In this video, I'll bust a HUGE myth and explain how to REALLY get your fingers moving effortlessly over those piano keys. Piano technique is ESSENTIAL - even if you're playing piano just for your own enjoyment. So technique exercises are really important. But what's even more important? Doing those exercises that will give you the BEST results in the SHORTEST time. 💡💡FREE TECHNIQUE COURSE PREVIEW: bit.ly/3V2n8QT 👉 Ave Maria Easy Piano: th-cam.com/video/TQSbqrF8B_w/w-d-xo.htmlsi=SOfBbab9ezSVhAeh 🌟 Ave Maria Easy Piano Tutorial: th-cam.com/video/RgifcatR2yk/w-d-xo.htmlsi=wnWkOY7dNUNY6K4O 🎹 FREE 1 Year Piano Success Blueprint: bit.ly/4aDd07h 🗒 Practice Makes Permanent Book: bit.ly/4ciVlTe ✔ Get Weekly Practice Tips To Your Inbox: bit.ly/3Rwk3aN 🎹 REACH YOUR PIANO GOALS: thepianokeys.com 👉 Join My FREE PATREON GROUP: patreon.com/thepianokeys 📕 Master piano chords with my chord book: bit.ly/3yRbqRj
I would attribute a significant proportion of developing my technique to Hanon, I learned so much coordination and fine rhythmic motor control that I've been able to seamless adapt to learning other instruments as well. But something that's very important - I only worked on them for a couple years to build my technique and never really touched again after I had finished all 12 keys. And also I had a great teacher when I was starting out who was heavily into Alexander Technique. To him posture and effortless motion were everything, he had gone through tendonitis and didn't want his students to have to go through the same thing. He didn't teach me much musicality, but he definitely gave me the tools to develop my own. I also played some Czerny later, but it never really did much for me. Hanon built up hand shapes and pattern dexterity equally in both hands, and established the neural pathways I needed to command my fingers for the rest of my life. Czerny often neglects the left hand and doesn't explore truly awkward fingering patterns, instead they feel like exam pieces - things you should be able to play to test your technique, rather than to actually build it. So much music I've played, especially as an accompanist, has featured awkward unpianistic writing, which I feel like Hanon prepared me for and I've seen many of peers struggle and cheat to get by. But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter as much what book you learned out of, but rather whether you did or didn't have a good teacher to develop healthy technique. And certain books like Hanon can cause a lot of damage in the wrong hands (pun intended) so I'm fully behind a cautious approach to them, or even avoiding them if you don't know how to apply their lessons safely.
I'm grateful for teaching to stay away from Hanon. I was debating if I should practice Hanon almost a year ago. Thank goodness that I saw other videos that I should not do Hanon exercises. I create my own exercises based on the exercises from my lead guitar training for 15 years.
Finally someone who clearly debunks the terrible Hanon exercises. But I'm not a big fan of the Czerny exercises either ;). They are also narrow-minded. These are exercises for a specific era and type of classical music from the time of Czerny. You don't learn modern music or other styles (jazz, contemporary music or even Chopin). In my opinion you should develop a more general musical technique (gestures) with which you can play many styles and types of music.
In my first year of learning piano (2022) I developed De Quervain Tendonitis in my left wrist and had to have surgery. For only 4 months, I had been studying with a teacher that gave me Hanson exercises and pieces such as Burgmuller’s Arabesque, with no mention of proper technique. That injury happened very quickly! I am so glad to have found you, Marina. The way you approach playing the piano with such practical tips has been a game changer for me. Plus, I like the way you tailored the Czerny exercise to less advanced players by changing the non legato indication to legato. That’s just one example of your teaching expertise. Thanks for another great video!
Oh no, Mary Ann!! I'm so sorry that you went through that! It's such a shame that anyone can call themselves a piano teacher because many times, these people do more harm than good. I'm so glad that you're on the right track now!! I can see that you're really dedicated to your piano journey and I'm very happy to be a part of it. ❤❤
These exercises are beautiful in comparison to Hanon. Hanon exercise are a little mind-numbing for me. I am happy that you reviewed the Czerny exercises. The piano teacher that I just started working with suggested these to me. This video reinforces her recommendation.
A pianoteacher with an attitude 👍You make a good argument against exploring Hanon. The Czerny excercise you demonstrated looks cool, and resembles (Is) something that would actually occur in "real" music, which is the real goal to be able to play.
