Customer Reviews

Piano Technique (Dover Books on Music)

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There are only a few books that can be hailed as "a must for a piano pedagogue."
Heinrich Neuhaus, "On the art of piano playing"
Gieseking, "Piano Technique..."
Josef Lhevinne, "Piano..." (sorry, I don't remember the title, but it is the only one he wrote)
All three differ in style, but they have one in common: the authours were the three greatest pianists of the last century. Neuhaus, on top of that, was a terrific literary talent, and his book is the place where great subject meets great writing. Has it been translated? This book has been the Holy Writ of all Russian pianists.
Lhevinne's book is the shortest and the most comprehensive. It is uncanny that everthing a pianist must know about the mechanics of piano playing is given in a concentrated form in this book. Its English is not idiomatic; yet, it goes well with the whole "Russian school" thing.
The Leimer-Gieseking book is an attempt at presenting a philosophy behind their science. It is written in a heavy German style, which means you can read every other page and still get the point. The whole book can be formulated in a few short sentences, but a German-born and bred writer would never commit such a sacrilegious act ("leave it to the Russian barbarians..."). Namely, "practice with your head, not fingers; develop your inner hearing; study your scores mentally, not at the piano; cultivate your imagination of the sound-picture; visualize the physical act of playing, complementing the mental picture with a full-blooded image of the sound."

Still, READ THE BOOK, there is no excuse for being under-educated.

I have read other books written on this topic by Josef Hofmann, Josef Lhevinne and William Newman. All of these were informative in their own way and I therefore recommend them. However, none of these was as articulate as this book by Walter Gieseking and Karl Leimer. All of the previously mentioned books contained information, but none of them were able to state the information in such direct, simple, and honest terms. Most importantly, this book gives reference to the absolutely essential variety of touches required in piano technique and also speaks extensively on visualization.I give this book my greatest recommendation.

This book is useful for piano students, but not one of the best in the category. The content relates much to the method of analyzing scores for the purposes of understand structures, and aiding memorization. There are other sections as well, which are mildly more interesting. To get true and solid advice, go for Art of Piano Playing by Henrich Neuhaus.

I'm a piano student, I have this book for 3 years now, and it is just amazing how basic principles explained can change one's aproach to the complete process of piano playing at a professional level. Indispensable for piano students.

I discovered this book (actually 2 books in the same volume) last year, after reading Neuhaus's Art of Piano Playing.
While I love the Neuhaus book, and found it very helpful on a general level, these books are indispensable TECHNICAL ones that do not have the pretention of going into the areas that Neuhaus treats in a much longer book, by the way.
Indeed Gieseking ? Leimar ? put great emphasis on analytic score reading as an aid to memorization and understanding music.
They are right to do so, I think.
They give important advice that EVERY PIANIST, amateur or professional, should know and understand in order to get the most out of practice time.
This advice is NOT EASY to put into practice as it necessitates great concentration, but it can be done, with great effect.
The books are both extremely technical, so you will have to use your neurons to get everything you can out of this little treasure.
They are for people who are very serious about playing the piano (as an amateur CAN be... and a professional SHOULD be...).
Although advanced students will make the most progress with them, possibly, a dedicated AND VERY MOTIVATED intermediate piano student CAN get something out of them too.
I know... I've put the advice in this book into practice and it DEFINITELY WORKS.
Like any technical instrument book, you really HAVE to read it while referring back to your own experience and sensations constantly.
One last point : a great part of this book, particularly the suggestions on analytic score reading and the organization/structure of practice time are INVALUABLE ADVICE for any person who plays a musical instrument.
Not just for pianists...even if pianists will get the most out of it.

The work was well written but very formalized. It covered the material technical in depth and was particlary well organized.

The author of this book is expressing his method of piano playing or technique. "The present treatise explains the method of my piano playing, that is, what I consider to be the foundation of my pianistic technique". If you are an advance play or teacher you might find this 1932 book useful.