Further links & resources. For things are neither black nor white and the pedagogy of the piano technique has evolved a lot since then as we have already commented. These exercises are meant to train pianists in speed, precision, agility, and strength of all of the fingers and flexibility in the wrists. 3 Reasons Pianists Should be Playing Hanon Exercises Daily, Find Private Teaching Jobs on TakeLessons. What makes them useful is the varying patterns, which are challenging and help the fingers differentiate and get “smarter.”. We match you with expert teachers in over 300 subjects so that you can learn something new through 100% 2. That’s when you can be sure that you’re playing from the shoulder, and not from the wrist. Or check out this post from piano teacher Heather L. titled, ” 3 Reasons Pianists Should be Playing Hanon Exercises Daily.”. In that way, pupils will rapidly notice the difference as their fingers become stronger and far more adept at challenging works and techniques. 3 Reasons Pianists Should Be Playing Hanon Exercises Daily. Hanon and Czerny exercises are useful; when I was still doing them I only practiced them about 5 minutes a day but they still helped. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Charles-Louis Hanon (2 July 1819 – 19 March 1900) was a French piano pedagogue and composer.He is best known for his work The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises, which is still used today for modern piano teaching, but over the years the method has also faced criticisms. Playing through the entire book in one marathon session is not useful for me. This is true for one simple reason; when you play scales, you’re working the thumb-under and finger-over movements that are often necessary when playing actual songs. They can waste a lot of time. Since the first release of this classic Schirmer edition over 100 years ago, almost anyone who has taken piano lessons for more than two years has played from The Virtuoso Pianist . But that’s where their magic lies. That’s when you can think about which part of your fingers is hitting the keys. It is interesting to note that Hanon had up until then been active as an organist and through his own publishing house had published various works, mostly method books. However, most advanced pianists agree that Hanon is not for acquiring technique, but might be useful for warming up . I strongly disagree. There are other options out there for warm ups and to help build finger strength. Are there any 'essential' or possibly more 'practical' hanon exercises? Charles-Louis Hanon wrote 60 piano exercises in his book The Virtuoso Pianist. Sign up for more information about our private lessons. How to Use Hanon – Click here to find out how Ilga Pitkevica approaches Hanon’s exercises and how she recommends using them. So it’s pretty obvious that I’m biased. Tell us why you think Hanon exercises are beneficial for students in the comments section below. Hanon exercises were developed like a million years ago… how could it be applicable today? Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. When I'm playing through the Hanon exercises, I also transpose them into the key of the target piece, rather than staying in C major. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. This thread is archived. Hanon makes some surprising claims in his introduction with no explanation or experimental evidence. Mainly because they are long and BORING, mentally and physically. I immediately dropped these exercises but saved the scales and arpeggios. guaranteed, Exercises are an important part of developing as a pianist. Most students breeze through Hanon exercises too easily, and then get “stuck” because they don’t know where to go afterward. They are not useful for young or beginning students. The Virtuoso Pianist (Le Pianiste virtuose) by Charles-Louis Hanon (1819 – 1900), is a compilation of sixty exercises meant to train the pianist in speed, precision, agility, and strength of all of the fingers and flexibility in the wrists. However, you also need to be able to play melody lines. Upon careful reading of his introduction, one realizes that he simply felt that these are useful exercises and so wrote them down. Hanon is boring, Hanon is repetitive, but in my opinion it IS useful for strength and dexterity if practiced correctly. Pianist and writer Gyorgy Sandor once said: “Technique is the sum total of organised motions executed by the performer. The point is, I like them for helping me play specific passages. I'm not entirely sure what it is but I assume it's a technical exercise. 2. make alterations or modifications to the PDF score or any copy, or otherwise attempt to discover the source code of the PDF score. Try hands … It also gets students moving their arm and wrist in what eventually becomes a natural motion that won’t happen playing many other exercises. But you can’t say they’re obsolete exercises at all. Criticizers have concluded that the former causes the latter. If practiced correctly, Hanon exercises can be useful; and they can be a total waste of time if you practice them mechanically, ‘only from your fingers’, with tensed arms and wrists! Hanon makes some surprising claims in his introduction with no rationale, explanation or experimental evidence. Hanon, on the other hand, is guaranteed to have you spinning your wheels for a long long time. In the end, any given Hanon exercise will be useless unless you're playing music with figures that are similar to the exercise. Are there any 'essential' or possibly more 'practical' hanon exercises? save hide report. What exercises do you do every day to help you to walk? These exercises encourage movement of the wrist, and flexibility of the fingers while playing. There are times when, to teach a specific skill, such a contraption can be useful. Forget gadgets and devices that claim to make your hands and wrists stronger and increase your playing speed. 