I couldn't agree more. I am so grateful my first teacher in the 1960s did not give me Hannon exercises. My firends all had them and made far less progress. They're virtually worthless, and as you say, potentially harmful. Any new student I get who comes in with them is quickly disabused of them. Thanks for saying this out loud.
Thank you for your videos, you are such a nice person! So would you pls allow me to bring a suggestion? - Anti-inflammatory drug to a person is much worse then Hanon to a student. What is a conventional doctor not allowed to tell you is that ALL you need is to change your diet: Less animal products, more organic plant based fresh food (veggies, fruits, beans, mushrooms, nuts). I wish you Best!
WOW Mary, one of my most favorite pieces of music is based on a Hanon! I still enjoy playing many of them, and yes, some of us know how to play them in ALL the Keys!
Practicing 8 to 10 hours a day??? Whoa!!! Maybe that is part of the problem. After a private voice/piano recital I attended last month I ask the accompanist if he did Hanon..Without delay he said "ABSOLUTELY YES" This man was head of a university piano department. Go figure!....IMO, this war will never end.
Yes, it was toward the end of the school year, and I had a lot of friends in the wind department who needed accompaniment for their crazy orchestral reduction piano parts. I shouldn't have done it, because those things are written for people with 15 fingers. As for the accompanist who loves Hanon, more power to him!
I sure agree with your assessment of Hanon exercises. . It been recommended to me to start working on the book of Hanon exercises by my first teacher, but with absolutely no guidance as to how to practice and benefit from them, so I worked on them in a mechanical and repetitive way.🎹
Thanks, Diane! I was never forced to play them - thank goodness! My teachers, for the most part, really nurtured my musical expression, and the exercises they taught me were a part of that.
Hmmm, I wouldn't say that I have keys I prefer for playing because it really is a case-by-case basis rooted in the details of each piece. I will say however, I don't like reading in C# major, mostly because it's much easier to read the same thing in Db major (especially if there are lots of accidentals).
@@ThePianoKeys I get that, though I don't think I have ever come across anything in C#maj. - always Db. I'm not even sure what the key signature is for that off the top of my head. But then, you have encountered a lot more music than I have. Eb minor is the one that messes with my head the most.
I really dislike the fact that C maj is the 'go to' key for pretty much everything that people use to learn to play piano - almost to the point that I avoid pieces just because they are in C. Hannon included. I do spend a lot of time with Czerny, but I have learned that I have to approach his compositions very carefully so that they don't do more harm than good. He can be just diabolical sometimes. I also have heard from many different sources that Chopin (at one time, a student of Czerny) used B maj a lot to work with his students, since the finger groupings fit the hand naturally. C maj is pretty awkward for the hands if you think about it.
@ThePianoKeys I know, it's weird for sure. The first scale I decided to learn was Db major. So, I never had that obscure fear of sharps. If anything, I used to struggle with scales that had less sharps in them. C major was one of the last I decided to learn.
I always hated Hanon...Boring, repetitive and the exercises feel all the same. Thanks to my teacher I discovered a collection called "Preludi Colorati" (Italian for "Coloured Preludes) by Remo Vinciguerra. Even if they're not meant to be exercises, theyre so useful for technique! Hope to see a video about them too!!🎹🎹
@gregrosendahl7362 the topic is still an interesting one, though poorly presented and based with very little substance other than "I think this other method is better." If this lady would have gotten to the point quicker, I would have stayed for the entire thing.
