How long should an acual warm-up exercise be?

[karenvcruz]

I have been hearing varied answers to this question of mine - from some who easily get bored with the warm-up and therefore do it for at most 5-10 minutes, to others who have professed doing a warm-up for an hour.

For people who perform on stage as concert pianists or musicians, how long should one do warm-up exercises? I hope I can get some tips and advice here on this one.  Thanks in advance.

[iansinclair]

That's one of those questions.  The flip answer is "whatever works for you"!  I'm one of those who gets easily bored.  Further, I was a church organist/choirmaster -- which is a rather different breed of cat.  My warmups when I was working were to actually practice some bit of repertoire -- an organist needs a huge ready rep -- which needed tweaking.  Now that I'm happily retired and working with piano instead, I do much the same; the "warmup" will be some piece or other which is part of my repertoire, but which needs refreshing.  Then I'll go on to some serious work...

[sirpazhan]

it all matters on the person. there's no set time..

there's an interview with Kissin on youtube where he mentions his warm-up (not rehearsal time) is about an hour before each concert.. some concert level pianists may do less,, others do more.

my warm-up: easy 45mins for heavy pieces,, about 10-15mins for lighter pieces.  

[pbryld]

Just let hot water run over your hands for a couple of minutes. Beats playing boring exercises for minutes on end.

[dima_76557]

Just let hot water run over your hands for a couple of minutes. Beats playing boring exercises for minutes on end.

If the cold hands are a result of bad blood circulation, then I don't think that's a good idea. It seems better to do something from the inside to let the blood run to that area. Just saying.
P.S.: I do nothing special. I just rub my hands, stretch my fingers, feel a click and I know I'm ready, even during cold Russian winters.
P.S.2: Cold hands can also be a result of a bad technique in general. In that case, I don't see how "warm-ups" will ever make them go away unless you do something about it.

[maitea]

hm.. For me personally, warming up goes a bit beyond the cold-warm hands. Specially if because I'm working or travelling, I need to practice at "indecent" times such as 7am or 11pm... So, for me is doing "warm ups" is more a time to dive into the playing, get my brain and my ears started and feel in tune (can this be considered a pun?) with the piano as well as getting my body working gradually and try to polish technique.

I  spend about 30 min if not a bit more. I have some Leschetizki type exercise, scales (I chose one and work scales in 3rds, 6ths, and 10 as well as arpeggios, long and short in that very same key) and recently I've started doing Brahms exercises, I might do about 3 of them, once I feel they come easy, I change. Also recently, I've started learning Bach inventions, as a child I didn't do ANY (SHAAAAME) and they are so wonderful music! When I have finish this, I feel ready to work on my Chopin etudes, some I perform, others are still housework, or work into the pieces.

If you tend to get bored easily, I wouldn't do long exercise types of warm ups, but you could improvise your own! I believe Clara Schumann was very good at this, someone told me Brahms' exercises are an inspiration on those "warm ups" of Clara. (I don't know if this is true!)

But as mentioned before, you have to found your way. I have change mine many times, probably in 3 years time, I have change it again

M

[dima_76557]

recently I've started doing Brahms exercises

Wow! Are you brave!

Someone put recordings of all 51 on YouTube:

videos
Enjoy!

[maitea]

Oh thanks for the link Dima!

I've recently discovered Alberto Jonas' books (they are all in imslp) full of exercises devised by him and by outstanding pianists of his time. It is a shame I hadn't even come across him earlier- after all he is Spanish! There are there promising exercises too! haha Btw, he goes through the whole book giving explanations (in Brahms there is nothing- any editor out there wanting to do a pedagogical review?!?!) and I find him (Alberto Jonas that is) soooooo accessible to read, of course a bit old fashioned, but warm and encouraging. Not the usual dry piece of toast piano technique book! AND it's written in 4 languages! (EN, FR, D and E) Maybe it interests you?

(Sorry I'm kinda off topic, but still on exercises....!)

M

Ps. Dima, please send regards to your teacher! Keep wanting to send him an email, but it's been a hectic time!

[patrickd]

I tend to warm up for about 5 minutes, occasionally ten with Bach along with some Liszt Exercises.

[Bob]

https://imslp.org/wiki/Master_School_of_Piano_Playing_%26_Virtuosity_(Jon%C3%A1s,_Alberto)

Interesting.  Looks like books 1 and 2 were republished recently.  But there are several more.

[karenvcruz]

Thank you so much for the tips.  I am simply awed by the types of exercises that pianists can use for warm-ups as well as the variety of exercises.

[johnnybarkshop]

For me there's no such thing as a warm-up.  I just play something I like but concentrate on it like mad.  It's the acute thinking that 'warms you up'.  So throw away those silly exercises.

[cabbynum]

Depends on what I'm gonna play
Usually though I do chromatic scales with 123 and 345 and 1234 in contrary and together
Then I do it again but with octaves

[karenvcruz]

I looked at the youtube on the Brahms 51 etudes.  I must admit they appear quite challenging, although at least on the youtube, they seemed more pleasant to listen to as compared to the usual watm-up exercises i encounter in Hanon, Czerny, Kramer and the like.