27 comments. Your email address will not be published. Hanon makes some surprising claims in his introduction with no rationale, explanation or experimental evidence. If you move properly you have a virtuoso technique. If you want to work on agility, try something like this: In all honesty, real songs played on a keyboard are mostly solid chords. So important are they that most conservatories and collegiate music schools require the prospective students to play them during auditions and with good reason. the most useful hanon exercises? It is the easiest of the 60, and helps improve finger strength and independence, as well as wrist and forearm strength. Like me, students have very little spare time, and need to make the most of their limited practice time. Hanon’s Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises Since its publication in 1873, Hanon’s “The virtuoso Pianist in 60 exercises” or the Hanon’s finger exercises have been a staple part of developing a pianist’s technique. I don't think that the exercises will be particularly useful to you. None. This exercise is written only in one octave. The most useful and effective way to do this is to practise scales, chords, and arpeggios every day. I tell each of my Hanon students that they will become monotonous sometimes. If the exercises are for developing the technique to play difficult pieces, the time will be better spent practicing the difficult pieces directly. I play Hanon and scales until I feel the blood flow in my arms. 5 Reasons Why Hanon Exercises are Useless 1. I do this by using various collections of technical exercises, one of which is The Virtuoso Pianist by Charles Louis Hanon.. We will use the first 20 exercises … So it’s pretty obvious that I’m biased. Playing through the entire book in one marathon session is not useful for me. They are the building blocks of western piano music and they are patterns that pianists encounter in repertoire every day. That’s no secret. My goal is to guide every one of my students onto a path of independent musicianship, not a path where they become piano robots. However, almost everyone needs to perfect the first twenty exercises to play the later ones. Argue this one yourself. First published in Boulogne, in 1873, The Virtuoso Pianist is Hanon's most well-known work, and is still widely used by piano instructors and pupils. Hanon’s The Virtuoso Pianist in Sixty Exercises is one of the exercise books which can be used for this purpose. However, the value of its exercises is largely dependent on how and why they are used. The whole concept of the way to practise and learn them is. Do not develop musical aspects of playing. Find Private Teaching Jobs on TakeLessons. They can serve as your daily warm-up. Archived. Hanon is boring, Hanon is repetitive, but in my opinion it IS useful for strength and dexterity if practiced correctly. I always recommend that if you want to work specifically on rhythm, one should start with basic rhythms and then move on to syncopation—the kind of syncopation that actually goes on in real songs. Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Blues Hanon is one of a series including Jazz Hanon and Boogie-Woogie Hanon. But this is a result of confusing the concepts of causation and correlation. There is another question here asking about Hanon's place in practice in a more general sense; those answers will give you a better understanding of what other pianists think of these exercises.. It is interesting to note that Hanon had up until then been active as an organist and through his own publishing house had published various works, mostly method books. When all is said and done, Hanon exercises are just variations on five-finger positions with a note missed out so the patterns can move up and down the keyboard. While students who learn Hanon exercises in their piano lessons may drop out, that does not necessarily mean that Hanon exercises were the reason why. Or don’t. My verdict: Hanon is OK! Just like strength is the core component of any athlete’s development and technique. I’m familiar with a lot of different ways of developing piano technique, and I think that Hanon is among the least efficient. I get the reasons why to not use Hanon, but as a teacher I disagree. This is exemplified in his title, "The Virtuoso Pianist, in 60 Exercises". Further links & resources. The Hanon exercises remain popular today with many piano teachers (but not all), as a useful and motivating way to increase finger technique. In piano playing, there is either moving properly or improperly. However, almost everyone needs to perfect the first twenty exercises to play the later ones. What exercises do you do every day to help you to walk? Below is an example of a highly syncopated