My mother was a professional concert pianist that who played at a very high level (such as solo performances in Orchestra Hall in Chicago). EVERY time she practiced (which was almost daily) she would start out with a number of Hanon exercises. Maybe about five of them at least. If she was having some particular issue she needed to sort out, such as needing to better strengthen certain fingers, she might play also play a particular Hanon exercise to smooth out that rough spot.
Hey Kaitlyn, check the Roland FP30X it's a awesome piano that you may find useful for many many years, sounds very very good. You may find a cheaper one also, the Kawai ES110, which is also a very good sounding piano for starters. Check those on youtube!
@Kaitlyn Japhet it is the cheapest Roland today, around 650€ in Euripe. Check de ES110 (Kawai) its much cheaper and sounds great. It just doesnt have bluetooth and some other funcionalities. Check the used market for this pianos. I would look for this ones: ES110, FP30, FP30X, Yamaha P125. Avoid cheaper ones like the Yamaha p45 maybe, unless your budget is extremely low.
graeme stocker A. You are listening to yourself. B. You are training athletically, which makes sense insofar as music-making is a physical activity. But do not be overwhelmed by brand-name advertising. You could get similar results from another method, or just by practicing scales and arpeggios in a way which challenges your abilities. However I can see the advantage of sticking to what you know, if practice opportunities are limited. Hanon completely bypasses polyphonic playing. I don't know whether you believe or go to church, but old-fashioned SATB hymns, played first of all without pedal, are excellent training in this regard-------------also for developing skills in transposition and arrangement. Some of the texts are worth reading too, rich with Biblical allusions. Bach's chorale settings are a step up in difficulty.
@@J.R.Swish1 Great question with many possible answers, since there are so many different skills of physical coordination required with regard to so many different musical effects. Therefore access to a variety of repertoire is important, according to the individual player's level of development. It is hard to learn technique per se without practical musical application. It would be like having a great set of tools and no job to do. Anyhow, we discover our best when trying to make something sound special, be it 'real music' or an abstract exercise. To begin, there are basic patterns which every musician ought to know. As keyboard players, we might call them the fundamentals of keyboard geography. They tie up neatly in a bundle with our basci music theory: -two-, three-, four- , and five- note sequences patterns in all keys (see Liszt's exercises, set down in his later years, and not to be confused with his concert etudes) -scales, not just diatonic major and minor or chromatic scales, but modal scales as well (including whole-tone and pentatonic, you name it) -triads, four-note chords, seventh chords both solid and broken (including not just V7 and dim7 but also m7, half-dim7, maj7, etc.) -arpeggios on all the chords just listed, starting in root position and inversions -octaves and double notes of various kinds, staccato and legato, solid and broken, with alternative fingerings (e.g. there are 10 ways to finger a third and 3 common ways to finger a 6th, namely 14, 25, and 13). Indeed, learning alternative fingerings is one of the best ways I know to develop dexterity. Off the top of my head, I can think of 12 ways to play C major scale besides the usual one, all of which I have taught at some time. Why so? Before Bach, passing the thumb under was not systematized, whereas from Liszt onward the 4th and 5th were used more often to maximize velocity. With two hands playing together, one has to decide where the thumbs will coincide, which increases the range of possibilities. As far as 'normal' C major fingering is concerned, one may practice that 'legato' in any key, even G sharp minor harmonic! One feels 'brain fog' at first, but it clears up with repetition. Also useful for developing dexterity: -repeated notes with changing fingers (21, 31, 41, 51, 32, 42, 43, 53, 54, 321, 432, 543, 4321, 5432, and more). best practiced over a scale or short arpeggio in both at once -short trills with a specific number of notes (white-white, black-black, white-black, black-white, half-steps and whole steps, right and left hands solo); this is excellent preparation for playing Baroque pieces -held-note exercises, for finger independence (Dohnanyi's book of exercises, which is definitely worth checking out, starts with this kind) -substituting unequal rhythmic patterns (e.g. dotted, reverse dotted) for even notes, which forces one to think THROUGH quicker notes in order to arrive at longer ones. After all, the secret of SPEED is the ability to think FORWARD in large groups of notes, rather than one at a time. The more notes one can include in one impulse, the faster one could theoretically play. But we should also bear in the mind the state of the muscles when we play, that rigidity is the ENEMY of speed. On the other hand, a flaccid mechanism doesn't permit the transmission of enough energy to get the job done. It's a matter of athletic common sense. We need body awareness even as we listen to the sounds we produce. Lastly, I'd mention that there is another less 'flashy' kind of dexterity which we all need for expressive polyphonic playing------------which includes the technique of stretches and silent finger substitution. Playing hymns and chorales (e.g. Bach chorales) without the sustaining pedal is ideal for this purpose. I hope that some of these suggestions may be useful. Happy Easter! Christ is risen indeed.
I remember back in the 90s, I witnessed a concert pianist played the entire hanon book in one sitting, non stop from 1 thru 60 with great accuracy and then I realized why he was a Professional Concert Pianist..😁
What musician plays this stuff in concert . Was it a congress or masterclass of some sort . My teachersalways told me doing repetitive exercises without making music and truly concentrating engendered bad habits especially for young people who have not strong musicality skills and approach music as a busy behavior .
@@MrInterestingthings .....I didn't say he was playing hanon exercises at a recital....he was warming up on stage playing the entire hanon book....obviously, that was before recital time...huh
Dude, you must be a messenger from a higher power. I tried the 'slow and loud' technique on a Czerny Daily Study that I'd been struggling on and after four repetitions, I swear, my hands didn't even feel like they were mine. Thank you SO much.
Hamon needs to be used in conjunction with hanon for optimal practice, like ripples through the piano. Flow like water sting like that one cola bottlecap in part 2 ep 1.
My lack of finger dexterity has held me back since I started playing at age 12. My teacher was fixated on using fake books and teaching pop piano techniques. Here I am at age 62 and never before heard of this Hanon book. I feel cheated!!!
I'm sorry things didn't work out as well as it should have. There is no set way to teach/learn music, so each teacher has their own way of teaching. So it's very important to choose the right teacher for you. It's not a matter of being a good or bad teacher. It's just that the teacher who is a good fit for one person does not necessarily a good match for another person. I hope my videos can provide new insights and perspectives into music.
