Customer Reviews

Fundamentals of Piano Practice

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book radically improved my piano playing. I was a good amateur classical guitarist when younger, but did not take up the piano until age 40. I assumed it would be impossible to develop enough technique as an adult to play anything very interesting. I spent 8 years or so banging out Hanon exercises and scales and got nowhere at all musically. With much painful labor I could work through some of the easiest Hayden sonatas at 75% of proper tempo. This book taught me how to practice the piano musically and in about a year and a half all of the Mozart and Hayden sonatas are within range and I am able to play for teachers or friends without falling apart. I no longer creep through scores looking for approachable adagios; I go straight for presto and allegro con brio.
This book clearly shows what's wrong with the way many students and teachers approach piano practice and tells you how to do it efficiently and quickly. Some of the tips I found most helpful were (1) throw Hanon in the trash (2) practice hands apart more than you think you need to (3) whenever you are working on a tricky passage, play it over and over at whatever tempo is relaxed, but end by playing it once very, very slowly (4) start your practice by playing a difficult piece musically without a long warm-up on scales and exercises.
The author sometimes has an idiosyncratic way of looking at things. For example, he suggests that in order to learn to play an Alberti bass very fast you should just realize that playing all notes of the chord simultaeously is the same as playing the Alberti pattern infinitely fast -so all you need to do is slow down a bit from the infinitely fast tempo. Clever, but not really that helpful. In spite of little quirks like that, though, this book can really help.

I am very happy to see this book available on Amazon, so that I may publish my gratitude to its author.

Read the Product Description above, carefully. That sums it up, and it is no idle boast.

As a self-taught pianist, I have read many books and articles on piano playing, including some of the greatest teachers and pianists. Though I have learned much from my studies, it was not until I read this book that I had the breakthrough that really opened up my abilities. Reading this book, one has the sense of taking a fantastic excursion to places yet unexplored, and coming away with a sense of astonishment that this is indeed the first treatise to really come to grips with the fundamentals of learning how to play the piano.

The proof of any self-help manual is in the result, and I can say loud and unequivocally that my playing has developed tremendously since I applied the techniques found here. I have taken on repertoire that I never would have attempted previously, and I am constantly amazed to watch myself, my hands, traverse the keyboard with such surety, even in demanding passages.

Before, too, I was hesitant to play in front of persons outside my own family. Through these methods, I have learned my pieces so well that I now have the confidence to play in front of complete strangers.

I could go on and on, but you don't need to be reading this review, you need to get and read this book. For me, it was the single greatest find in all my pianistic ramblings.

A plenitude of stars.

There's a great deal of valuable information in this book - but oh for a really good editor. It is sometimes like a stream of consciousness, long paragraphs hung together without a coherent plan of organization.

That said, if you play the piano, definitely buy it - but be prepared for a lot of frustration in order to glean out the nuggets of gold contained in the book. Go through it and make copious notes and bookmarks, then organize the material yourself so you can use it effectively.

Example: There's a description of how to go at learning Beethoven's Fur Elise that has loads of excellent suggestions. However, it's not identified in either the Table of Contents or the Index. I had to spend many frustrating minutes leafing through all the pages to find it again after a space of 3 weeks.

Also the layout is visually boring and dense, like a typewritten manuscript. It's tedious to read, and the content is extremely verbose.

Review update: 9/18/09. I have now pretty much finished going through this book and reiterate that there's some really invaluable information and exercises in it. It's well worth the struggle to extract its value.

Dr. Chang's book is not perfect - as he says, it's a work in progress - but it's a tremendous contribution that sheds major light on a series of related topics which, up til now, have remained as mysterious as the dark side of the moon to every other author, for a century or more.

Piano technique and virtuosity are, by their very nature, rather mysterious: they seem to arise in 'geniuses' while being withheld and kept out of reach from the rest of the human race. Can that really be? Or is it actually just a matter of proper training and teaching? Dr. Chang held the first view until he saw his two daughters making extraordinary progress under French piano teacher Yvonne Combe, who had once long ago been Debussy's assistant. At first believing that his kids were just amazingly talented, he then turned his scientist's eye to take a closer look and reached the opposite conclusion: his daughters learned to play extremely well because they had been trained correctly by Yvonne Combe, the teacher whom he acknowledges on his book's title page.

