Liszt technical studies

[Kassaa]

I just found out that Liszt wrote a book with techinical studies. Has anyone used them? Are they better than Hanon/Czerny? Do they improve your playing?

[robertp]

My teacher is no fan of Hanon/Czerny, but she wrote me that she found these studies intriguing. I've got a lesson tomorrow, and I'm taking the Alfred edition of them. So there willl be some news from me on Tuesday.

[Kassaa]

It would be great if you could post your experience tuesday

[ramseytheii]

I looked at most of the Liszt studies, and found that the aesthetic was, "If it's hard, do it."  Such things as playing every scale and arpeggio in full chords just don't seem to be that satisfying.  The bulk of the studies I found in this way to be unintelligent, or not requiring a lot if intelligence to play.  For me not using the brain is a real drag. 
However the five-finger exercises he came up with can be brain-teasers and are at least for me much more enjoyable.  I think on a whole the studies are worth looking at.

Walter Ramsey

[Alde]

Now that I have completed my piano studies I have discovered that I just don't have the time to be spending on exercises like the Liszt.  One can literally spend hours on these, when I would rather be learning new piano repertoire.   My time now is very limited.

When I was younger I spent about 2 to 3 hours everyday on all these exercises like Brahms, Hanon, Schmidt, Phillip, and the Liszt.  I once had the luxury of practicing 6 to 8 hours a day.

I guess what I liked about the Liszt is that when I got bored I just proceeded to another exercise.  The Liszt is like a telephone book of exercises.

The main thing is not to do mindless activities.   When you do these, make sure that you observe your body, hands, fingers, posture, etc.  Keep the mind thinking and in concentration.  It is very easy for the mind to get tired and think about other things.

Most importantly observe any tension.  Tendonitis, or Carpal Tunnel Syndrome could be the result of doing these exercises the wrong way!

[Goldberg]

As some people know I did spend quite a long time (back when I practiced a LOT and tried everything to improve, minus Hanon...ick) with the Liszt exercises and have again and again told the same story about them on the forums. As technical exercises go, I like them. I haven't used them very often for a few months, but I like them and if I decided to go back to working on exercises for some reason, I'd do them. Let me put it this way: as far as pure, raw technique is concerned, I am convinced that if someone is capable of practicing all of the exercises 100% correctly, he is both supremely achieved technically and also doesn't need to do the exercises; he would be "unstoppable" as far as technical abilities go.

For me, the largest advantage of separate exercises as in the Liszt book is that one can work on technique, obviously an imperative part of piano playing, apart from music, which in itself is extremely demanding in most cases. Someone, like me a while ago, who is not fully able to concentrate on both things at the same time (but is nevertheless a significantly advanced player), will clearly benefit from having separated both halves of piano playing and making technique a second-nature, microsecond reflex and concentrate entirely on music alone when he works on the repertoire.

On the other hand, it DOES require a large chunk of time, as Alde mentioned, and also a lot of energy as the pianist must always be focused on technique and every minute motion and position of both hands (actually, I prefer to just do one at a time) and so forth. Tension must be monitored at all times, as well, all over the body.

You can certainly make the exercises work for you, though, as long as you do them all properly. And because they are SO demanding, sometimes presenting realistic or absurd technical demands (mentioned earlier), they will equip you with extremely advanced technical knowledge.

But, at the same time, they are not necessary and they are not for everyone.

[musicsdarkangel]

I just got the book, there are 12 sections within it.

I finished 4 today, and I am impressed.


I think that if I do one and a half hours a day, it will help me tremendously.....but we'll see.


I actually believe these excersizes are genius and work on every aspect of technical playing.

[robertp]

Kassaa---

No joy, alas.  I took the Alfred edition, and got blown off. The A. doesn't print them out in full, as we know, but does some with indications on how to continue. The feedback I got was you need the *big* version that has all the exercises fully for the various keys, but that has Liszt's fingerings. I can get those easily on interlibrary loan and xerox what's needed, but that got me nowhere. So, alas, I've got no wisdom from my lesson.

But, you and all of us have gotten much wisdom from the responses your posting has generated!

[jkristiand]

I am a huge liszt fan, and I'm interested in these studies... Anyone knows where to get them?

[Kassaa]

In a shop.

[Alde]

I am a huge liszt fan, and I'm interested in these studies... Anyone knows where to get them?

Try this website and post a request.

https://www.gamingforce.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48704

[Kassaa]

<sub>For anyone who wants to download: www.pianosheets.org, they're 80MB.

And no, I'm not going to explain how torrents work.</sub>



Bernhard, do you have experience with these studies?

[JP]

If you must work on technical exercises then this is one of the better ones to work on.

[bearzinthehood]

<sub>For anyone who wants to download: www.pianosheets.org, they're 80MB.

And no, I'm not going to explain how torrents work.</sub>



Bernhard, do you have experience with these studies?

Who is the editor for those sheets?  I understand that the works are old enough to be free of copyright restrictions, but what about that specific eiditon that's posted on pianosheets.org?

[jkristiand]

Oh damn torrent... I am trying to download "greenberg - liszt - his life and music",
"the liszt excercises" and "a window in time rachmaninoff".
There are no sources for any of these 

[jkristiand]

I have obtained the liszt studies.. I have a question for one exercise..
What does the "V" under a note mean?.. does it mean that you stress this note more than the others? It would make sense that way..

[musicsdarkangel]

isn't that an accent?