Your teacher probably wanted to impress your parents. Parents are the reason teachers take shortcuts...they just want to hear their kids play within the shortest possible time n boast about it
I was trained classical and wish I had more teaching such as yours since I am a producer and prefer improvising and composing music. Learning popular songs and internalizing key progressions is great. If you were to listen to Bill Evans interview, he says that's how he found jazz (although classically trained) it was playing popular songs over and over until he started started reharming and improvising. Some of the most talented musicians are gospel musicians which have a large influence on modern music, they've learned more like you have, playing hymns and worship music as well as improvising. So I wouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
When I took piano as a child my mother insisted I practice Hanon. I didn't understand it then but at 78 after playing since I was 5 I am so glad she did.
I have been playing the piano for 18 years and have been without a piano teacher for 7 years now. I've always practiced Hanon but I'm so glad to have found this video because I just breeze through the exercises carelessly. Will definitely do this in my succeeding practices! You have earned a new subscriber :)
I taught piano at a Yamaha school for over thirty years and always recommended the Hanon book, especially for students who demonstrated exceptional skill and a desire and dedication to achieve results. In addition I also used a Schmitt book too in order to improve finger independence. One of my gifted students played the first 30 Hanon exercises in all major keys. This may sound crazy but I also play guitar and practicing Hanon is a great warmup before picking up my guitar.
I love the long short, short long. I’ve been doing that because of my old teacher. One that reeeeally helped me to focus on one hand while playing both, was to play one hand loud and one hand soft. And even alternating each measure
Hi Kyle, That is an interesting way of practicing Hanon. Thank you for sharing. Coincidentally, I just finished editing and am about to release a tutorial on voicing. If you can play Hanon one hand loud and the other soft, you probably don't need this video. But I thought the timing of your comment was very interesting.
As a self taught pianist, you can really feel the effect of training and practice when learning piece like Beethoven Moonlight Sonata 3rd mvt. When I started it, my trills were bad, my left hand was weak, my arpeggios was inconsistent. I got frustrated and began improving clarity, accuracy and finger dexterity especially my left hand. Mind you I never attend any piano class, I just learnt and played any piece or songs that I like and usually prefer that are fast and challenging at least for me. Example: Yiruma (Reminiscent, Loanna, Infinia) Now I can play Beethoven Moonlight Sonata 3rd Mvt. after practicing 6 months just for this but on keyboard though. I don't have a piano yet and its not the same as playing on a piano because its keys are harder but at least I can play it on keyboard. Really shows how practice and training are important. Just want to share my experience though
May i ask if you used sheet music or synesthesia/yt videos to play the piano pieces and how old u are and how long have u been practicing piano as a whole?
When I learned to play piano in college I was never taught about Hanon. But then again, I still have trouble playing chords with my left hand while playing melody with my right, sooo. Thanks for this quick lesson on finger exercises. I will take these small gems and practice them. I can type quickly with both hands so I can learn to play the piano quickly and accurately with both hands
A great way to help develop independence between the hands with Hanon is to use various combinations of legato/staccato and forte/piano. Piano staccato in the left and forte legato in the right, for example. It can be challenging even with no.1 but extremely rewarding :)
As a teacher I often get the student to play one bar staccato the next bar legato and so on. They say, no, it is impossible, but I demonstrate and give them a challenge. It makes the student use their brain more. I also do alternating staccato/legato between the hands, and bar by bar. At the beginning of the original Hanon book there are two pages of rhythm patterns, I have yet to play them all . Playing then in other keys is also challenging. My duet partner and I, both 70 years old, swear by Hanon . It is important to teach the student how to be relaxed and to stop at the first sign of pain. I have never had pain playing Hanon and I have been playing it since I was 13 or so.
Because you may injure yourself. You must play with relaxation and wrist rotation. If you are playing one hand at a time, you can always swap to the other hand. However, it is important to stop a moment and work out why you are feeling pain. @@zei9256
Great top 4 tips for practicing this hanon book. I got it too with the 60 exercises but expanded this to 25 new variations. Thanks for the inspiration! Very slow, even, loudly Medium, even Slurring Long-Short, slow Short-Long, slow Staccato, even soft, medium or loud Staccato long-short Staccato short-long Accented, even Accented, long-short Accented, short-long Fast, quiet/soft, even Super fast, calmly Crazy fast, very quiet (ppp, quarter note metronome at 300+ bpm only on select exercises) single-double pattern single-triplet pattern Classical Ragtime Stride Jazz Bossanova Latin Funk Neo Soul New Age Lo-fi Hip Hop
I’m a teacher and appreciate your video! Just subscribed. Here’s how I teach Hanon. We make a big deal of each student getting their own Hanon once they can play 4 octave scales at a moderate tempo with metronome. We concentrate on book 1 which I call “The Hanon 20”. There’s a beginning or “learning” week and then “challenge“ weeks. On beginning week metronome is set under 80. Mostly in the 60s range. Then exercise is played 3 times. First one click per key so 8 clicks per measure with each 16th note getting the click. Count out the ending half note and start over doubling the tempo so there are 4 clicks per measure with 8th note getting the click. Double tempo again for 3rd and last time with 2 clicks per measure. This time the quarter note gets the click. Obviously the slow practice helps set the fingering and keys correctly and contributes to evenness and clarity. When learned correctly with good technique, legato etc. the student moves onto the “challenge “ phase. They can omit the first 16th note phase and only play the 8th and quarter phases as fast as they can! We usually go through the “Hanon 20” 3 times with the goal of achieving metronome tempo of 120 for all 20. I’m convinced that the consistent application of Hanon and other exercises like scales and arpeggios has helped my students feel confident and successful.
I’me nine and i find this really helpful in my grade five practice because now I am starting to become better this is one of the best music video advice i have ever heard on earth. Liked subbed and practiced.
I recommend Hanon to my students. But once the pattern is memorized, I suggest constantly monitoring posture, arm weight, shoulders dropped, relaxing wrists, breathing, etc
Yes. They are all important. Once the student understands the basic routine, we discuss additional tips to further improve their technique. Unfortunately, I can't cover everything in a quick video, but I'll be talking about those concepts in the future ones. Stay tuned!
Thank you for this video, and I agree with everything you say. I only started practicing Hanon after school when I went to university, but I had done all the scales and arpeggios, etc right through school so had a good running technique. The controversy that comes with Hanon is that teachers either introduce it too soon, and they don't explain how to do them correctly to avoid tension or injury. I give Hanon to most of my students, but a lot of the younger ones want instant results and don't want to go through the motions to develop strength and agility - for me that is a universal problem in my part of the world - with exceptions of course. I also find that transposing into all the other keys very helpful - and adjusting to the new positions this demands. I have a second copy of Hanon with 2 pages of rhythmic variations, different articulations and slurring which makes them more challenging and interesting, I respect the opinion of other teachers who don't like them, but for me (and I see in your studio) they are one of the ways of training the fingers for strength and speed. I use other technical books too, but as with everything, if you play with the correct technique you won't experience any tension or injuries.