Like all good scientific work, those real-world results and phenomena form the basis for Dr. Chang's book: starting from phenomena that seemed hard to understand at first, the extraordinary results brought about by a master teacher drew Dr. Chang's analytical eye - causing him to analyze exactly what was going on, then carefully setting down his observations, ideas and the techniques he observed in this book, and in an effort to help others accomplish the same things.

Dr. Chang carried all this out with the objectivity and meticulous attention to detail of a master scientist, which he certainly is - his book, at first offered for free on the internet, becoming a major gift to the rest of the human race - or at least, to that segment of it dedicated to learning how to play the piano!

In this work Dr. Chang sets out a number of incredibly important insights about practicing and playing the piano which you will find nowhere else.

He discusses the basic piano techniques for accomplishing the shift of fingers and weight around the thumb - the "thumb over" technique as he calls it, which steers students - especially beginners - away from the "turning the thumb under" that all beginners are taught when playing scales, and which becomes a profound handicap even in intermediate playing.

He also talks about speed in arpeggios, leaps and octaves in a way that I have only heard discussed from one master teacher, Artur Schnabel's assistant in the 1930's. Dr. Chang has come to the same conclusion by analysis, but he is right: the 'infinite speed' of the rolled chord that leaps from octave to octave becomes the basis for playing arpeggios at virtuosic velocities - not the impossible task of turning the thumb under (which stops you and makes the gesture impossible) and pushing down the fingers on the keys individually. I only offer this as a sample, superficially described here, of the profound kind of insight you'll find in Dr. Chang's work.

If you follow what he says, it will transform your playing. There is no other source which will give you this kind of practical information.


Note on competing works: to put Dr. Chang's work in context, you have to start from the embarrassing, universal fact that nearly all the other books on the topic of piano practice and piano technique are pure swamp gas and snake oil!

Why? Famous pianists are the worst in trying to analyze and describe what they do - and you can see the results as their prose turns notoriously vaporous and vague when dancing around the practical issues of how they achieved results. Even the most famous share precious little in the books you will find under their names (and notice that all have been ghost written, usually by non-experts who know little about the piano or how to play it).

Then there are the other authors, some of whose names may be familiar: most, sad to say, are either deeply confused or just quacks selling worthless twaddle, a situation that's been going on in some cases for many, many years.

I could name them by author, but you can find them yourself - all listed on this Amazon page under "Customers who bought this book also bought..."

Beware of that Wall of Shame. Avoid them all. I own them all, and except for a few small excerpts from some of the books by known artists, all deserve to be shredded. They will waste your time and consume years of your life with no result.

Here's a tipoff: without exception you will find that these other books are all written in impenetrable, purple prose aimed at concealing their lack of content behind a cloud pretentious verbiage (this is true of music technical writing and criticism in general, btw).

By contrast, Dr. Chang's book is written in the clearest English he can bring to bear on a topic that's subtle and hard to describe verbally with precision (he also has online videos to demonstrate clearly what he means).

To properly appreciate Dr. Chang's contribution, consider what he's up against - decades of pure nonsense.

Dr. Chang is a different kind of writer from all the others: a top professional scientist who worked for years at elite Bell Labs, he's a trained, hard-eyed objective searcher after truth who questions all the swampy and gassy assumptions found everywhere in the worm-eaten piano technique literature.

He found much of it to be nonsense, and he was right. As an aspiring pianist struggling to learn the keyboard, Dr. Change realized early on that he was getting a lot of bad advice. His book prevents you from suffering the same fate.

PS NOTE to unhappy one-star reviewer Jian Zeng: You are having a problem understanding what Dr. Chang is saying. "Thumb over" is simply a term to contrast with "thumb under" - a practice taught to all beginning piano students when playing scales, but which becomes a tremendous handicap to even the intermediate pianist. "Thumb over" - yes, it means the thumb has to move from one key to another, but by shifting sideways when the hand is in the proper attitude: elbows slightly out, with the hand angled with wrist close to the extremes of the keyboard and fingertips closer together, as if your middle fingers of the flat hand were angled so as to nearly touch each other.