@123SLM123 Thanks for checking out the video. This is how I present my material, and it's clearly not a good fit for you. Fortunately, there are thousands of piano tutorial channels for you to explore. May the odds be ever in your favor. 😊
Hi Marina. I love your videos anyway as you know and I am a huge fan of your teaching style. I get what you mean about Hanon and it took me a long, long time to see it. I was really taken aback when teachers would tell me that you shouldn't do it and there's no beneficial component or effect if you want to really play piano or authentic music! They would concentrate on the physiological side of things when I asked them why! This only went so far to explain why they were so down on Hanon. This was compounded by so many of my teachers using it! You have hit the nail on the head and really firmly drilled it into that piece of wood lol! No pun intended lol! There is little musicality and it is very robotic. It made me laugh when you said and it's frequently played in the key of C because guess what, I only ever played it in C lol. I was terrified to play the exercises in any other key any many years later when I realised it's just as easy and still of very little artistic benefit when you do so. This eureka moment was when I got over my fear of transposition which because of my classical training was something only Jazz musicians did lol. We proper musicians stuck to the notation - NOTTTTTTTT! No offence to all you Jazzers out there who really are proper musicians. I think all Classical and traditional teachers should take a leaf out of the Jazz teacher and teach chords, and improv from the off as well as many other things. I think I would have been a much better pianist had I had that teaching from the of! Instead I was left with a fear of failing at improv and terrified when I saw the complex jazz chords which really are as difficult as you want to make them. All the above being said, I still use Hanon for warm-up exercises and then I go to Czerny. I want to get the opus you have and I've forgotten the version I have - A white book with blue writing not sure how much that helps lol. It is melodious and really does improve on musicality and enhances technique just as you say. I have tried Pinchner, I think you spell it like that anyway. I really can't take to that as I find that just as boring as Hanon and frankly just as potentially harmful! I have actually hurt my wrists when I was told to practise Hanons by my teachers. I think they should all be arrested for child abuse lol. No just joking! But they should be made to atone for the error of their ways lol. They should teach to use for a warm-up exercise and then try different keys etc. Can't wait till I can become a member. Thank you Marina.
In this video, I'll bust a HUGE myth and explain how to REALLY get your fingers moving effortlessly over those piano keys. Piano technique is ESSENTIAL - even if you're playing piano just for your own enjoyment. So technique exercises are really important. But what's even more important? Doing those exercises that will give you the BEST results in the SHORTEST time.
💡💡FREE TECHNIQUE COURSE PREVIEW: bit.ly/3V2n8QT
👉 Ave Maria Easy Piano: th-cam.com/video/TQSbqrF8B_w/w-d-xo.htmlsi=SOfBbab9ezSVhAeh
🌟 Ave Maria Easy Piano Tutorial: th-cam.com/video/RgifcatR2yk/w-d-xo.htmlsi=wnWkOY7dNUNY6K4O
🎹 FREE 1 Year Piano Success Blueprint: bit.ly/4aDd07h
🗒 Practice Makes Permanent Book: bit.ly/4ciVlTe
✔ Get Weekly Practice Tips To Your Inbox: bit.ly/3Rwk3aN
🎹 REACH YOUR PIANO GOALS: thepianokeys.com
👉 Join My FREE PATREON GROUP: patreon.com/thepianokeys
📕 Master piano chords with my chord book: bit.ly/3yRbqRj
I would attribute a significant proportion of developing my technique to Hanon, I learned so much coordination and fine rhythmic motor control that I've been able to seamless adapt to learning other instruments as well. But something that's very important - I only worked on them for a couple years to build my technique and never really touched again after I had finished all 12 keys. And also I had a great teacher when I was starting out who was heavily into Alexander Technique. To him posture and effortless motion were everything, he had gone through tendonitis and didn't want his students to have to go through the same thing. He didn't teach me much musicality, but he definitely gave me the tools to develop my own.
I also played some Czerny later, but it never really did much for me. Hanon built up hand shapes and pattern dexterity equally in both hands, and established the neural pathways I needed to command my fingers for the rest of my life. Czerny often neglects the left hand and doesn't explore truly awkward fingering patterns, instead they feel like exam pieces - things you should be able to play to test your technique, rather than to actually build it. So much music I've played, especially as an accompanist, has featured awkward unpianistic writing, which I feel like Hanon prepared me for and I've seen many of peers struggle and cheat to get by.
But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter as much what book you learned out of, but rather whether you did or didn't have a good teacher to develop healthy technique. And certain books like Hanon can cause a lot of damage in the wrong hands (pun intended) so I'm fully behind a cautious approach to them, or even avoiding them if you don't know how to apply their lessons safely.
Very well said! Alexander Technique is a great foundation for all movements at the piano and your teacher clearly gave you a wonderful start.
Yes. Please do a series on Czerny. Thank you
Will do!
Thanks you for those tips!
You're very welcome!
Yes, please present a series on Czerny. Your insights are so helpful. Thank you!
Thanks so much, I will!
I'm grateful for teaching to stay away from Hanon. I was debating if I should practice Hanon almost a year ago. Thank goodness that I saw other videos that I should not do Hanon exercises.
I create my own exercises based on the exercises from my lead guitar training for 15 years.
That's excellent!