Good man for putting this up there!! I started learning with Hanon and then moved on to Czerny's "The art of Finger Dexterity", also excellent, then finally Chopin (Opus' 10 and 25), I nearly wore out my copy of Hanon's "The Virtuoso Pianist" though!!! Good luck for the future and stay safe!!
My piano teacher makes me do each set of five Hannons (until 31) in all twelve keys. It's been taking a while to get through the book, but at least I have a great feel of playing in each key!
So excited I found this! I am 65 and have been teaching myself piano now for about 6 months.. I get overwhelmed sometimes trying to balance learning intervals, sight reading, scales, notes, ear training, finger independence and dexterity. So happy I found this as a great foundation to start my practice sessions every day...I have need doing Hanon and have gotten better (though going down the keyboard sometimes gets sloppy).. but this structure and methodology will help me so so much.. thank you!!
M Tidbit, I am 67 and I had my first performance of Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto at 14. I had 10 years as a concert pianist. I had to give it up when I was told I was playing wrong notes in the Saint-Saens 1st concerto. There was something going wrong in my brain that was giving my fingers false signals and I had to retire from performing. I wanted to throw myself off a bridge, it was like taking the legs off a runner. Instead, I decided to give the gift of music to others so I spent the rest of my life teaching and I am still learning. You never stop learning. But you can get better even at your age. The secret is practice, practice, and even more practice. You have to get muscle memory and that's the only way you can achieve it. Anyway, even if you can't give the time, it's still fun. I only play for my wife these days unless someone asks me to play then I might consider it. But NEVER give up no matter how bad you think you are, you can only improve and when you play for others people will love you for it.
@@pianoboylaker6560 what a sad but inspiring story...thank you. I tell myself my goal is to play Carnegie Hall when I am 120... silly of course but it oddly keeps me motivated to practice.. I say to myself.. “I won’t get to Carnegie Hall if I don’t practice..LOL... but it keeps me motivated. I am fortunate enough to be retired and Covid certainly kept me home so, that’s how it all pretty much started. I spent a lifetime envious of those that could play and I am thrilled now at the building blocks of piano when I make progress! Though I love music, perhaps unlike many, I am not focused only on playing music.. I enjoy the exercises and feel that the better I get at sight reading, fingering etc.. the more reward I will have when I do practice a piece of music as I will have a stronger foundation. For now, as friends become vaccinated, I am looking forward to a holiday party where I can play Christmas carols for them. it’s a goal..and may very well be a building block to my premier at Carnegie Hall.. LOL. Thank you for your inspiring words..😉
I'm a self taught pianist but I kinda left the piano due to being busy with my work, I work as a doctor and I don't have much time to practice, I just learned about hanon and czerny, I started to practice hanon few days ago because I felt like I was worse as a piano player than I was 2 years ago because I haven't played the piano for the past two years, your video really helped explaining how to practice in the correct way, so thank you!.
Thank you for sharing your feedback. I'm glad you found this video useful! Hanon and Czerny are what I consider muscle training in piano. They are less musical and not as much fun to play compared to regular repertoire, but they really help you build basic technique that will be useful for anything you do on the piano. It's like athletes building strong body so they can play their specialty sports well. These are excellent choice if you had limited time to practice, and have patience to spend it on basics. Please let me know if you have any question, or request for future video topic. I'll be happy to assist you as much as I can.
I remember 30+ years ago buying this book (Hanon) and working through it on guitar looking for new ideas even though I had never heard anyone play any of them. so much easier now a days with RUclips anyone can easily hear them with the click of a mouse. thanks for posting it's inspired me to go back and take another look at them
This really works, I practiced this for 20 minutes daily for a month, my fingers are really moving very fast! I can see improvement in flexibility over the time, cheers!
Bronson Bragg Had I read only the first sentence I would have been a little concerned. But the modality is an excellent practice suggestion, especially if you don't cheat by using white keys only. Sharp 4 plus flat 7 is cool (Lydian and Mixolydian mixed). Speaking of discipline freaks, did you ever hear about Adolph Henselt, who reputedly used to read the Bible while playing Bach's WTC on a dummy keyboard? Quite apart from the loss of impact when Bach's notes are not heard, the Word of God is not heard either when there is too much distraction. Bach himself would have acknowledged that the Bible is infinitely greater than WTC.
Oh wow the result of this exercise is really astonishing! I've only been using this exercise for almost a week bfr i practice my fav piece and can't believe I almost can play the full piece without a lot of struggle. I thought that i can master this piece next year but thank god RUclips recommended me your video! Thanks very much akira ikegami for this!
I'm glad to hear it worked for you, and thank you for sharing your result! I appreciate if you can like my other videos and share them with your friends, too. It'll help this channel tremendously. I'll keep sharing my piano tips and other interesting stories with everyone.
You can also develop the long-short/short-long into long-short-short/short-long-short/short-short-long, and you can keep adding short notes once you get comfortable with the current amount you are working on.
You are a very positive person, respect to you. Your method is Royal and the way you respect other teachers is Royal too by saying every one has their own agenda and not complaining about them. Thank you 🙂
Play from the surface of the key for better technique and control. You can play these exercises without leaving the surface of the key. Think touching the key then playing it. Also try not to connect with finger legato, meaning overlapping the notes withOUT finger connection. Separate a little like a strand of pearls. Close together but space between. This makes you relax and give you limitless headroom in tempo later.
Great explanation and so much valuable info, thanks! I've been practicing Hanon for a few months but haven't been consistant and I wasn't getting better. I'll definitely try it your way!
Hanon is an excellent book, very musical and certainly promotes release from tension. I found it especially useful one day when I ran out of toilet paper and it sounded great. It has real liberating power ❤️
Not sure if you are being serious or sarcastic, because you can actually learn to be musical and releasing tension through Hanon :) Unfortunately, not many people realize that and not many teachers know how to teach that way.
