Help needed

[siegeoftroy]

Howdy, I'm new to these forums, but by no means new to piano. My mother started teaching me piano when I was at the ripe old age of 4, and I gladly stuck to a set practice regimen until I was about 13, when I got my first guitar. Since then I've had an on-again-off-again relationship with the piano, losing mainly just my performance skills (finger dexterity, strength, technique, endurance, etc.), but retained the ability to read music and play simpler piano pieces. In the last three or four years, my skills have slipped considerably, and I always put off starting up a new practice schedule for piano.

 I am in a band that is going into the studio in the middle of June, and I am faced with this predicament. I have to learn several piano and synth pieces we wrote, that are at a higher intermediate to advanced level, and my current practice routine has managed to get me from a sloppy beginner level (stumbling through Fur Elise), to a solid lower intermediate level (playing Mozart's Fantasy in D minor with little difficulty), but I need some suggestions to help me reach at least a level that will let me comfortably perform at a higher level, and the results are starting to slow down. Currently I am going through the Hanon exercises (1-10) at a brisk 90bpms, doing various exercises to help strengthen my baby and ring fingers while building dexterity and accuracy. I'm open to all suggestions, even if I they are currently part of my routine. Stuff with off beats that build speed and accuracy would be greatly appreciated.

[iratior]

Why do Hanon when you can do Scarlatti sonatas to develop technique and have something worth listening to when you're done?  Scarlatti tests and develops just about every type of technique, except ones having to do with the piano's having a larger keyboard than the harpsichord.  Talking repeated notes?  How about K. 141 or 421?  Talking octaves?  How about K. 44 or 54?  And for copious, fast hand crossings that I find plainly unplayable, there's K. 113.  For fast sixths, try K. 366.  For leaps back and forth, there's K. 299.  I find that, as a general rule, Scarlatti sonatas are not so difficult as Chopin etudes, but more difficult than Beethoven sonatas.

[scott13]

Depends on ones mindset i guess. Personally i would say stick to technique based playing for a couple of weeks to actually get some strength and independence back to your fingers. For this Hanon is excellent. Small repetitive phrases where you can focus 100% on technique. 

For those saying "go to sonatas etc" that would be like telling a runner who took a year off to start with 3000m track. You need to have the physical strength and stamina to run that distance, as you do with playing Scarlatti sonatas.

Once you reach a level where your fingers are independent, strong and you have built up stamina, Hanon has served it's purpose. Until such time, include it in your practice routine. Or set aside an hour a day in the morning, wake up and play scales, arpeggios, cadence chords, exercises (Maybe just 3 different exercises from Hanon) and an etude (this gets harder as you improve. Start with Czerny or Clementi and move up until you hit chopin, liszt etc).

Then come back to the piano late in the day and only play pieces. This way you spend the majority of your time playing pieces, but you still have a small devoted slot every morning to purely technical aspects. Very good combination that i have used and my technique has improved exponentially over the past 6 months.

Just my two cents and hope you find it helpful

[siegeoftroy]

Depends on ones mindset i guess. Personally i would say stick to technique based playing for a couple of weeks to actually get some strength and independence back to your fingers. For this Hanon is excellent. Small repetitive phrases where you can focus 100% on technique. 

For those saying "go to sonatas etc" that would be like telling a runner who took a year off to start with 3000m track. You need to have the physical strength and stamina to run that distance, as you do with playing Scarlatti sonatas.

Once you reach a level where your fingers are independent, strong and you have built up stamina, Hanon has served it's purpose. Until such time, include it in your practice routine. Or set aside an hour a day in the morning, wake up and play scales, arpeggios, cadence chords, exercises (Maybe just 3 different exercises from Hanon) and an etude (this gets harder as you improve. Start with Czerny or Clementi and move up until you hit chopin, liszt etc).

Then come back to the piano late in the day and only play pieces. This way you spend the majority of your time playing pieces, but you still have a small devoted slot every morning to purely technical aspects. Very good combination that i have used and my technique has improved exponentially over the past 6 months.

Just my two cents and hope you find it helpful

Most definitely will try. And thank you for pointing that out (what I highlighted in bold). Any Clementi you suggest?

Thank you.

[scott13]

Most definitely will try. And thank you for pointing that out (what I highlighted in bold). Any Clementi you suggest?

Thank you.

Clementi wrote a book of exercises called "gradus ad parnassum" It's similar to the exercises Czerny wrote, however i find the Clementi more musical and as a result more rewarding to play.

Also, i'm not saying don't learn Sonatas at all, just saying make sure at least an hour is devoted on a daily basis to improving only technical things. Then later in the day play pieces you enjoy (always learn pieces you enjoy, as you have higher motivation to master them).

Mozart Sonata K 545 is a great first choice - around grade 5-6ish (not a grade person myself)

Clementi Sonata in Bb Op 24 - Was in the grade 8 list last year, but a very fun and energetic piece to learn, and it is rather easy providing you know F and Bb major scales quite well.

Also the Bach 2 part inventions will do wonders for your brain and fingers. After you learn a couple, look through the Well Tempered Clavier Book 1 and find one or two "Prelude ad fugues" to learn. These will also greatly improve general fingering and sight-reading ability.

Chopin Nocturnes (Op 9 #2 in Eb) is quite an easy one to learn and will help develop soft-expressive playing.

Best advice i can give you is listen to as much music as you can and find the pieces you instantly love. Then search for the sheet music and upon reading through the score, just ask yourself "What technical requirements do i need to improve to master this piece" Then pick exercises/etudes that hit those areas you identified. For me the two biggest issues i face now are rapid arpeggios and soft pianissimo playing. So i went to Chopin etudes 1 & 3 from Op 10. And after a week of working on them, i see those two specific areas improving already.