Finally someone who clearly debunks the terrible Hanon exercises. But I'm not a big fan of the Czerny exercises either ;). They are also narrow-minded. These are exercises for a specific era and type of classical music from the time of Czerny. You don't learn modern music or other styles (jazz, contemporary music or even Chopin). In my opinion you should develop a more general musical technique (gestures) with which you can play many styles and types of music.
Yes, pls make a series on his exercises.
Thanks for this video.
U re the best❤❤
Thanks so much!
In my first year of learning piano (2022) I developed De Quervain Tendonitis in my left wrist and had to have surgery. For only 4 months, I had been studying with a teacher that gave me Hanson exercises and pieces such as Burgmuller’s Arabesque, with no mention of proper technique. That injury happened very quickly! I am so glad to have found you, Marina. The way you approach playing the piano with such practical tips has been a game changer for me. Plus, I like the way you tailored the Czerny exercise to less advanced players by changing the non legato indication to legato. That’s just one example of your teaching expertise. Thanks for another great video!
Oh no, Mary Ann!! I'm so sorry that you went through that! It's such a shame that anyone can call themselves a piano teacher because many times, these people do more harm than good. I'm so glad that you're on the right track now!! I can see that you're really dedicated to your piano journey and I'm very happy to be a part of it. ❤❤
Thank you. I have the book but haven’t used it yet. I’d like videos on the beginning exercises.
These exercises are beautiful in comparison to Hanon. Hanon exercise are a little mind-numbing for me. I am happy that you reviewed the Czerny exercises. The piano teacher that I just started working with suggested these to me. This video reinforces her recommendation.
That's wonderful! And what a cute doggie!
A pianoteacher with an attitude 👍You make a good argument against exploring Hanon. The Czerny excercise you demonstrated looks cool, and resembles (Is) something that would actually occur in "real" music, which is the real goal to be able to play.
Hi Sir J! Thanks for your support! I'll be exploring Czerny exercises in more detail, especially in our master classes!
I couldn't agree more. I am so grateful my first teacher in the 1960s did not give me Hannon exercises. My firends all had them and made far less progress. They're virtually worthless, and as you say, potentially harmful. Any new student I get who comes in with them is quickly disabused of them. Thanks for saying this out loud.
Thank you! I'm glad that you're not using these exercises with your students!
Thanks for that I did hanon but didn't like it at all hurt my fingers I never used czerny I will use that info thanks
You're very welcome!
Thank you for your videos, you are such a nice person! So would you pls allow me to bring a suggestion? -
Anti-inflammatory drug to a person is much worse then Hanon to a student. What is a conventional doctor not allowed to tell you is that ALL you need is to change your diet:
Less animal products, more organic plant based fresh food (veggies, fruits, beans, mushrooms, nuts).
I wish you Best!
WOW Mary, one of my most favorite pieces of music is based on a Hanon! I still enjoy playing many of them, and yes, some of us know how to play them in ALL the Keys!
That's great!
Practicing 8 to 10 hours a day??? Whoa!!! Maybe that is part of the problem. After a private voice/piano recital I attended last month I ask the accompanist if he did Hanon..Without delay he said "ABSOLUTELY YES" This man was head of a university piano department. Go figure!....IMO, this war will never end.
Yes, it was toward the end of the school year, and I had a lot of friends in the wind department who needed accompaniment for their crazy orchestral reduction piano parts. I shouldn't have done it, because those things are written for people with 15 fingers. As for the accompanist who loves Hanon, more power to him!
I sure agree with your assessment of Hanon exercises. . It been recommended to me to start working on the book of Hanon exercises by my first teacher, but with absolutely no guidance as to how to practice and benefit from them, so I worked on them in a mechanical and repetitive way.🎹
Thanks, Diane! I was never forced to play them - thank goodness! My teachers, for the most part, really nurtured my musical expression, and the exercises they taught me were a part of that.
Great explanation on the concept of gestures in music!!!
Thanks so much!
Marina, do you have a particular key that you prefer to play in?
For me, Eb / Cm always seem to be more comfortable compared to others. Not sure why.
Hmmm, I wouldn't say that I have keys I prefer for playing because it really is a case-by-case basis rooted in the details of each piece. I will say however, I don't like reading in C# major, mostly because it's much easier to read the same thing in Db major (especially if there are lots of accidentals).
@@ThePianoKeys I get that, though I don't think I have ever come across anything in C#maj. - always Db. I'm not even sure what the key signature is for that off the top of my head. But then, you have encountered a lot more music than I have.
