Best School of Technique (Scales, Arpeggios, Etc.)

[rachlisztchopin]

Hello, I am going to try to add a school of technique to my repertoire (yes i know, i call it repertoire).  Well, can you guys help me out?  I am looking for the best school of technique possible.  The main things I want in it are scales and arpeggios.  Whatever else is important may be included also (like finger independence and ornaments). Note, I am looking for exercises! Not pieces! So that counts all Czerny out. I have looked into, so far, Liszt's technical studies (which seem a bit over the edge), Macfarren's book of Scales and Arpeggios, and Phillips School of Technique. Please help me out. Thanks

[abe]

Brahm's 51 exercises would be my choice, I'm going to start them sometime soon. They go through lots of technique in addition to scales and arpeggios, and some look quite tricky, but very beneficial.

[Liween]

Do u have the link for this Brahm 51 exercises or the cover page ?

[rachlisztchopin]

I have the brahms 51 Exercises and that is not what I am looking for...I would rather study the 24 chopin etudes then Brahms exercises. I am looking for pure scales, arpeggios, and etc.  It would be good for the school to have variations of scales and arpeggios too.  If there isn't one available that suits my needs, I guess I will have to make my own school of technique.

[Motrax]

Dohnanyi's excercises are what I use, and I found them to be immensely helpful. His excercises are written solely for fingerwork - they don't sound particularly nice. But after four months of practicing them, I must say that my technique has improved tremendously. I practice Dohnanyi for about 10 or 20 minutes a day, which I find to be sufficient.

[Daniel_piano]

There are many exericises that have patterns of scales and arpeggio

Czerny has a lot of pieces with scales and arpeggios and chords
Op. 849 - Op. 636 - Op. 299 would all be a good example of such pieces

There the the Little Pischna, and again a lot of exercises with scales, chords, 3rds, 6ths and arpeggios patterns

There's then Heller Op.45 and Op.47

There's Douvernoy Op.120 - Op.276

There's the Lebert-Stark "theorical and practical method"

and there's the Clementi "Gradus ad Parnassum"

Now you said you want exercises and not pieces, and in your mind this seem to imply not musicality at all
Now, not only you will not find any book of technical exercises that it's just technique without music, not even Beyer, so in a sense they're all pieces but it would also be a big mistake to separate technique from musicality as you can't progress in the piano by practicing non-musical exercises
And you said you wanted no piece but mainly scales and arpeggios
But scales and arpeggios are in a sense "pieces" as they're highly musical

The only non musical book of technical exercises I know it's Hanon (ugh)

My suggestion would be to buy a good book of scales and trills and study them
The scale should be by parallel motion, contrary motion, by 3rds, 6ths and 8ves

Then if you want something that can help you coordination adn technique other than scales I would definitely suggest Bach
Bach was a great teacher and all his studies/pieces are designed to improve and train lot of technical aspects in each of his studies

From Little Preludes, Inventions and Sinfonias to English suites, French suites and WTC you're traning, unconsciously, a lot of musical pattern from parallel notes, to scales, fast arpeggios, jumps, staccato, legato, voices/parts management, finger distribution, hand crossing while also unconsciously training and practicing your theory knowledge from rhythm, syncopation, different kind of rhythm patterns (acephalous, anacrustic, thetic), voice leading, irregular groups, counterpoint and harmony

I don't if you already have, but if you haven't yet try practicing any piece by Bach and you'll definitely see an improvement in your sightreading, analysing and coordination abilities

Daniel

[rachlisztchopin]

I don't think any of you are understanding me. What you all are naming I DO CONSIDER pieces, not EXERCISES. What I want may not be the exact definition of exercises, but who cares. Anyway, I want PURE Scales, Apreggios, and etc.  Let me give you an example. C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, B, A, G, F, E, D, C.  Not a Czerny Exercise (or whatever else that is similiar to it).  A Czerny Exercise and Brahms Exercises could be performed and everything else you guys have said.  That is why I consider them pieces.  Now, if you want to get technical, you could say that scales and arpeggios could be performed. Please don't get technical. I don't want an argument. I just want a school of Technique...I would much rather do Liszt, Chopin, and whoever else's etudes then what you guys are suggesting.  Thanks, and have a nice day.

