An overview of: - WHY I think Hanon Exercises are super valuable - HOW to practice them to get the absolute most out of them - Who the hell is Charles-Louis Hanon? - A demonstration of Hanon Exercise #1
"Wherever you are that day is totally okay." Loads of wisdom right there! Also - excellent job explaining the turnaround. A lot of teachers sort of gloss over this. Great video!
What a Fantastic job you did. Someone had to do a great job to do justice to the popularity of Hanon. And you HAVE DONE IT. I've seen several versions of this, but you are WAY SUPERIOR in the details and effort to make it as easy as possible for a beginner like me, to practice and learn how to play the piano. THANK YOU.
When learning a new Hanon exercise you can also speak out the intervals as you play(tonic, leading tone, dominant; etc) which helps solidify the tone qualities. Then you can up your game by transposing it to other modes such as Dorian; Lydian and such. Be careful to keep wrist circles and motion while you play. Avoid “piston finger” style of playing. Most teachers are divided on Hanon. It can be great when modern wrist/arm movement and technique are applied. Hanon was created in a time where the harpsichord was dominant and piston finger action and an even sound was needed because old pianos and of course harpsichords were not as sensitive to the touch as modern pianos are. I would advise taking lessons if at all possible to reinforce technique. Piano is such a great instrument and it requires instruction if one can afford it. I started 11 years ago when I was 30 and I’m so glad I did. You tube is a nice supplement to lessons with a wealth of info. Great video!
I am curious sir. How far are you with Hanon? I get tired of people on youtube (trying) to explain exercise 1 to me. greets This is not a great video. (exercise 1 is played wrong)
Each Hanon exercise, by incrementing by one white key ascending or descending will automatically go thru all the modes just playing what's on the page. But since each exercise is printed in the key of C, it's naturally easy to transpose into all 12 keys. Ex.- To transpose into G, Just begin reading at the pattern that start's on G, and imagine a F# sign at the left of the page.
Thank you for this clear and concise explanation. I need to do more Hanon. My thumbs have a habit of waving around like they’re at their own party, and I tend to press keys with a hesitance, not firmly and decisively. Also, I haven’t made friends with the metronome yet, so doing Hanon this way will be good.
TRUMP2020!!!!! MAGA!!!!! Kids remember just say NO to CREAPY joe!!!!!!! I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands One Nation under God indivisible with Liberty and Justice for All. Not that anyone will actually see this😩
Exercise 1 is also good for practising hand-wrist-arm rotation. When the RH pattern ascends the hand arcs down and up to the little finger and when it descends it comes up and over to the thumb. It's the reverse for LH so best practised separately at first. The rule for both is down and up to to finger 5, Up and over to finger 1. Let the eliptical movement come fluidly from the whole arm not just fingers and hands. This will help develop phrasing and tone colour ability plus it is better ergonomically for long-term practise. Finger strength for clear and even precision is first priority though.
@@orxanmustafayev99 pretty good, I learned a handfull of left-hand patterns that I can use to just improv over and have a bit more of the well tempered clavier under my belt, I till have a long way to go but these are slowly starting to round out my weaker skills, can't read sheet yet we'll enough to really play without memorizing everything yet but that'll come in time
That was great explanation! Found it very helpful! Thank you for sharing. Question tho- what’s the the most effective way to practice this one exercise on all 12 keys?
A cool trick I learned to make playing these exercises not so boring is to play them silently. If you have a digital piano you can cut out the sound and if you’re using a grand or an upright use a wooden board. Put on some of your favorite tunes and play along with the tempo of the song to make it more fun. I love to put on a burnin hot swing while I practice these exercises.
The Turn Around Is A Challenge. Ok, The Pattern Is The Same For Your Fingers But I Would Also Like To Read And Play The Exercises Without Looking At my Hands, Like Typing ?
Thank you very much for this video. One question. At the end of the exercise, why do you play D before C? In the book, bar 29 ends in E, before bar 30, only C. Are you playing a variation? Or am I reading the music wrong?
You’re correct, the bar ends in E, and the final note is C. I’m not sure why he goes down further, but that’s not how it’s supposed to be played at the end.
Looks like I made a mistake at the end. Either way the main benefit of the exercises is doing it at all, and turning around in some way at the top and bottom. If you do it as written or the way I do it, it's all good
Zero to Piano, If you want to get even more out of this, (given that these are written in the key of C), do the same in the key of D flat/C# major where you have to contend with the black keys spacing. Do this very slowly but in rhythm. You will also learn to think in the key/s that you are practicing. In addition to the physical exercise, you will also exercise your brain while having to think of using only the notes available in D flat/C# major. also B major Your and technique will improve immensely. ALSO... ALWAYS PRACTICE WITH A METRONOME SO YOU CAN TRACK YOUR PROGRESS.
Umm, how do you guys follow a metronome? Sorry, just a newbie.. I am confused for each sound of beat from it. Do i need to complete all notes before the next beat of metronome?