rhythm. Once you learn to walk, walking is the only maintenance you need. This is exemplified in his title, "The Virtuoso Pianist, in 60 Exercises". guaranteed, I can tell you that as an older pianist (60 yrs young) Hanon is a tremendous benefit to me not only as a warm up when my hands are stiff as I begin, but also as a method to maintain strength. Jail-breaking Hanon (1) The three books that make up The Virtuoso Pianist by Charles-Louis Hanon have been a mainstay with piano students since they were first published in 1872. A big part of my daily practice is time-building, working on keeping excellent time and working on my feel and groove. Charles-Louis Hanon’s book “Le Piano virtuose” (known in English as “The Virtuoso Pianist”) has been one of the most widely used sets of exercises among piano instructors for the last century.. Anyone working on the Hanon exercises will get the most benefit by practicing all sixty exercises in order. However, you may practice 2 octaves by starting one octave lower than how it's written. A lot of piano teachers swear by the old familiar Hanon exercises as a great way of teaching technique to their students. They build technique. Hanon Exercises Don’t Build Strength. More? Hanon is also a wonderful warm up, exspecially when the room is cold. Don’t agree? And some of you may be advised by your teachers to do so, based on your past playing experience and future goals. Hanon’s Virtuoso Pianist is widely known to pianists and opinions on it are divided. Are hanon exercises useful for beginners? Argue this one yourself. Your email address will not be published. Fact: Anything that moves the fingers on the keys will build finger strength and independence. Less? And what’s even better is that each exercise works to develop different fingers, or sometimes, all of them! Or don’t. The book contains sixty mechanical exercises that are intended to promote finger independence and virtuoso level abilities in students. OK, that’s it. Then students drop out of piano lessons. Hanon exercises: they might not be the most fun, but they can make a big impact on your progress as you’re learning how to play piano! Still, I do not recommend Hanon. Eighth notes are used instead of sixteenth notes; each exercise has only 16 measures instead of 32; and the hands are placed two octaves apart for greater comfort. That’s how they work. It is quite normal for other piano methods to include some Hanon exercises. Perhaps the most important among all the exercises in the Hanon book are the scales (#39) and arpeggios (#41). You can put your full concentration on the activity “at hand”. Perhaps this is as much to do with why exercises aren't seen as useful in that method. Posted by 5 years ago. These detractors consider them to be simple intuitive warm-up exercises. Hanon exercises don’t improve on them. There are now two schools of thought: those who think that the practising Hanon exercises are helpful and those who think they are a waste of time. But if you’re a middle-school-aged pianist or older, and you’ve studied piano for at least a year, here are three reasons that you should be playing Hanon exercises every day: 1. Both exercises include notes after the rakes, so that they are more useful … Most finger exercises are not useful because of a number of disadvantages (see h. Problems with Hanon Exercises). These studies are among the most popular technical exercises used by teachers and students. The idea being, if you repeat them ad naueseum, you'll be able to play them. Hanon builds endurance. Hi, I'm a complete beginner, I've done about a third of Alfred beginner. Practising Hanon exercises in ways described in this article can be very useful, but without the help of a professional piano teacher, issues regarding the hand position and movement, as well as sound and rhythm inaccuracies can often remain unnoticed. On one side, I think its popularity lies in its “simplicity” of notes (in comparison to etudes, for example). It’s an easy and simple way to start playing the piano immediately developing strength in your fingers. 27 comments. Hanon's The Virtuoso Pianist is a collection of 60 studies for piano The first part of the collection is a series of five-finger exercises. The point is, I like them for helping me play specific passages. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! I'm not entirely sure what it is but I assume it's a technical exercise. Exercise no 1 in D. This is the very first exercise from Charles Louis-Hanon’s 60 Hanon exercises. From time to time I hear about something called Hanon. all the leaps and turns in the more advanced exercises) that has very little musical use. They’re great at strengthening your hands and wrists. Once again, even your basic old scales are a lot closer to those melody lines than any Hanon exercise in any of their books. It also means how healthy, grounded, and free of tension that our movements are. Hanon Exercises as Time-Building Practice. 3. Over time and with practice, the notes themselves will become practically forgotten and only the motion will remain. share. These motions produce sounds that recreate the moods of the composer in the performer’s own interpretation.”