[Daniel_piano]

Okay, but to be fair with us you should admit that your subject ws not
that clear as you mentioned (School of Technique) while you wanted scales, arpeggios
and chords that I think would be better defined as "applied music theory"

Now, all the exercises/studied we suggested to involving octaves, jumps, voicing, phrasing, hands crossing, legato, staccato, syncopated rhythm, alberti pattern and so on are what is called "technique" or as you said it "school of technique"
So, if you ask us "school of technique" these pieces is what you would get as answer

Now, you clearly said that you want scales, arpeggios and maybe chords
Now, in the "applied theory" category I would add "ornaments"

All you need is to get a book of scales in all their variations and motion
You don't need further variation as you get all the possible variations from performing them contrary motions, by octaves, by 3rds and by 6ths

If you want you can further add variation to your scales by finding a book that show them all, including:

chromatic scales, biphonic scales, triphonic scales, tetraphonic scales, pentaphonic scales, esatonic scales type 1, esatonic scales type 2, pentatonic scale, enigmatic scale, napoleitan scales, Bachian scales and possibly have a look at Greek modes


Daniel

[jlh]

While I don't care too much for the Hanon book as a whole, it does have quite a lot of scales and arpeggios and their inversions for you to study. 

I must say, however, that it is possible to focus so much on exercises that you neglect repertoire.  Indeed the best way to learn technique is to play actual pieces under the supervision of a qualified teacher.

Yes, I studied scales and arpeggios, got them all to 160, and still practice them; but they are but a means to an end.  You will never be able to perform them and they will never in and of themselves make you a more convincing musician.  They are, however important in teaching hand position, speed, relaxation, and recognition of common patterns found in repertoire.

That's the key.  In the end, it's all about the music.  You can have the best technique in the world end up playing your pieces without any technical errors, but music is so much more than technique.  I've heard some very technically proficient pianists play flawlessly without conviction, emotion or other aspect that makes music grasp the listener, and it's a crying shame.

Once you have a basic understanding of piano technique, there is so much more you can learn by studying the music.  There are enough technical problems to solve that your technique won't suffer, and every aspect of playing (to quote Daniel_piano) i.e., "octaves, jumps, voicing, phrasing, hands crossing, legato, staccato, syncopated rhythm, alberti pattern and so on", are directly addressed by numerous pieces like those suggested in the above posts.

While I applaud you for making an effort in this area, I also caution you not to make this the entire focus of your study.

[jazzyprof]

I don't think any of you are understanding me. What you all are naming I DO CONSIDER pieces, not EXERCISES. What I want may not be the exact definition of exercises, but who cares. Anyway, I want PURE Scales, Apreggios, and etc.  Let me give you an example. C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, B, A, G, F, E, D, C. 

If you're looking for books on pure scales, arpeggios, etc, the MacFarren book which you already have is quite good.  It may be a bit intimidating in its comprehensiveness.  Not quite as comprehensive but somewhat more user friendly is "The Basic Book of Scales, Chords, Arpeggios, and Cadences" edited by Willard Palmer and published by Alfred Publishing Co.  It's very nicely laid out and fun to play through.  Finally, an extremely thorough book with very detailed instructions on practicing is "Mastering the Scales and Arpeggios" by James Francis Cooke.  It's a very old book, possibly out of print, but I borrowed a copy from our library and worked on it a couple of years ago.  The Alfred book might suit your needs best at this time. 

[pianiststrongbad]

I have the Liszt Exercise book published by Alfred.  That has exercises for everyone in it, in my opinion.  Though, I find it much more useful to just learn peices rather than exercises.

[rachlisztchopin]

OK Thanks everybody.  That is what I wanted.  And especially thanks to jazzyprof.  I will continue with the Macfarren book of scales and arpeggios, I may use phillips school of technique some even, and I will look into the Cooke school.

[Piazzo22]

Why don´t you try with Pischna 60 excercises?  They are the hardest of this technical books, and they are not music, just patterns like hanon, but 50 times more difficult.

[Bob]

I think I'm looking for something similar to what rachlisztchopin is looking for (if not the same thing).

I'd be interested in hearing more.

[Brian Healey]

If you're only interested in scales and arpeggios and nothing else, my first recommendation would be Nicolas Slonimsky's "Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns". It has everything you could possibly think of or want, including every possible scale and arpeggio. I have this book, but truthfully I've hardly ever used it. Just skimming through, some of the more advanced looking topics are "Polytonal Scales", "Polyrhythmical Scales", and of course "Polytonal Polyrhythmical Scales." In terms of arpeggios, it's got "Bitonal Arpeggios", "Quadritonal Arpeggios", and of course it has all the basic stuff as well. If you're into having this "School of Technique" based entirely on pure scales and arpeggios, then Slonimsky's book should be your Bible.


You're my boy, Blue,
Bri

[Rach3]

I have the Liszt Exercise book published by Alfred.  That has exercises for everyone in it, in my opinion.  Though, I find it much more useful to just learn peices rather than exercises.

Ditto to every word of this.

I personally don't use a method in the way you define it... I use Dohnanyi, and then there's the Liszt transcendental etude.