Scales/Hanon vs practicing passages from rep

[rombusempire]

Hi all,

I have read a lot of the posts regarding Hanon vs no Hanon. I am basically seeing that it is a half and half, but teh ones that are anti hanon are opting for scales, arpeggios, etc.

I have read some articles that technique exercises (even scales) are a waste of time because that same time can be beter spent on the difficult passages as the skills learned from technique exercises do not carry over 100% to teh peices but   using passages in a peice will carry over 100% to that peice, as well as other peices.

While all this theory is interesting, I woudl relaly like to know one thing...do professional concert pianists do any significant work on scales, arpeggios, Hanon, etc? Or do they only use difficult passages in teir peices for technical improvements?

Thanks
Paul

[omar_roy]

No.  Most concert pianists don't bother with stuff like that because their technique has already been developed.

I prefer to practice scales and arpeggi (all sorts of forms) over exercises.  Being able to recognize these basic patterns in music allows you to just zip right through them.  For example: Chopin's Ballade in G minor has many scale and arpeggi patterns that you wouldn't even have to look twice at if you were well practiced in scales and arpeggi.

I've never found myself at a disadvantage by choosing scales and arpeggi over actual exercise books.  They're also great for warming up.

Also, no exercise book is going to address every aspect of your technique, and I think it's important to make up your own little exercises to address deficiencies in your technique.

This isn't to devalue exercise books.  I think that in younger beginning pianists, they're quite important in building a good technical foundation in addition to the standard scales and arpeggi.

In the end, doing your Hanon in exercises can only help.  You can never have too good of a technique, so if you want to do them, then by all means go ahead.  Some people think they're a waste of time, but if you think that you can benefit from them, then they're certainly not.

[rombusempire]

Thanks for the response, so you mentioned that concert pianists do not bother with technical exercises b/c they already developed it. So, did they use those exercises to develop their technique in teh first place? or was it all from peices? Ie, a child prodigy at 5 y/o who apaprently already has good technique...where do those chidlren get their technique from?

[gyzzzmo]

Trust me, there are enough concert pianists who still do technical exercises. Whatever people here might say about Hanon-like exercises, they are definitely useful if they are focussed on difficult passages you're practising. Brainless repeating of ALL those Hanon compositions is very arguable and not done by that many, but it is nonsense to claim that concert-pianists dont do them 'because they have great technique already'.
Also, quite some collegue's of me (and me too) make up our own excersises to effectively practise certain techniques that need some finetuning, especially if they are being used in pieces that we are playing.