Eb minor is the one that messes with my head the most.
I really dislike the fact that C maj is the 'go to' key for pretty much everything that people use to learn to play piano - almost to the point that I avoid pieces just because they are in C. Hannon included. I do spend a lot of time with Czerny, but I have learned that I have to approach his compositions very carefully so that they don't do more harm than good. He can be just diabolical sometimes.
I also have heard from many different sources that Chopin (at one time, a student of Czerny) used B maj a lot to work with his students, since the finger groupings fit the hand naturally. C maj is pretty awkward for the hands if you think about it.
with hanon it's assumed you'll be transposing the exercises into other keys as you develop.
Yes, but how many people actually do that?
I love B Major, but my students always get terrified when I present them something in that key. 🤣🤣 Not sure why people are afraid of sharps...
@ThePianoKeys I know, it's weird for sure. The first scale I decided to learn was Db major. So, I never had that obscure fear of sharps. If anything, I used to struggle with scales that had less sharps in them. C major was one of the last I decided to learn.
@@syzygy2464 That was my intention until I lost interest.
Yes please do more Czerny exercises.
Will do!
I used hanon as part of a suite of warm up's, including czerny's.
Glad it's working for you!
I always hated Hanon...Boring, repetitive and the exercises feel all the same.
Thanks to my teacher I discovered a collection called "Preludi Colorati" (Italian for "Coloured Preludes) by Remo Vinciguerra. Even if they're not meant to be exercises, theyre so useful for technique! Hope to see a video about them too!!🎹🎹
Thanks for your comment - I was not familiar with the work of Remo Vinciguerra, but I will look him up!
Please do some lessons on Crney (sp?).
I will, Sylvia!
I agree Hanon is ok but more robotic / too repetitive....but it shifts through modes and keys....and that is good.
Yes, I do like that it shifts between modes.
Hannon teaches nothing about actually playing the piano.
Yeah, I wouldn't spend my time on those exercises when there are so many better ways to level up.
Do you always need so many words to get to your point?
Yes.
Yet you still listen..
@gregrosendahl7362 the topic is still an interesting one, though poorly presented and based with very little substance other than "I think this other method is better."
If this lady would have gotten to the point quicker, I would have stayed for the entire thing.
@123SLM123 Thanks for checking out the video. This is how I present my material, and it's clearly not a good fit for you. Fortunately, there are thousands of piano tutorial channels for you to explore. May the odds be ever in your favor. 😊
Hi Marina. I love your videos anyway as you know and I am a huge fan of your teaching style. I get what you mean about Hanon and it took me a long, long time to see it. I was really taken aback when teachers would tell me that you shouldn't do it and there's no beneficial component or effect if you want to really play piano or authentic music! They would concentrate on the physiological side of things when I asked them why! This only went so far to explain why they were so down on Hanon.
This was compounded by so many of my teachers using it! You have hit the nail on the head and really firmly drilled it into that piece of wood lol! No pun intended lol! There is little musicality and it is very robotic. It made me laugh when you said and it's frequently played in the key of C because guess what, I only ever played it in C lol. I was terrified to play the exercises in any other key any many years later when I realised it's just as easy and still of very little artistic benefit when you do so. This eureka moment was when I got over my fear of transposition which because of my classical training was something only Jazz musicians did lol. We proper musicians stuck to the notation - NOTTTTTTTT! No offence to all you Jazzers out there who really are proper musicians. I think all Classical and traditional teachers should take a leaf out of the Jazz teacher and teach chords, and improv from the off as well as many other things. I think I would have been a much better pianist had I had that teaching from the of! Instead I was left with a fear of failing at improv and terrified when I saw the complex jazz chords which really are as difficult as you want to make them.
All the above being said, I still use Hanon for warm-up exercises and then I go to Czerny. I want to get the opus you have and I've forgotten the version I have - A white book with blue writing not sure how much that helps lol. It is melodious and really does improve on musicality and enhances technique just as you say.
I have tried Pinchner, I think you spell it like that anyway. I really can't take to that as I find that just as boring as Hanon and frankly just as potentially harmful!
I have actually hurt my wrists when I was told to practise Hanons by my teachers. I think they should all be arrested for child abuse lol. No just joking! But they should be made to atone for the error of their ways lol. They should teach to use for a warm-up exercise and then try different keys etc.
Can't wait till I can become a member. Thank you Marina.
Hi Scarelette! So glad you enjoyed the video!