Customer Reviews

Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises - Book 1: Piano Technique (Schirmer's Library, Volume 1071)

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Ignore my title. No serious student of piano would teach themselves, though a few good ones have. And if you must do it that way, this book should be your first buy. I picked up Hanon 3 years ago when I got back into piano study. For a year and a half, I thought all this book had to offer was exercises. Good exercises, mind you, and that was sufficient for me. However, I only recently got deeper into this book and realized there is a great deal more here for advancing your piano skills -- like proper scale fingerings and such.

Hanon is based on a total of 60 exercises for finger strength, stability, and performance. It takes a long time to work up all 60, but once you are there, you can daily work through each one consecutively or otherwise to warm up and improve your skills.

This book is essential for any pianist, whether you are training classically or to play pop. Whether by ear or by reading (or hopefully both), it isn't a real challenge to learn the basic reading required for these exercises (they start in the key of C -- no black notes -- and stay that way for a while). The beginner can start with exercise one and move forward at their own pace.

I have posted this for various editions of Hanon. Hopefully this will catch people early!

Going against the grain here I would say DO NOT buy this book! I am a piano teacher and yes, I had to use this book in my younger days. Recent research, however, has shown that using this can potentially give you wrist problems such as RSI. Finger strength is not really a priority when learning the piano. Good technique and understanding of the music is.

Ask yourself: How many times do I repeat patterns such as those in Hanon over and over again when I am playing a piece of music? The answer is never! So why train your fingers to do that? The only thing playing Hanon makes you better at is playing Hanon!

If you want to improve the technique and musicality of your playing find a Mozart (or Haydn, Corelli, Kabalevsky or any other composer) piano piece that you enjoy and that is within your ability or will stretch you just a little and learn it. Practise it slowly and play each phrase with the correct notes and fingering every time. This gives you a piece of music you can perform as well.

In short, if you were an athlete would you train using physical techniques from the early 1900s? Our knowledge of physiology has moved on and even some elements of the piano action have been improved to make actions lighter and more responsive.

If you are looking to improve your piano technique I suggest you read:
Lhevinne: Basic Principles in Pianoforte Playing
Gieseking & Leimer: Piano Technique (Paperback)
Sandor: On piano playing

They aren't necessarily the easiest books to read, but playing the piano isn't easy! I use other books as well (e.g. 20 Lessons in keyboard choreography), Czerny for certain things, but never Hanon!

This has got to be the greatest book for technical difficulties in classical music. It has 60 excercises to prepare you for the monumental difficulties of a Mozart piano concerto or sonata, a Beethoven sonata, or any classical composer for that matter. I warm up with this book everyday with a metronome before I even begin to practice my music, (I play all Mozart, I like Beethoven too, but I have a preference for Mozart, I just love his brilliant work. It doesn't make any difference what you play though, this book will guide you to all the technical difficulties like octaves, broken octaves, trills, threefold trills, etc...). There are three sections, each get harder in difficulty, but it is worth it. Your playing will improve ten-fold if you learn this book. Trust me, get this book and your playing will be like it has never been.

Just to be clear: There are only 20 exercises in this book. If you want all 60, you have to order the "Complete" volume, or collect book 2 and 3 in addition to this one. The exercises are all great for building finger strength, but they build in complexity with each volume and I've quickly grown tired of this book.

You can hurt yourself with this book. The introduction suggests you play all the exercises without stopping. I tried this in high school without working up to it. After a few months I developed tendonitis and have struggled with it in both wrists ever since.

Now with that said, I still use these exercises to warm up. I think they are great for the purpose of strengthening fingers like 3, 4, & 5 that don't get as much work. I do recommend this book. Just be aware that you should treat them like lifting weights. Start slowly and work up to it. If at any point you feel pain, burning, or throbbing in your wrists or forearms, STOP. But this is true for anything at the piano.

Although Hanon may appear to be a series of exercises for the classical pianist, don't be fooled. I was turned onto Hanon by Bon Jovi keyboardist David Bryan, back in the late 80's. He said that every serious player should perform these exercises every day. I must agree. They work your dexterity as well as improve your ability to do keyboard runs, play chords, and smooth out your basic overall fluidity of playing. Whether you play classical or jam in a rock band, spend the few bucks for this book and start practicing.

PS- Don't expect to learn these exercises in a few weeks...It took me a year and I am much better for it!

The exercises in Hanon's book are specifically designed to strengthen all of your fingers. Practicing them is not difficult, it just takes a bit of time each day. After 1 week of practice, I could already feel the difference. Keep at it, and you will notice an amazing improvement in your piano playing ability. Best wishes.

The Hanon drills are some of the best out there for building piano technique. I highly recommend getting this book and following the practice guidelines.

I've gotten about halfway through and while the exercises are a bit boring I think they will help develop finger strength in the long run. I also want to get a book of scales/arpeggios that would be a little less mechanical.