@@AkiraIkegamiChannel Yes, dear Maestro Akira. Frankly, I am not a fan of the book and was just trying to convey the idea in a fun way, to stir up a bit the comment section. Personally, I believe one can, and should, achieve dexterity by playing actual music. A lot of pieces have tons of technical passages which can be practised profitably. IMHO actual music is just too vast, and life too short, to use the piano to do pure gymnastics with it ❤️. I know the opinions on the Hanon can be very different, and of course, anyone must be free to enjoy his piano any way he likes. If one wished could also do decline inverted rows with the piano 😂
@@W-HealthPianoExercises I actually used to think like that too. Had a teacher for 2 years and when she asked me to do those exercises I thought it was terribly boring and pointless. Last week I decided to step up and learn an intermediate piece, Clair de Lune by Debussy... and I kept feeling frustrated because my fingers didn't obey when I wanted to do some transitions. Especially the 4th and 5th fingers, very very stubborn. Researched about finger independence, strength and agility and here I am, back to this Hanon book! It's making all the difference. Now I get why my teacher asked me to play those "boring" exercises.
I let my pupils play "normal/ long short/ short long / normal " as one round. Stacc is fine, i also let them play left hand forte/ right piano and Vice versa. Staccato Right hand , legato left hand and vice versa Very nice is hands in Canon, And very good is transposing into other tonalities.
There is always something to learn. Piano journey never ends. And it's more like I have fast and independent fingers to tackle pretty much any piece. But I still have to learn each piece just like anybody else.
Thank you. I practiced Hanon without any explanation and just blindly play through Hanon 1~10 as warm up exercises. Eventually I stopped playing them and go straight to playing piano pieces and found that my finger coordination is really bad and always misses notes. Now that I found your video, I have deep appreciation of Hanon exercises and immediately ordered a copy of Hanon book online. I will definitely be practicing again starting from the basic. I couldn't thank you enough for your instructions. I will chew this book slowly and report back my improvements in a few months time. Cheers!
One rythm I often give to students just beginning to speed up the hanon is long short short short and asking them to check if their wrist is relaxed while on the long note. The most major drawback on hanon is often the crispation some develops if practiced wrong
Thank you Akira, im an amateur guitarist trying to get into piano. Injuries are always a concern, i do have a carpal tunnel in the left hand, so im gonna go first to your other books before hannon videos. Im not in a hurry to progress.
This legit is a great exercise to improve,finger precision on the piano.I don't have a healthcare professional or teacher or someone to consult about this,but I am passionate about improving on the piano so although I'm still very much a beginner I think I'm pretty much ok with the basics and will always refer back to it, however I'm starting Hanon practice tonight,I will be very careful tho😁
Just saw this for the first time, and have subscribed to your channel. I have played piano by ear ever since I can remember, in fact, I do not remember much of my early playing. I never learned proper fingering on the piano and am weak in that important area but consider myself an advanced player and student of the keyboard...skilled, but with plenty of area to improve. I love all genres of music, and even at 64, I am committed now more than ever to being a better player. It starts here, today. Thank you for posting this. I will begin this lesson and am convinced improvement will happen rapidly.
Welcome! You came to the right place! I've been posting these tutorial videos to help students in various levels, as well as teachers share my tips. You may find my "First Piano Lesson" series. Check them out!
Great video! I'm learning both jazz and classical piano pieces and my teacher is having me practice Hanon in all 12-keys. Pretty tough, but great practice!
I've been playing piano 50 years and Hanon about 40 years, self-taught. I got stuck on Hanon scales and advanced exercises and need something to get me back on track. This sounds like a good, solid approach to start Hanon fresh again. I took 4 years of cello at the university and devote a lot of my time to cello technique but I want to get back to the piano and be versatile with both. Thank you so much. I will be watching this video a few times.
If you are doing something and hear Hanon no. 60 played by a skilled pianist, the music says, "stop what you are doing and listen to me." The exerecises are actually fun to practice and do variations with. Thanx for posting.
How can the robotic exercise improve tone and artistry? Strength comes from arm and forearm, not from fingers. Staccato is not a single finger movement. It is a collaboration of the body and hand. The original hanon was written for organ. Please check out the latest Faber Hanon which explains the purpose of all exercises and how the hands and body work. We need to be very careful on these exercises, especially on high speed. Without knowledge of technique, such as forearm rotation, it is very easy to get injury like RSI, carpet tunnel problem, etc.
Good concert pianists don't use rotation to cover up deficiency of finger strength. In fact, with strong MCP joints, one can play with relaxed arm with ease and authority
@@charispaxton113 Fingers don’t have strength but flexibility. Look at how flexible of Yuja Wang’s fingers. She can even flip the fingers at the back of the hand which people normally cannot do. Keyboard reaction can help to increase speed, too but definitely not finger strength.
Your video brought back many, many hours with Hanon from my youth. It was tortuous at the time and I had no idea why my teacher made me learn these. Now I understand, so thank you for explaining. I can play fairly accurately and quickly on new music even over 40 years later. When I get stuck on a passage, I break it down to practice using these methods. I had a great teacher!
These are torturous for teachers too :) It's much easier if we can teach fun pieces all the time, but that won't develop lasting skills. So I work on and tell my students to do these first thing everyday so they are out of the way!
How about having students play select Hanon exercises in every key once they have mastered the key of C? This was suggested to me many years ago in order to make Hanon a more useful tool in developing good technique. It would be quite a challenge!
The disclaimer at the end of the video seems very relevant, it should probably be at the beginning. I would add that this exercises shouldn't be attempted all on the first day but rather get to be able to do all of them through constant practice. I've seen more than a few student develop serious injuries like tendonatis. Practice as much as you can, but always be aware of your body and don't play over pain: that won't make you a better player, it will just hurt you. Good luck!
Hold up, I instantly knew the first piece that you started playing... It's what I've been practicing from this book my mom had that had literally lost its cover and back. Guess I know what it actually was Also it was definitely helpful, especially in getting me to be able to have smooth consistency when playing semiquavers or triplets and the such in other pieces
So happy to have found a teacher such as you! You finally came up in the algorithm I guess. Many thanks for all you do. I look forward to warming my winter days following your generous tutorials. 🥰🎵🥰
I'm learning piano in yt and these kind videos are so helpful. I can play with 152bpm but I Don't know how read sheet Music 😅. I'm learning music theory myself for 4 months and I'll learn music production next😬.
When I practiced piano, I started on tempo 60 as it says in the book. Each time I ended one exercise I repeated it in 5 to 10 BPM increments, depending on the level of difficulty. I marked the book where I finished last and start from there in the same procedure. When I finished all of those exercises, then I started all of them in a faster tempo, sometimes in 20 bpm increments. If a slight sensation of discomfort on hands or any part of the arms, I’ll just stop and do some massage with warm water and just do something else away from the piano.
