many hours you invest but how are you investing them, how are you using your time. If these 13 hours you said aren't a joke, I think that it's completely insane. 3 or 4 hours looks to be a common time rehearsal rule for many famous virtuosi (I recall Chopin, Hofmann, Richter, Pollini and others).

And playing piano is not all about mechanism (or mechanicism). The technique must serve the music and there's no technique without music. In other words, don't get obsessed by technique "per se".According to Hofmann, no more than 30 minutes a day must be devoted to finger exercises (scales, arpeggios, chords and exercise books such as Pischna, the one recommended by him).

[gyzzzmo]

First thing you should try to accomplish, is getting a realistic idea of how to practise so you learn what is effective. And if you seriously are considering conservatory, a good teacher wouldnt be a crazy idea either.

[rmbarbosa]

I do agree with Pianist and Gyzmmo. 13  hours? What crazy idea! Only with exercises? If you play 13 h exercises, you`ll need a orthopaedist soon and you`ll go to an hospital, not to the Conservatory . And Music isnt gymnastics, you know? Play 4 hours, principally Bach. And learn musical theory, composition (Inventions are very good to learn these things...).
Best wishes.
rui

[haydn1732]

Like others have mentioned, I'm not sure you are joking when you are talking about 13 hours a day. If you do 4 hours effective (and that's a lot!), you have done a very good days work. Not many people can practice with good concentration for 1 hour without a break. I would suggest to have a maximum of 30 minutes per practice session, and then a break, which doesn't need to be a long one.

Also, ask yourself what piano technique means. Is it the agility of the fingers? Or is it the ability to create the sound with your fingers and player mechanism that you hear with your inner ear?

(Of course it's the latter )

With this in mind, please make a tonal decision before practicing whatever exercise you choose to play; a crescendo, diminuendo, rhymic variations, articulations etc. etc, use your imagination. Just practicing the exercises will maybe help a little bit, but remember, every time you take a musical decision before you play, and then try and get that sound from your instrument (and of course evaluate what you have played compared to your mentally prepared sound), you will develop a true musical approach to handle the piano, not a main-stream approach which will make you sound like "all the others".

[livit]

[...]every time you take a musical decision before you play, and then try and get that sound from your instrument (and of course evaluate what you have played compared to your mentally prepared sound), you will develop a true musical approach to handle the piano[...]

I think that is a great tip! I have never really thought about how to make decisions when improvising (maybe I most think in chord patterns..), but from now I will try this approach.
Thanks a lot!

But Gregwer, 13 hours a day is not realistic in any way... Increase your practise time slow from where you are now