Thank you for this video. I learned so much in a short time. I don’t know what it is, but I find Hanon and Czerny very challenging. I think it takes a part of my brain that I’m not used to tapping into. I find scales, arpeggios and inversions so much easier.
Just got my book today and did the first measure. My fingers already feel like they got a workout. I can feel the muscles in the fingers..lol and that's having played all last year learning and doing piano adventures up to level 5 without learning any scales very well at all. No wonder I'm so slow. Thank you. I feel confident that this will make a big difference. Thanks again for doing this. I've always wanted to play piano but never thought it was all of what it is to do it.
Hey awesome straightforward practical advice and demonstration. I’ve been feeling my way through this with no instruction and this is super helpful for where I am now in my process 🙏🏻
Hanon on a C. Bechstein! A few years ago, my wife and I wandered into this large piano showroom .. about 25 grand pianos on display. I asked if I may try a couple out. "Sure!", he replied. So I sat down and right there on this one piano, was the Hanon book. I went ahead and played a few of the exercises, since I'm pretty familiar with the book. Actually not a bad way to explore the feel, response, and sound of a prospective piano. Especially if you do the entire run of a few exercises, up and down the keyboard.
Thank you Robert, this was very helpful. I never thought about Hanon not requiring crossing over as being intentionally "built in" to the Hanon exercises. I am going to start using Hanon as my warm up rather than half way through my practice session. I am subscribing to your channel! I think its going to be very beneficial.
What he's describing at the beginning I call "marching" the fingers. There's a lot of value in that, as long as the hand position and other factors allow for optimal relaxation from the shoulder down to fingertips. A good teacher can help you achieve that. Without it, you will be limited in your speed, evenness, control and ease of playing. And it's no joke that you can develop tendonitis over time if you practice exercises with too much tension.
This is amazing, i've always had a problem of playing with my arm instead of my fingers for the past 12 years. My teacher would always tell me to play with my fingers and i would have NO idea what the heck he was talking about, you explained to me the technique and importance of something so basic in just 6 minutes for something that i needed so badly, especially why i struggle to play fast songs and why i cant play the notes lightly when the pace really quicks up. I hope that with this practice i'll be able to play songs quicker and really improve my game :)
I just got the book yesterday I've been messing around on piano for about a year now (improvising, composing, learning theory) but I can't play the things that I want or think about so I'm excited to start working on this book and work on my technique.
-- Or 50 years ago actually for me..60 years ago (plus) - my first piano instructor was my grandfather. No offense to my grandfather - but Robert is incredible.
I wish i know this years ago, my teacher always tells me im playing it wrongly but didnt tell me how to play it the right way. I had to figure out how to play it correctly myself... this is a very great video!
At the beginning (beginning ascending) and the middle (around the start of the descending part) of the first several Hanon exercises I feel pain in my right and left wrists, respectively. Notice at 1:36 his left hand and forearm make a straight line, this is comfortable for me. At the same time his right forearm is angled relative to his right hand, this is quite uncomfortable for me. I get the same pain in my left wrist when I approach the middle of the exercise. How can I remedy this pain? It must be my technique. Should I be leaning my upper body on my piano stool so that I dont have to awkwardly angle my wrists or what?
Hey, thank you so much for your videos. I have a question, should I play hannon in all the scales at the same practice time? For example if I practice the first exercise for one week, during this week I play all the scales every day?
What an eventful morning. I just learned that the circle of fifths that I downloaded had a mistake for relative minors for two flat keys, which had caused some confusion for me. And then I watched this video. I am ready to rock and roll on the piano as I go into my second month of piano practice.
Funny enough I was frustrated a while ago that my fingers weren't cooperating and I started doing something similar to this as a warm-up. Little did I know I was setting myself up for success 😂 will be lovely to properly train this time
I recall doing Hanon with my first teacher and then of course there is still some value in doing these exercises On the other hand, there was Abby Whiteside who loathed and condemned this kind of exercise for the pianist. Now try them in several different keys ..... Peter Tario
Thank you 🙏 Robert for teaching me the basics of Virtuoso Pianists Exercise 1 You are an amazing piano teacher I recommend this video to everyone who is learning Hanon’s Virtuoso Piantists Exercise 1 Once again thank you and you is what I call a professional piano teacher!
Wonderful - really helpful. Please could you help us with 39 to 46. I am having a hard time practicing scales, arpedios, scales in contrary montion and so forward. Cant memorize and finish the book. Really appreciate.
Thx so much, I just started playing hanon excerises yesterday and I must say their quite tricky but I have seen some change in my playing just in 1 day!
A.H. Aziz must be very good. she is right, even after playing for just 20 minutes i could play the c major scale with ease and more relaxed (which means i can go slightly faster) . I'll play these exercises in all 12 keys when i have the time
Wonderful: I already started on scales, as I thought that was the most basic set of exercises I could do. I shall now do the first 10 exercises of Hanon, now that I have heard of him. I am also finding these basic Hanon exercises are helping with my start in sight reading.