I really appreciate this video because a lot of people will tell you how to practice Hanon, but they never give examples of what the end goal of practicing Hanon should sound like, so that you don't know if you're there yet. Now I finally know what I'm shooting for, and here I was thinking that if I got to 108 bpm I was good to go.
If you can play evenly and accurately at 108, that's already great and you can handle a lot of pieces. But you can always aim higher so that you can play more advanced music with ease. It's normal for people to start over Hanon exercises with faster tempo. You'll be surprised how fast your fingers can move.
Great job man, thanks. Did you say that students in your studio start practicing Hanon at 108 tempo? If so, isn't it too fast to begin. Actually, 108 is the ultimate goal of speed that may take months to achieve...
That is correct. But I start my students' technical training with Dozen a Day series. So by the time they make it to Hanon, they are already used to playing 16th notes at 80. They still struggle a little in the beginning, but on average, most students can achieve 108 within a month.
@@AkiraIkegamiChannel congratulations to you then...I just started to implement your 4 way Hanon practice routine today. How would you suggest to split them? I mean, should I practice all four in one sitting or should I do the first part for several days then move to the others etc.
@@serkantekdemir9946 All 4 in one sitting (you can actually go from one way to another non-stop). You start all the rhythms slowly, but as you feel more comfortable, you can start playing faster. Don't do #1 too fast though, because that can build tension and cause injury.
Got a digital piano (Casio Privia 770) last Monday, never touched a piano in my life. The real and probably only reason why I bought is: Chopin. And maybe because that specific piece... Learning it right now and, man, it's a pain but I'm making little progress everyday, I can't be happier. And yeah, those 35 tuplets scare me, but also the change to 5/4 and 3/4 time signatures.... I'm proud of myself anyway, even tho I obviously still sound very bad. I'm 24 year old now, I'm sad I didn't start years ago, but at least it's not too late!
@@FockeWulfFW200 It's never too late! Just be patient and practice every part slowly. That Nocturne is not particularly a beginners piece so don't be discouraged if it takes you several months to make it sound more or less decent. Oh and about those tuplets, don't try to force your hand to play ir super fast from the get-go or you can injure yourself and that's definitely something you want to avoid a pianist. Also i would highly recommend you to find a good teacher if you can afford it.
Depends on how you use it. Your wrist and arms shouldn't be locked in place, but rather let the hands move to wherever your fingers take them to. As a result you may end up with rotating wrists no matter what you are playing. But if you are rotating your wrists in order to push down the fingers, no.
Yesterday I came across this video about how to approach Hanon. I've just put the exercises you suggest into practice, and I AM FASCINATED!!! I've also applied the four exercises to Czerny, and the result is amazing!!! You can immediately notice a difference. I'm particularly fascinated with excersise 2 and 3 (short long/ long short). Thanks a lot, Akira!!!
I guess I have to bring back my Hanon and practice the exercises again. I'm a retired school teacher and housewife with all the home chores but take time to play the piano, which I adore. Love to play the pieces I learned before and play new ones on my own. My old teacher cancelled the classes due to CV. I've been practicing on my own. Need to find a new teacher. I like to watch tutorials and the information I get. Thanks.
I used to practice Hannon, didn’t work for me. I randomly just started doing czerny exercises for no reason and they did more help in 5 days then Hannon did in 1 month, maybe I didn’t practice it right..
Daniel Florencio The explanation is simple. You are a human being, not a robot. Or like me, you lack the necessary masochism to stick with the programme. I use it in small doses with the very few students who can tolerate it, and I would insist on transposition. Who in the past 500 years has played on white keys only? Whoever sings or plays an instrument has to attend to quality of sound and rhythm. Hanon teaches one nothing about these. Rhythm is more than the ticking of a metronome. People who believe in Hanon as the foundation of keyboard playing remind me of the type who think that money makes the world go 'round. If God made us in His image, we should not degrade ourselves aesthetically, any more than we should degrade ourselves morally.
@@jesusislordsavior6343 You cant learn everything at once. You have to crawl before you walk and walk before you run. There is nothing wrong with Hanon excercises.
@@junjungatbos3548 No, there is nothing 'wrong' with them, but they are exceptionally MONOTOMOUS. This can be a deterrent against practice for a lot of people. Other very good sets are neglected by comparison. An experienced teacher will know how to invent exercises based on common patterns. I don't think of them as appropriate for beginners in most cases. If one takes all 60 into account, and not just the first 20, they offer challenges even for quite advanced players. I wish you a Happy Easter.
I reached an intermediate beginner level decades ago. Since I was almost entirely self taught my development was uneven, but one thing I was good at was coordinating both hands playing scales. I stopped piano at that point due to living conditions but just lately, thanks to classes at the local senior center, I have started up music studies again. Apparently, the virtuosos swear by Hanon but I question training both hands to play exactly the same thing all the time. Eventually, you are going to have get them untracked and playing different things often going in opposite directions. The Hanon exercises, at least as far as I have gotten, are designed to be played in both ascending and descending order. What I have done is stared at opposite ends of the keyboard and after my hands meet in the middle, reversing directions. I also am using Hanon to help develop even and on-time play in both hands rather than speed. Try it yourself.
I left Hanon a year ago because I thought I wasn't making progress. Instead I should have just pushed through. Will continue. Thanks for the inspiring and alternative ways of practicing this. I'll check out your other videos, as I also have a stack of Czerny I could work through.
The most important thing - which should have been said - is this: if it starts hurting, stop immediately - you are doing something wrong and the practice will harm you. This is one of many reasons to learn an instrument from a teacher. Alone you cannot correct yourself!
Sorry, for late reply. I just noticed your comment. I start my students' technique training with Dozen a Day series. They provide variety of small exercises with which you can you can reinforce good finger shape while practicing note reading.
yes. Ikegami-san. i am inspired.. and i start Hanon exercises everyday now. my friend had this Russian teacher from the start.. my daughter tried the russian teacher.. ut my daughter said.. she doesnt like her.. she also wacks my daughters hands.. when she does something wrong. she ended up in the Menlo park , California Music conservatory with a british teacher.. kind and patient .. and she loved it. yes.. posture is key too, thank you.. i need to watch more of your videos.. doomo arigatoo Ikegami-san. jaa mata desu, 😀
My Scottish piano teacher used to whack my 5 year old fingers with a ruler if I made a mistake playing scales. I have a vivid memory of sitting at the piano with tears streaming down my face.
