Developing Technique

[caioramos]

Hey guys

I was wondering if its possible or I better say, is it a bad habit to develop one's technique just by learning pieces? I'm saying this cause' I have very little to none patience when it comes to practicing scales up and down, and similar exercises. Thou, I have the biggest willpower and motivation to practice a piece I was drawn to.

Thanks!
Caio  

[jimbo320]

Play what you want. Just pay attention to the fingers. It's best to follow correct fingering. Scales do serve a purpose here. They not only teach you what notes go with what and correct fingering but exercising your fingers as well. Patience will easily come when you appreciate the need for those exercises. The appreciation will happen automatically when you understand that the more you play, the more you want to learn. Climbing a ladder to the top is done one rung at a time. The bottom rung being a good fundamental footing...

[m1469]

Fundamentally, technique originates and develops within concept (and physique is intimately related).  I currently believe that the only way to practice and develop your own, fundamental "technique" or relationship with the instrument, is through practice and acquaintance with the fundamentals of music as they are layed out on the piano itself.  The principles that the piano's tuning system is built upon is a kind of puzzle whose pieces can only be conceptually (and aurally) fully gained by practicing and becoming acquainted with them in a fundamental way.  In a sense, the only way to play arpeggios exactly as you personally play them, knowing your own specific relationship to that aspect of music, is to practice them fundamentally, outside of the context of a composition.  An arpeggio within a piece of music by Mozart, for example, always has a human context which is personal to Mozart's physique and mentality, and the job of the performer is to get inside of the composer's head to understand what that context is.  So, ultimately, it depends on what you want.

Composers like Bach, Mozart, Chopin, had this musical puzzle clearly within mental grasp and their music was pulled from it, passing through their musical understanding and personal physique.  In a sense, each individual composition (or even a composer's entire output) is only a glimpse or creative representation of the greater context from which their specific musical thoughts were pulled.  The entire body of music is still not even a full representation of the greater context from which individual pieces are pulled, so only practicing pieces will at best give you only a glimpse.  So, again, it depends on what you want.

The way I see it, either way, whether you are truly wanting to do each composer and their works justice (because in order to do so, you have to not just play their works, but in a sense, see what they saw as the fundamental greater context, too), or whether you are wanting to develop your own relationship with the instrument, knowing the fundamental musical puzzle is essential to a "serious" pianist's playing and arsenal.  In fact, I personally believe it's audible when it's there and when it's not.  

[becky8898]

Hi Calo .  I dont much care for scales, exercises, arpeggio much, but it does have its place.  For instance if im working on a piece lets say in the key of D. Then i may do a bunch of scales and arpeggios based on the key of D. Or perhaps transpose Hanon into D. Use exercises wisely and you wont have to do a great deal of it, but you can still get good results.

Cheers, Becky

[sharmayelverton]

Also depends what repertoire you select. There is certainly such a wealth of material out there that if you select the right pieces you can get a pretty solid technical grounding. I personally think that you can skip things like Cherny etudes and Hanon so long as you replace them by some good Bach repertoire or anything else that fills the same roll. However I do think you should practice scales and arpeggios. They are important on more levels than simply exercising your fingers. For one the improve your recognition of patterns and keyboard orientation, should help you learn material faster, they standardize fingering, give you an understanding of harmony and keys, they are invaluable if you want to improvise or compose. All these things are important aspects of musician ship and will enhance your ability and ultimately your enjoyment as well.

[pianoplayjl]

I was also thinking about whether it is a bat habit in developing one's technique while learning pieces. But I think technical exercises for learning pieces really do help and I'm trying to learn to devise my own exercises for such difficulteis found in pieces.

[mike_lang]

I play scales daily, but I don't spend more than ten minutes at a time on them, or more than 20 minutes total.  The brain has to stay on for there to be improvement, and it is very easy to go into autopilot!

When I say scales, I mean purely technical work, encompassing scales as such, arpeggi, octave work, independence exercises, etc.  I find that I am able to identify "global" pianistic issues very quickly (occasional thumb tension in the LH, for example) this way.  It is also an opportunity to work on velocity per se, unison, and thumb crossings.  All of these things can be found in pieces, but I find that an extra 20 minutes per day working on them in isolation is beneficial (I have experienced considerable improvement).

Best,
Mike

[pianoplayjl]

I play scales daily, but I don't spend more than ten minutes at a time on them, or more than 20 minutes total.  The brain has to stay on for there to be improvement, and it is very easy to go into autopilot!

When I say scales, I mean purely technical work, encompassing scales as such, arpeggi, octave work, independence exercises, etc.  I find that I am able to identify "global" pianistic issues very quickly (occasional thumb tension in the LH, for example) this way.  It is also an opportunity to work on velocity per se, unison, and thumb crossings.  All of these things can be found in pieces, but I find that an extra 20 minutes per day working on them in isolation is beneficial (I have experienced considerable improvement).

Best,
Mike

Same here. I mostly spend my time trying to improve my pieces.