The Leschetizky Method: A Guide to Fine and Correct Piano Playing (Dover Books on Music) [Paperback]

Malwine Bree (Author)

Book Description

Series: Dover Books on Music | Publication Date: May 1, 1997

Hard-to-find book documents principles and techniques of legendary piano teacher, who taught Paderewski, Schnabel, many other greats. Clear, easy-to-follow text, profusely illustrated with music examples and photographs of hand positions. Includes finger exercises, scales, octaves, chords, arpeggios, dynamics, the pedal, many other topics.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (May 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486295966
• ISBN-13: 978-0486295961
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #92,384 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

96 of 99 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The text was easy to understand and apply., September 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Leschetizky Method: A Guide to Fine and Correct Piano Playing (Dover Books on Music) (Paperback)

The Leschetizky Method is by Malwine Bree, who was Leschetizky's pupil and later, his assistant. Leschetizky was a student of Czerny, who studied with Beethoven. There is a charming dedication to Leschetizky--a bit of history--where Bree thanks him for all he has taught her and asks him to ensure that she has accurately recorded his teachings. His response glowingly praises her book as having faithfully followed his methods, and he adds that he recognizes the sketches of his hands on the keyboard.

The book is a quality paperback that will take a lot of spreading open at the piano without falling apart. As a student of the Russian Technical Regimen, a method directly derived from Leschetizky's teachings, I found the book to be an excellent supplement. Its 92 pages are crammed full of piano technique, including finger dexterity and independence, timing, use of the metronome, scales, chord playing, arpeggios, embellisments (such as grace notes), use of the pedal, performance tips, suggestions for memorizing, and a lot more, and has either exercises for or examples of each, with sketches of Leschetizky's hands on the keyboard demonstrating hand position for the chords and exercises. The editor offers a few tips that inject just a bit of modern theory.

The text was easy to read, the exercises easy to understand and apply, and both are thoroughly enjoyable as well as helpful for the pianist.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Solid .... but rather dull, June 10, 2002

By 

Claus Hetting (Gentofte, Copenhagen Denmark) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Leschetizky Method: A Guide to Fine and Correct Piano Playing (Dover Books on Music) (Paperback)

This book was actually written not by the famous Leschetizky himself, but by his student Bree, and then later endorsed by the master. In any event, it is solid in the sense that it provides some basic finger exercises that are still useful and presents some basic good advice. The commentary is probably quite correct but generally does not really reveal anything new, neither in content nor in presentation. Perhaps the best part of the book are the illustrations of various hand positions. At the end there is also a perhaps historically interesting article by Paderewski. For finger exercises, I think Hanon is better and more complete, and for a method as such, have a look at Seymour Bernstein's '20 Lessons in Keyboard Choreography'.

28 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Might not be for beginners!, December 13, 1999

By 

Antonio Bell - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Leschetizky Method: A Guide to Fine and Correct Piano Playing (Dover Books on Music) (Paperback)

This book is full of notations that I think are for advance students in music education or for piano players looking improve their skills. Enlarging the front cover shows the type of notation and fingering that will be found. It's not obvious from the title of this book that this book might not be for beginners who are trying learn on their own.