My mother was a professional concert pianist that who played at a very high level (such as solo performances in Orchestra Hall in Chicago). EVERY time she practiced (which was almost daily) she would start out with a number of Hanon exercises. Maybe about five of them at least. If she was having some particular issue she needed to sort out, such as needing to better strengthen certain fingers, she might play also play a particular Hanon exercise to smooth out that rough spot.
Buy a cheaper electrical keyboard to start with :D
Yamaha psr e363 is a good keyboard to start with.
Hey Kaitlyn, check the Roland FP30X it's a awesome piano that you may find useful for many many years, sounds very very good. You may find a cheaper one also, the Kawai ES110, which is also a very good sounding piano for starters. Check those on youtube!
@Kaitlyn Japhet it is the cheapest Roland today, around 650€ in Euripe. Check de ES110 (Kawai) its much cheaper and sounds great. It just doesnt have bluetooth and some other funcionalities. Check the used market for this pianos. I would look for this ones: ES110, FP30, FP30X, Yamaha P125. Avoid cheaper ones like the Yamaha p45 maybe, unless your budget is extremely low.
@Kaitlyn Japhet try working 1 month and buying the Roland FP30X, and u will have +300$ to pay lessons if u want, easy right?
I've been practicing Hanon just 1 week now and already notice my standard pieces have become cleaner. I was not expecting such quick results!
I'm very glad this is working out for you!
I'll try to keep posting these tutorials, as well as performance videos and tips.
Same here
graeme stocker
A. You are listening to yourself. B. You are training athletically, which makes sense insofar as music-making is a physical activity.
But do not be overwhelmed by brand-name advertising. You could get similar results from another method, or just by practicing scales and arpeggios in a way which challenges your abilities.
However I can see the advantage of sticking to what you know, if practice opportunities are limited.
Hanon completely bypasses polyphonic playing. I don't know whether you believe or go to church, but old-fashioned SATB hymns, played first of all without pedal, are excellent training in this regard-------------also for developing skills in transposition and arrangement. Some of the texts are worth reading too, rich with Biblical allusions.
Bach's chorale settings are a step up in difficulty.
@@jesusislordsavior6343 what are some alternative methods to building speed and dexterity on the fingers, other than Hanon, that you would recommend?
@@J.R.Swish1
Great question with many possible answers, since there are so many different skills of physical coordination required with regard to so many different musical effects. Therefore access to a variety of repertoire is important, according to the individual player's level of development.
It is hard to learn technique per se without practical musical application. It would be like having a great set of tools and no job to do. Anyhow, we discover our best when trying to make something sound special, be it 'real music' or an abstract exercise.
To begin, there are basic patterns which every musician ought to know. As keyboard players, we might call them the fundamentals of keyboard geography. They tie up neatly in a bundle with our basci music theory:
-two-, three-, four- , and five- note sequences patterns in all keys (see Liszt's exercises, set down in his later years, and not to be confused with his concert etudes)
-scales, not just diatonic major and minor or chromatic scales, but modal scales as well (including whole-tone and pentatonic, you name it)
-triads, four-note chords, seventh chords both solid and broken (including not just V7 and dim7 but also m7, half-dim7, maj7, etc.)
-arpeggios on all the chords just listed, starting in root position and inversions
-octaves and double notes of various kinds, staccato and legato, solid and broken, with alternative fingerings (e.g. there are 10 ways to finger a third and 3 common ways to finger a 6th, namely 14, 25, and 13).
Indeed, learning alternative fingerings is one of the best ways I know to develop dexterity. Off the top of my head, I can think of 12 ways to play C major scale besides the usual one, all of which I have taught at some time. Why so? Before Bach, passing the thumb under was not systematized, whereas from Liszt onward the 4th and 5th were used more often to maximize velocity. With two hands playing together, one has to decide where the thumbs will coincide, which increases the range of possibilities. As far as 'normal' C major fingering is concerned, one may practice that 'legato' in any key, even G sharp minor harmonic! One feels 'brain fog' at first, but it clears up with repetition.
Also useful for developing dexterity:
-repeated notes with changing fingers (21, 31, 41, 51, 32, 42, 43, 53, 54, 321, 432, 543, 4321, 5432, and more). best practiced over a scale or short arpeggio in both at once
-short trills with a specific number of notes (white-white, black-black, white-black, black-white, half-steps and whole steps, right and left hands solo); this is excellent preparation for playing Baroque pieces
-held-note exercises, for finger independence (Dohnanyi's book of exercises, which is definitely worth checking out, starts with this kind)
-substituting unequal rhythmic patterns (e.g. dotted, reverse dotted) for even notes, which forces one to think THROUGH quicker notes in order to arrive at longer ones.
After all, the secret of SPEED is the ability to think FORWARD in large groups of notes, rather than one at a time. The more notes one can include in one impulse, the faster one could theoretically play. But we should also bear in the mind the state of the muscles when we play, that rigidity is the ENEMY of speed. On the other hand, a flaccid mechanism doesn't permit the transmission of enough energy to get the job done. It's a matter of athletic common sense. We need body awareness even as we listen to the sounds we produce.
Lastly, I'd mention that there is another less 'flashy' kind of dexterity which we all need for expressive polyphonic playing------------which includes the technique of stretches and silent finger substitution. Playing hymns and chorales (e.g. Bach chorales) without the sustaining pedal is ideal for this purpose.
I hope that some of these suggestions may be useful. Happy Easter! Christ is risen indeed.
I remember back in the 90s, I witnessed a concert pianist played the entire hanon book in one sitting, non stop from 1 thru 60 with great accuracy and then I realized why he was a Professional Concert Pianist..😁
It is truly something to play through all the exercises in one sitting, but sitting through all of them is also an extraordinary achievement :)
What musician plays this stuff in concert . Was it a congress or masterclass of some sort . My teachersalways told me doing repetitive exercises without making music and truly concentrating engendered bad habits especially for young people who have not strong musicality skills and approach music as a busy behavior .
The pianist was Albert Einstein.
@@MrInterestingthings .....I didn't say he was playing hanon exercises at a recital....he was warming up on stage playing the entire hanon book....obviously, that was before recital time...huh
@@AkiraIkegamiChannel exactly my thoughts!