. Some examples: Even just plain old scales are superior to Hanon. However, the value of its exercises is largely dependent on how and why they are used. Practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect. Hanon and Czerny exercises are useful; when I was still doing them I only practiced them about 5 minutes a day but they still helped. Some pianists criticize the method for not working properly hand independence and argue that all the time spent doing Hanon exercises on a daily basis would be much more useful if invested in another way. The Hanon Debate (Part 1) – Click here to view a post in which some of our Online Academy contributors share their views on Hanon’s Virtuoso Pianist. the most useful hanon exercises? These exercises are GREAT for helping build finger strength. Your email address will not be published. These exercises are outdated and they don’t target the entire spectrum of an ergonomic piano technique. When I'm playing through the Hanon exercises, I also transpose them into the key of the target piece, rather than staying in C major. However, the opinions on this book are divided. “Too easy” sounds great, but the problem is that if students aren’t properly challenged during their practice routines it’s going to take them a lot longer to get desired results. Works every time. Below I’ve provided five reasons why I think Hanon exercises are useless as well as some much better alternatives. Hanon exercises are great for helping you isolate particular "riffs", if you will, that are difficult to play. Your email address will not be published. Hanon - The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises: Complete, Comb-Bound Book Plastic Comb – Nov. 1 1993 by Charles-Louis Hanon (Author), Allan Small (Author) 4.7 out of 5 stars 288 ratings 1873 - Boulogne: C.L. Problems With Hanon Exercises on Piano. Sure, you could buy a technique book, a book of warm-ups, and a book of “finger-strengthening exercises,” and work with all three every day. After much research around piano forums, I've realized that many pianists consider the Hanon exercises as antiquated, unmusical, obsolete, a waste of time and worse, injurious to one's hands (click here for more info). Hi, I'm a complete beginner, I've done about a third of Alfred beginner. For one thing, working through Hanon carefully with a metronome is great for your time. In this video, Ilga Pitkevica gives a few examples of how she uses some of the exercises. His introduction shows that he simply felt that these are useful exercises and so wrote them down, a prime example of the "intuitive approach". Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! I used to practice several of these and would like to get back into the habbit of disciplined practice. Like many other pianists, I have to work on my technique regularly in order to improve or simply maintain my level on the piano. These exercises encourage movement of the wrist, and flexibility of the fingers while playing. Here is an example of an exercise that can be done for even a few minutes a day that will give students better results: Hanon exercises could be classified as agility exercises, but low-grade ones. This is because it is needlessly complex in a dimension (i.e. the most useful hanon exercises? First published in Boulogne, in 1873, The Virtuoso Pianist is Hanon's most well-known work, and is still widely used by piano instructors and pupils. 2 These exercises help develop the skills and techniques needed for playing these particular modern styles of piano. The biggest thing Hanon helped me with was basic technique like keeping equal arm weight, playing with dynamics, working on my finger position, and other important but boring things like that. The biggest thing Hanon helped me with was basic technique like keeping equal arm weight, playing with dynamics, working on my finger position, and other important but boring things like that. This is exemplified in his title, "The Virtuoso Pianist, in 60 Exercises". In other words, technique is essentially how we move as pianists. Anyone working on the Hanon exercises will get the most benefit by practicing all sixty exercises in order. Hanon Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises Complete Book Description : (Piano Method). Below, piano teacher James F. shares five reasons why he believes Hanon exercises aren’t as useful as many think…. Close. Hanon’s Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises Since its publication in 1873, Hanon’s “The virtuoso Pianist in 60 exercises” or the Hanon’s finger exercises have been a staple part of developing a pianist’s technique. If you move properly you have a virtuoso technique. In some cases, you can skip some exercises to focus on more useful ones. 19. Like anything else, their value depends totally on … Just like strength is the core component of any athlete’s development and technique. personalized lessons. Still, I do not recommend Hanon. How many ‘exercises’ should you be aiming for? If practiced correctly, Hanon exercises can be useful; and they can be a total waste of time if you practice them mechanically, ‘only from your fingers’, with tensed arms and wrists! Hanon does next to nothing for strength, because all the student is doing is playing lines over and over again. OK, that’s it. share. Are hanon exercises useful for beginners? In many cases utilizing Hanon and Czerny can be a great way to develop strength in your playing. Hanon exercises are great for helping you isolate particular "riffs", if you will, that are difficult to play. This is exemplified in his title, "The Virtuoso Pianist, in 60 Exercises". 