This is hard to describe in words, but very easy to see. When the hand is in that attitude, there is room for the thumb to move effortlessly even before it needs to. Beginners are taught to tuck that movable thumb *under* the stationary hand, which is painful after a while and will prevent virtuoso playing faster than baby steps.

Good luck and keep trying - Dr. Chang's book will help you get the results you seek.

This book is set up as a scientific research thesis, therefore the author goes systematically into great detail on piano practicing techniques, and includes numerous cross-references throughout the book, plus a long list of references to other resources at the end (of which many are reviewed by the author too).
Mr.Chang does not claim to re-invent the wheel, but he does succeed in making this a broad overview of 'Best Practices' (once you get used to the many acronyms used in the book - the book would have been twice as long if they were written out every time - it becomes an 'easier' read).
The book starts with an introduction chapter of 'success stories', which may sound a bit like marketing talk to sell the book.
That said, the content of the other chapters is what matters more, and although many aspects sound like common sense (e.g. starting to practice hands seperate - HS), the key is: when to play what, and how.
Despite the strictly scientific approach, the main goal is making music (that's one of the reasons that Mr. Chang prefers Bach Inventions over Hanon exercises).
If there is one word that jumps out all the time, it is: speed (but not speed just for the sake of speed). Many of the practice exercises described in the book are dealing with getting you up to (and above) final performance speed (and why).
A lot of attention also goes to mental play (MP) as a key to memorizing, avoiding blackouts, learning absolute pitch, etc.
This book has an online version which is kept up to date by the author. It also includes e.g. a short video sample on TO (thumb over playing of scales).
I wish there was a full length video about all the techniques explained in the book.
Or even better, what about making a documentary showing the progress of student(s) over a long period of time.
And even though I found it a little strange that the author reviews his own book in the review section at the end, and claims it to be a must read, I must admit he's right.

I just wanted to make sure that this product was represented with the author's intentions. This quote is from page 27 of his book, "Fundamentals of Piano Practice" under the 1st complete paragraph:

"Together, we are pioneering a web based approach for providing free education of the highest caliber, something that will hopefully become the wave of the future. There is no reason why education can't be free." - Chuan C. Chang

He makes his book available for free download at his personal site: [piano practice dot org]

He is providing this amazon link as a way to provide easy access for you to have a printed version. There is nothing illegal about this.

Also, you can verify the quote for yourself if you would like with Amazon's "Look Inside!" feature.

Some of the people who panned this book, did it for narcissistic reasons.
Their egos couldn't handle the fact that he says, "throw the other books away".
I play about 20 instruments regularly...guitars, bass, mandolin, violin, Celtic whistle, clarinet, cornet, piano, recorder, etc, in a host of styles. I have been playing piano literally all my life. I always loved it, but lessons, or no lessons, I never made the great strides I had hoped for, though I put the work into it. If the wisdom was so wise from previous texts, why do we look at Bach and Beethoven and Liszt as heights? Why are they not stepping stones on the way to something greater, which expresses our time as richly as they expressed theirs?
Because the instructions don't work.

After reading Dr. Chang's book, a great deal of it made sense right off the bat.
He is saying 'the emperor has no clothes', of course, he is going to take flak.
"Throw the Hanon away" irritated one reviewer. Chang got these ideas from someone who worked with Claude Debussy. She knew how the pros do it. He is an astute scientist, with an eye for detail, subtle comparisons, and bull that is commonly believed, but doesn't hold up to objective scrutiny, logic, or the laws of physics.

If I say, 'If Berklee is an esteemed school of jazz, why are its most famous people its dropouts, like Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea", I am going to get flak.
The plain and simple fact is that following the methods of the book judiciously, I am now able to play Thelonious Monk's 'Round Midnight, which is not only one of the heights of jazz, but it is stride, meaning the left hand alternates between the bass notes and the chords, while the right is playing a melody. It has loosened me up so much that I am able to play in front of people, something I found very difficult before, even though I have mastered the violin. I can improvise freely, because I have the confidence that I will hit the notes. 22 note runs of Chopin's Nocturne in B flat minor fly out of the fingers with ease, and no effort, correctly, every time.