Dude, you must be a messenger from a higher power. I tried the 'slow and loud' technique on a Czerny Daily Study that I'd been struggling on and after four repetitions, I swear, my hands didn't even feel like they were mine. Thank you SO much.
Glad it helped!
I read that as "How to practice Hamon" LMAO
Lol same
HAHA you fell for it fool! Thundah cross sprittu attacku!!
Hamon needs to be used in conjunction with hanon for optimal practice, like ripples through the piano. Flow like water sting like that one cola bottlecap in part 2 ep 1.
Mmmmm....hamon.
Every time we read that Hamon... We are allowed to say "curse you Dio Brando" and "Curse you Jojo". When frustrated.
My lack of finger dexterity has held me back since I started playing at age 12. My teacher was fixated on using fake books and teaching pop piano techniques. Here I am at age 62 and never before heard of this Hanon book. I feel cheated!!!
I'm sorry things didn't work out as well as it should have.
There is no set way to teach/learn music, so each teacher has their own way of teaching. So it's very important to choose the right teacher for you. It's not a matter of being a good or bad teacher. It's just that the teacher who is a good fit for one person does not necessarily a good match for another person.
I hope my videos can provide new insights and perspectives into music.
Your teacher probably wanted to impress your parents. Parents are the reason teachers take shortcuts...they just want to hear their kids play within the shortest possible time n boast about it
I was trained classical and wish I had more teaching such as yours since I am a producer and prefer improvising and composing music. Learning popular songs and internalizing key progressions is great. If you were to listen to Bill Evans interview, he says that's how he found jazz (although classically trained) it was playing popular songs over and over until he started started reharming and improvising. Some of the most talented musicians are gospel musicians which have a large influence on modern music, they've learned more like you have, playing hymns and worship music as well as improvising. So I wouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
No time like the present!
Ooooooh I am so sorry!!!!!
When I took piano as a child my mother insisted I practice Hanon. I didn't understand it then but at 78 after playing since I was 5 I am so glad she did.
I have been playing the piano for 18 years and have been without a piano teacher for 7 years now. I've always practiced Hanon but I'm so glad to have found this video because I just breeze through the exercises carelessly. Will definitely do this in my succeeding practices! You have earned a new subscriber :)
I taught piano at a Yamaha school for over thirty years and always recommended the Hanon book, especially for students who demonstrated exceptional skill and a desire and dedication to achieve results. In addition I also used a Schmitt book too in order to improve finger independence. One of my gifted students played the first 30 Hanon exercises in all major keys. This may sound crazy but I also play guitar and practicing Hanon is a great warmup before picking up my guitar.
I love the long short, short long. I’ve been doing that because of my old teacher. One that reeeeally helped me to focus on one hand while playing both, was to play one hand loud and one hand soft. And even alternating each measure
Hi Kyle,
That is an interesting way of practicing Hanon. Thank you for sharing.
Coincidentally, I just finished editing and am about to release a tutorial on voicing. If you can play Hanon one hand loud and the other soft, you probably don't need this video. But I thought the timing of your comment was very interesting.
I am self taught. Hanon has been the single most beneficial tool at my disposal. It's like HIIT training for your fingers 💪🖐️
As a self taught pianist, you can really feel the effect of training and practice when learning piece like Beethoven Moonlight Sonata 3rd mvt. When I started it, my trills were bad, my left hand was weak, my arpeggios was inconsistent. I got frustrated and began improving clarity, accuracy and finger dexterity especially my left hand. Mind you I never attend any piano class, I just learnt and played any piece or songs that I like and usually prefer that are fast and challenging at least for me. Example: Yiruma (Reminiscent, Loanna, Infinia)
Now I can play Beethoven Moonlight Sonata 3rd Mvt. after practicing 6 months just for this but on keyboard though. I don't have a piano yet and its not the same as playing on a piano because its keys are harder but at least I can play it on keyboard. Really shows how practice and training are important. Just want to share my experience though
WoW, that's AWESOME!
Thank you for sharing your journey and tips🙏🏽😊
May i ask if you used sheet music or synesthesia/yt videos to play the piano pieces and how old u are and how long have u been practicing piano as a whole?
Im about to embark this journey in a few months, just saving up to buy a keyboard lol
May i ask if u used a tutorial video?
Did you practice hanon in c# minor?
So, I'm an elementary music teacher and sometimes I feel so unqualified because of my level of piano. This video is great!
When I learned to play piano in college I was never taught about Hanon. But then again, I still have trouble playing chords with my left hand while playing melody with my right, sooo.
Thanks for this quick lesson on finger exercises. I will take these small gems and practice them. I can type quickly with both hands so I can learn to play the piano quickly and accurately with both hands
Yes, you can do it! Just a matter of getting used to it.
@@AkiraIkegamiChannel Hi Mr Akira. You mentioned the earlier, more basic lessons... What are those? Would you make mention, please. Thanks
I have several videos about technical books before Hanon and beginner method books I use. Please check this channel's other videos.
What notes are you playing in the video ? Thanks
A great way to help develop independence between the hands with Hanon is to use various combinations of legato/staccato and forte/piano. Piano staccato in the left and forte legato in the right, for example. It can be challenging even with no.1 but extremely rewarding :)
As a teacher I often get the student to play one bar staccato the next bar legato and so on. They say, no, it is impossible, but I demonstrate and give them a challenge. It makes the student use their brain more. I also do alternating staccato/legato between the hands, and bar by bar. At the beginning of the original Hanon book there are two pages of rhythm patterns, I have yet to play them all . Playing then in other keys is also challenging. My duet partner and I, both 70 years old, swear by Hanon . It is important to teach the student how to be relaxed and to stop at the first sign of pain. I have never had pain playing Hanon and I have been playing it since I was 13 or so.
Why is it important to stop at pain?
Because you may injure yourself. You must play with relaxation and wrist rotation. If you are playing one hand at a time, you can always swap to the other hand. However, it is important to stop a moment and work out why you are feeling pain. @@zei9256
Another challenge is to play one hand all staccato and another all legato. Same for forte/piano
@@zei9256because you'll get injured otherwise and won't be able to play at all, maybe even for the rest of your life. Take the pain VERY seriously.
Great top 4 tips for practicing this hanon book. I got it too with the 60 exercises but expanded this to 25 new variations. Thanks for the inspiration!