I’m in the market for a metronome. Can you recommend an affordable one? What metronome do you have and are you happy with it? Thank you for posting this video.
I wonder if there is a revised version. My Hanon book was purchased back in the 60s. In that first exercise it only goes down to a B, not an A with the pinky of the left hand and the thumb of the right hand.
The longer I play, the more I realize which parts of my practice were a waste of time and which parts actually made a difference. Even if you have a teacher, they aren’t critiquing your practice, they are critiquing your playing. A teacher will be able to explain problems you may have with articulation and accenting but may not assign an exercise that will help with such problems. You are ultimately responsible for either finding or developing an exercise that will help you work on these problems.
@@DovidM totally agree, very very good teacher could make a big difference in the learning process as well... but at the end of the day, only YOU are the maker of your succes!
I did it at 60, 80 and 90 bpm perfectly. Now my teacher wants me to do it at 108 bpm, but I can't in any way. I start having difficulties at 95/97 bpm and I really don't know how to overcome it
Play it at 94 (or the highest possible bpm that you can play perfectly) then repeat it until it becomes easy, then go up 2 to 5 bpm at a time (or however fast/slow is comfortable for you to play perfectly)
My piano professor would say that your thumbs are much louder than the rest of the notes - I know because I had the same issue. You can really hear it at 4:57. The tempo and volume of the notes should be as even and consistent as possible. Also your keyboard is bouncing all over the place, dunno how you an practice like that, must be annoying AF.
Zero To Piano thanks ive been doing some five finger exercises of a guy called Stamaty opus 36 theres alot of similar five finger variations in groups of a hundred given in different order which helps you read and follow musics direction and get the right rotations etc on the fly instead of the inevitable memorisation however unless you have scribd you might find it difficult to get a good copy
You're right but it's quite irrelevant to the goal of the video. Buying the first 20 exercises on Amazon in paper is just few bucks, but his learning hints are priceless. Study slowly if you want to be able to play fast and accurate.
Yes, playing ever note evenly is required BUT you're practising Hanon only at Forte/Fortissimo? Hanon is supposed to be played Pianissimo, Piano, Mezzoforte and Forte - for EACH exercise. The difficulty is keeping even sounds across all volume levels, doing this strenghtes not only your finger strength but your touch and feel for the instrument. THEN you start with accentuated rythms within the exercise - play around. Every third note is a 16th, every 5th is an 8th ... another example: only accentuate the fourth note with Mezzoforte while playing all other notes Piano. THEN you start playing left and right hand crossed and do it all over again. "Once you have MASTERED these exercises, you can move on." Yeah, you can just mindlessly play Hanon by the book and get somewhat technically adept at playing the piano, it's just not how it is intended to be used.
Actually i would advice to practice them silently, on a keyboard or even a piece of wood, as their purpose is to intellectualise that fingers scheme and not focusing on the sound. If one can hear the sound while playing, or knowing the name if the tunes i think that's much more better than hearing the boring sounfs of the exercices.
Not very good at all. Start with the right hand only. Identify the starting note first, say it’s in C major. Like the introduction with metronome and the suggestion of a fixed daily five minute routine. Compare with JazerLee, which I think is much better.
@@anirudhsilverking5761 He's got a common problem where the pinky finger involuntarily raises when you play with the other fingers, commonly the 3rd or 4th finger. I'm currently trying to fix this too.
exactly what happened to me last winter (ignoring my teachers advice) making sessions way too long and aiming for speed way too early - had to pause for 6 weeks due to really bad left ellbow pain
True. And they should be done using wrist circles and rotation, (depending on the exercise) which is not mentioned in this video. Doing them as Hanon himself recommended (ie. just using 'finger strength' and lifting finger high after it's played a key) is a recipe for poor technique and injury.
@@secretmission7607I was thinking that too, it is very uncomfortable to lift my fingers up and use their strength, it hurt me, but maybe it was because I was just starting (I thought). Do you think I shouldn't do that and use arm weight instead?
@@ventana6588 I'd avoid Hanon completely! Better to use whatever pieces you're learning to evolve your technique along with a good teacher. Building a good technique without a teacher is almost impossible imo.
The method also includes erroneous information about technique. If you do play hanon, for God’s sake ignore the directions on technique, because they’re far from helpful.
@@jordan98127 Dude I am f*cking tired of people explaining me exercise1 from Hanon, you are not one of them off course. Like the person in this video who cannot play exercise1 right !?! I need good videos on exercise 57! or 60 for instance. I want to finish the Hanonmethod. I am far I think. Exercise 60 is a song. When I am finished I want to continue with Czerny.
@@jordan98127 Yes directions on technique are harsh and difficult , some movement of hand and arm is ok I think, Hanon wants you to play like a robot a bit, is that what you mean?
I mean the way he asks you to hold your hand high and move each finger individually. In correct piano technique, you want to use your whole upper body, not just one finger at a time. These ideas were more of a holdover from harpsichord technique, but they make no sense on the piano. Technique has come a long way since then and you’re better off ignoring those directions.