One really unobvious point he makes, is that the hard work of playing the piano needs to be broken down into easily digestible pieces. His methods work every time. The heavy lifting of really learning the music takes place in the mind, in your spare moments. The finger work is really the easy part. My mental coordination has grown by leaps and bounds, even more than the physical coordination between the two hands. Unlearning common wisdom is the hardest part.
I would think the open mind of a child, who didn't have to unlearn so much, would go through this like a chain saw, and literally save years of mind numbing practice, concentrating on expression instead, and still having time to pursue other interests. With his process, you can anticipate mistakes, and iron out the speed bumps before they become habits, and hard to unlearn.

This isn't a book. It's a miracle. Well worth the $25, or even $100. Printing out the free version might easily cost you 25 in ink. I am often frustrated by musical instruction. This is the real deal. The best bargain I have ever seen.
The proof is in the playing, and the orders of magnitude of improvement. I literally dropped my daughter's jaw when she heard me. I get even more excited, because at 57, this is literally just the beginning.

Dr. Chang, this is one of the kindest acts of spreading culture I have ever seen.
I am immensely grateful, every day. You have helped me to realize my dreams through my mind and fingers, and free a piece of my soul.

This manual should be required reading for all piano students. It presents unique techniques and incites into the method of practicing the piano. It will surely accelerate the learning process and give you additional incentive for continuing your studies. Highly recommended.

i usually do not take the time to write review on products that i've purchased however this one i feel i must. I purchased many books and dvds and have had lessons. This one truly is organized and is taken with respect to the student; he has a very respectful writing style and can relate with incorrect teaching methods.

I've yet to complete this book but am re-energized and feel that there is still hope with this instrument i am drawn to. I cannot recommend this more to any student who has been a victim to horrible teachers and methods, try this out.
discovered this book from a great site www.pianostreet.com


-sean.

I have read some of the extracts on the free web site and here are my 2 cents.

- There is lots of useful information about how to practice, for instance, practice difficult parts first, separate hands, parallel sets, alternating left/right hand to avoid tiredness, video recording yourself, etc.

- Like other reviewers have said, the layout looks more like a PhD thesis than a book. One could question the choice of font, the many highlighted parts in italic, the tight spacing, and I find the online version actually more readable, with the benefits of the hyperlinks. Small thing though.

- I am more weary about the claims made. For instance:

* How many million dollars would be saved to the world by using the methods described. Does the author have actual data on that based on polls for example?

* The pianist population could potentially explode by a factor of 100. Really? Where is this coming from, is there actual data on this?

* Supposedly, everyone can become a pianist master by following the techniques listed, and talent is not even a consideration. I doubt that everyone has the same abilities, be it different hands (which may require different fingerings and motions to play difficult passages for instance), variable skills (some people just don't get rhythm or don't have good coordination), the way you feel about music (if music doesn't come from within you, just following a set of instructions to learn faster is not going to make you a musician).

- Like many self help books (if you put it in that category), learning or doing other things more efficiently will require a lot of discipline. How many people actually have that discipline? I personally have to fight not to start playing the piece I am learning from the beginning to hear "how it sounds" and instead concentrate on the difficult parts. Of course in writing it looks easy but all of us are somehow reluctant to change.

- How does becoming a concert pianist automatically make you a composer? A real composer, I mean. Doesn't composing require much more than playing, not the least an artistic and creative ability which not everybody has? Doesn't composing also require extensive knowledge of the structure of music? I am just an amateur pianist, and I could compose a Waltz myself over a weekend but does that make me a composer?

- Gains of 1000 times of traditional methods are claimed. I am also weary of that, unless there is actual data to prove it, including reference to an acclaimed pianist who learned using the method. The techniques listed in the book may accelerate learning at different rates for different people.

I would give it 4 stars (because some parts are quite interesting to read, lots of good information, including a comparison of the various piano types) if it wasn't for the (I think) overstated claims.