steinway43: I totally agree. What has not been brought out here is that part of any solid technique is the ability to "get around" the piano at a high rate of speed.
Utilizing the Russian method of playing scales at a high metronome marking will not give you the leaps and jumps speed that actual repertoire will give you. I force myself to memorize and partially bring up to speed at least a page of the Rach 2nd concerto every other day.
I do so because when I go back to other repertoire that I had difficulty with the problem is gone. Once you get your brain and your fingers to play actual passages at a high rate of speed, the brain adjusts accordingly.
Yes, the scales are a good place to start but that's all they are, a START. Once you get into the literature you will learn that the scales, as such, are a tiny percentage of what your fingers (and your mind, while we're at it) will have to contend with. You want to work on some technique? Learn Mozart's Sonata in D K.576, Schumann's Abegg Variations and Rachmaninoff's Etude Tableaux in E Flat Minor from Opus 33. That'll get your fingers going.
And Louis you've really hit on something that I figured out when I was young. If what you're working on seems difficult, find something far MORE difficult and work on that for a while. You'll have an easier time with the first piece afterward.
I have three more tips to pass on for technique.
One that works especially well for me is all in the mind and the key word is focus. Everyone talks about muscle memory but relying on that in the strictest sense is deadly to me if the mind isn't trained to keep track of each and every note while playing, no matter how many or how fast. I believe this is the source of failure for some people. Yes you CAN learn to do that and in my opinion you HAVE to. If my mind's not fully engaged then practice is just wasted time.
Someone said Liszt's technical exercises are supposed to be done in order because they have a neurological basis of progression. I seem to remember a professor telling me that as well. But the whole art of playing the piano could be said to be that. Think about it. You're training your brain, not just your hands, and the nerves which control your muscles, all to function together. It's like programming a system.
So, to be specific, when I put my hands on the keys, I visualize them performing the passage I'm about to play, I see it happening in my head just prior to doing it. Every time my mind is engaged this way it works very well. If I'm tired, if my mind is wandering some, or I'm just not focused enough, then the same passage can become difficult when it doesn't have to be. It takes a high level of discipline to stick to this, but you can train your mind to keep track of anything and everything if you start small and build gradually, as with anything. Do this enough with any piece, I don't care what it is, and you can have amazing control and ease of facility with it.
Another technique builder would be to work on sight reading and gradually improve that skill.
And it also helps to listen to a good, clear recording (clear meaning someone who doesn't drown the notes with pedal) while following the score and imagining yourself playing it. I understand there are studies showing this has a similar effect to actually practicing. And it's been my personal experience that, without exception, when I do this just before playing the playing is better than in those instances when I didn't listen first.
Topic: How to Build Technique