88% Upvoted. 3 essential Hanon exercises to try out . Believe it or not, Hanon exercises can help you with this. To gain the utmost benefits from the logical progression of Hanon exercises, it is recommended to practise these piano exercises on a daily basis. His introduction shows that he simply felt that these are useful exercises and so wrote them down, a prime example of the "intuitive approach". Even though Hanon mentioned that it is for 4-5 only it exercises 1-2 as well. The Hanon exercises remain popular today with many piano teachers (but not all), as a useful and motivating way to increase finger technique. Jumps do occur occasionally in melodies, but even when they do occur, they are nothing like what you practice with Hanon. The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises by C. L. Hanon (1819-1900) is probably the most popular piano technique book in history.First Hanon Exercises is an abridged version of the first 20 of Hanon’s 60 exercises, making them useful for late elementary and early intermediate piano students. Not just Hanon's comments, but also because the pieces really are exercises, even moreso than some have said bits of them can be. Since about 1900, Charles Louis Hanon's (1820-1900) exercises have been used by numerous pianists in the hopes of improving technique. Notes by C. L. Hanon : Special exercise for the 3 rd and 4 th fingers of the hand. This No. Many teachers recommend Hanon while others think they are counter-productive. At the end of the day, I believe that Hanon exercises can and should be used successfully, both in lessons and by the independent musician. This my answer to a similar question: There are no exercises that help beginners learn piano. The fundamental component of any good piano technique is strength. If you can’t learn from the way that I teach, then I have to find some way to teach the way that you will learn. First Hanon Exercises is an abridged version of the first 20 of Hanon’s 60 exercises, making them useful for late elementary and early intermediate piano students. Exercise 47a looks at two-and three-string rakes, while exercise 47b deals with four-string rakes. The early exercises in the book are great for beginning pianist because you don’t have to deal with finger crossings or cumbersome musical challenges. Hanon exercises were developed like a million years ago… how could it be applicable today? Hanon exercises can help you develop finger strength very quickly. They are the building blocks of western piano music and they are patterns that pianists encounter in repertoire every day. When Hanon exercises become simply memorized movement, that’s when you can focus on your own technique. In piano playing, there is either moving properly or improperly. 1 per week? How to Use Hanon – Click here to find out how Ilga Pitkevica approaches Hanon’s exercises and how she recommends using them. The best thing about Hanon is easy memorization so you can really pay close attention to your fingers. Instead of flipping through old curriculum books or sheet music, trying to decide on a gentle, easy way to warm up your hands and arms, use a Hanon exercise. I used to practice several of these and would like to get back into the habbit of disciplined practice. The Hanon Debate (Part 1) – Click here to view a post in which some of our Online Academy contributors share their views on Hanon’s Virtuoso Pianist. The fundamental component of any good piano technique is strength. The Virtuoso Pianist Required fields are marked *. If you dedicate a bit of time every day to playing Hanon with accuracy and precision, and in all keys, the benefits are enormous. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. From time to time I hear about something called Hanon. My … My verdict: Hanon is OK! Over the decades, they’ve been given by instructors to beginners, especially the young. In Hanon’s day, they were a lot more limited, and lucky to have his work. 27 exercise prepares for trill exercises in the future for the finger 1-2 and 4-5. Hanon exercises are certainly not the be-all-and-end-all of technique, but they do offer some benefits. Is it necessary to practise it as a beginner or is it too advanced ? It is an essential part of my personal teaching philosophy never to force any student into anything. Hanon. Proper piano finger technique is important for scales, arpeggios, real life music and auditions where technique is useful to … Hanon exercises are mechanical. Jail-breaking Hanon (1) The three books that make up The Virtuoso Pianist by Charles-Louis Hanon have been a mainstay with piano students since they were first published in 1872. In this video, Ilga Pitkevica gives a few examples of how she uses some of the exercises. Each Hanon exercise aims to develop a difference skill, finger and movement. Therefore, it means a whole lot more than just how fast or how softly that we’re able to play. I compare Dohnanyi (like in the first video he shares) to weight training. Hanon exercises were specifically designed for the optimum health and longevity of the pianist by enforcing and reinforcing good, solid habits, like imagining that your arms are like “heavy, wet ropes” as they hit the keys.