Also. Can you comment a bit on how you progress through a Hannon exercises. Let's say I learned 1 2 and 3. Do I want to continuously play this compounded everyday? So when I get to exercise 10 or so, I'm still playing 1-9 everyday? Thanks ahead of time.
Terrific video! Wow: Hanon on a C. Bechstein!!! Never sounded so good! Years ago when I worked on Hanon, I developed some sour relationships with roommates ..hahaha ...yeah, it'll drive listeners around the house nutz. They would all head for the door, when I pulled out my Hanon book. Great tips you shared - thanks!
There is an issue with using a digital keyboard, however. The technique and tone attainable on a proper acoustic piano is far beyond what you can obtain with a keyboard. Keyboard action is /not/ great for studying technique on.
This is all good and well, but my copy indicates that a quarter note should be 60bpms. The arpeggio is of eighth notes. So the exercise starts twice as fast as this recording.
I’ve found it extremely helpful. I was already familiar with all 12 major and minor scales, but doing Hanon 1 in Db revealed just how uncoordinated my fingers were.
I am 50 and started playing some 6-7 months back. Had around 24 lessons so far. Bought Hannon's Virtuoso Pianist a few months back on my own initiative but didn't try to play. Was trying it out this morning but was stumped by the recommended tempo. Thus seeking clarification. It seems that the music is in a series of semi-quavers, and the tempo suggetsed is 60bpm - crotchets. So if the metronome tempo is 60 bpm of crotchets (at the slowest), it means 240 semi-quaver notes per minute. Am I right?!! How is that "beginner" stuff? Playing 240 notes per minute!! Or am I getting it all wrong?
I'm confused on the proper use of the metronome for the Hanon exercises as they were intended by the author. My book says the metronome should be used from 60 to 108. At 60, does that mean each note is played per beat of the metronome or should I be completing the entire measure within 2 beats at 60? I'm a beginner and have no clue. I was practicing at 60 bpm with one note per beat but it's too slow and tedious. I feel like I'm just not understanding the metronome thing. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Practice at one note to the beat four times in a row, then two notes to the beat, also four times, and then four notes to the beat many times. You can use progressively faster metronome speeds getting from two notes to the beat to four notes to the beat if necessary.
@@LivingPianosVideos Thank you very much! That sounds like a good plan. That way I'm not getting bogged down in all the details and worrying about this or that tempo.
In fact people often put these two (Hanon and Czerny) together when they are entirely different beasts! My analogy is: say you're a Pole Vaulter. You need specific muscle training exercises for the run, the lift off etc. These are Hanon. However, no matter how many strength exercises you do you'll never be able to Pole Vault (play the piano) if you don't practice the actual motions themselves, with runway, pole and bar. This is in part Czerny, the other part being playing actual pieces (the menuets, sonatinas etc that people usually begin with). Now also note that Czerny was a student of Beethoven, and the techniques you'll practice in his methods (some of which are quite delightful) generally cover up to that period. When/if you then move on to your Chopins and Liszts and Debussys etc, it's an entire new ballgame (well, not completely but you get my point...). Hope this helps
Its funny. Many teachers tell you to keep your fingers a bit flat in some notes of hannon so as to go further inside. But keeping them rounded and even is much easier to learn. Thanks
I played Hanson over the years and I think , esp the first 10 exercises , strengthened my fingers , a recent teacher of mine liked other exercises better . have you ever heard a criticism that Hanon is a finger school of piano playing & other schools actually think you ought to be educating your arm , wrist , e.g. there is a rotational model , employed when playing Alberti bass for example , for which an exclusively finger strength approach is not recommended , again , according to advocates of this ' not finger only ' approach
I think it honestly depends on what you are playing and what kind of tone you want to produce. I think Hanon is useful, but other schools should not be ignored because you never know what different situations you will face in music. As for strengthening the fingers, I use a method my own piano coach taught me. I take a whole sheet of newspaper -- actually two sheets -- and crumble them each single handed with both hands. I do this once daily (or I should but I do forget). I think it has helped tremendously. My piano coach has a little Japanese student that has never touched Hanon in her life (just a lot of Bach and Mozart really) and she does this and she is FANTASTIC. Technically speaking, she is a better pianist than me (not to mention she is like 6 and I'm 21). I'm better expressiveness wise personally but finger strength never hurts for more technically demanding pieces. Everyone plays differently though. Take a gander on some books about Chopin. There are quite a few out there. Most of them will tell you that Chopin himself looked down on using the piano as a 'gym' per se. I don't think he was wrong because the music he left us today is utterly stunning to the ear if played correctly and in a natural manner which - according to his students - was a more natural approach. For pieces but Chopin, Rachmaninoff, and Liszt, an approach that demands more rotation would honestly be a lot better and would produce better results tonality wise.
Ohhh...thats why i suck at doing The Lame Duck is because im using my arms and that i make a hands go up.BTW thanks for the advice i also do Hanon im a begginer btw