Very slow, even, loudly
Medium, even
Slurring
Long-Short, slow
Short-Long, slow
Staccato, even soft, medium or loud
Staccato long-short
Staccato short-long
Accented, even
Accented, long-short
Accented, short-long
Fast, quiet/soft, even
Super fast, calmly
Crazy fast, very quiet (ppp, quarter note metronome at 300+ bpm only on select exercises)
single-double pattern
single-triplet pattern
Classical
Ragtime
Stride
Jazz
Bossanova
Latin Funk
Neo Soul
New Age
Lo-fi Hip Hop
I’m a teacher and appreciate your video! Just subscribed.
Here’s how I teach Hanon. We make a big deal of each student getting their own Hanon once they can play 4 octave scales at a moderate tempo with metronome.
We concentrate on book 1 which I call “The Hanon 20”.
There’s a beginning or “learning” week and then “challenge“ weeks. On beginning week metronome is set under 80. Mostly in the 60s range. Then exercise is played 3 times. First one click per key so 8 clicks per measure with each 16th note getting the click. Count out the ending half note and start over doubling the tempo so there are 4 clicks per measure with 8th note getting the click. Double tempo again for 3rd and last time with 2 clicks per measure. This time the quarter note gets the click. Obviously the slow practice helps set the fingering and keys correctly and contributes to evenness and clarity. When learned correctly with good technique, legato etc. the student moves onto the “challenge “ phase. They can omit the first 16th note phase and only play the 8th and quarter phases as fast as they can! We usually go through the “Hanon 20” 3 times with the goal of achieving metronome tempo of 120 for all 20.
I’m convinced that the consistent application of Hanon and other exercises like scales and arpeggios has helped my students feel confident and successful.
My kind of teacher! Simple and concise!! Your students are very fortunate to be under your guidance..Thank you for the video👍
You are very welcome
The real challenge and key to get the max out of Hannon is to play those exercises in all keys through the cycle of 5ts.
- major and harmonic minor - in parallel octaves, 10ths, and 6ths - ;-)
Rachmaninov said in his school they would be asked to play any of the 60 exercises at random, in any key, at twice the speed.
Daaang I never thought of this! Thank you 🙏🏻
@@Shining3737 :)
Play difference exercise on each hand and switch them going down
I’me nine and i find this really helpful in my grade five practice because now I am starting to become better this is one of the best music video advice i have ever heard on earth. Liked subbed and practiced.
If my fingers moved as fast as this I'd never leave the house.
Me too, they would never see me at the bar again
Same
Too me....!!!!
Ha haa haa
For me is not the speed, is that I don't know how to play lol
I recommend Hanon to my students. But once the pattern is memorized, I suggest constantly monitoring posture, arm weight, shoulders dropped, relaxing wrists, breathing, etc
Yes. They are all important.
Once the student understands the basic routine, we discuss additional tips to further improve their technique.
Unfortunately, I can't cover everything in a quick video, but I'll be talking about those concepts in the future ones. Stay tuned!
Teach me lol
Wdym by breathing?
Thank you for this video, and I agree with everything you say. I only started practicing Hanon after school when I went to university, but I had done all the scales and arpeggios, etc right through school so had a good running technique. The controversy that comes with Hanon is that teachers either introduce it too soon, and they don't explain how to do them correctly to avoid tension or injury. I give Hanon to most of my students, but a lot of the younger ones want instant results and don't want to go through the motions to develop strength and agility - for me that is a universal problem in my part of the world - with exceptions of course. I also find that transposing into all the other keys very helpful - and adjusting to the new positions this demands. I have a second copy of Hanon with 2 pages of rhythmic variations, different articulations and slurring which makes them more challenging and interesting, I respect the opinion of other teachers who don't like them, but for me (and I see in your studio) they are one of the ways of training the fingers for strength and speed. I use other technical books too, but as with everything, if you play with the correct technique you won't experience any tension or injuries.
I completely agree with you, too!!
Good man for putting this up there!! I started learning with Hanon and then moved on to Czerny's "The art of Finger Dexterity", also excellent, then finally Chopin (Opus' 10 and 25), I nearly wore out my copy of Hanon's "The Virtuoso Pianist" though!!! Good luck for the future and stay safe!!
Damn, your commentary is so inspiring to me ! Makes me want to relearn properly with Hanon, Czerny, and try some Chopin Études.
My piano teacher makes me do each set of five Hannons (until 31) in all twelve keys. It's been taking a while to get through the book, but at least I have a great feel of playing in each key!
So excited I found this! I am 65 and have been teaching myself piano now for about 6 months.. I get overwhelmed sometimes trying to balance learning intervals, sight reading, scales, notes, ear training, finger independence and dexterity. So happy I found this as a great foundation to start my practice sessions every day...I have need doing Hanon and have gotten better (though going down the keyboard sometimes gets sloppy).. but this structure and methodology will help me so so much.. thank you!!
M Tidbit, I am 67 and I had my first performance of Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto at 14. I had 10 years as a concert pianist. I had to give it up when I was told I was playing wrong notes in the Saint-Saens 1st concerto. There was something going wrong in my brain that was giving my fingers false signals and I had to retire from performing. I wanted to throw myself off a bridge, it was like taking the legs off a runner. Instead, I decided to give the gift of music to others so I spent the rest of my life teaching and I am still learning. You never stop learning. But you can get better even at your age. The secret is practice, practice, and even more practice. You have to get muscle memory and that's the only way you can achieve it. Anyway, even if you can't give the time, it's still fun. I only play for my wife these days unless someone asks me to play then I might consider it. But NEVER give up no matter how bad you think you are, you can only improve and when you play for others people will love you for it.
@@pianoboylaker6560 what a sad but inspiring story...thank you. I tell myself my goal is to play Carnegie Hall when I am 120... silly of course but it oddly keeps me motivated to practice.. I say to myself.. “I won’t get to Carnegie Hall if I don’t practice..LOL... but it keeps me motivated. I am fortunate enough to be retired and Covid certainly kept me home so, that’s how it all pretty much started. I spent a lifetime envious of those that could play and I am thrilled now at the building blocks of piano when I make progress! Though I love music, perhaps unlike many, I am not focused only on playing music.. I enjoy the exercises and feel that the better I get at sight reading, fingering etc.. the more reward I will have when I do practice a piece of music as I will have a stronger foundation. For now, as friends become vaccinated, I am looking forward to a holiday party where I can play Christmas carols for them. it’s a goal..and may very well be a building block to my premier at Carnegie Hall.. LOL. Thank you for your inspiring words..😉
I'm a self taught pianist but I kinda left the piano due to being busy with my work, I work as a doctor and I don't have much time to practice, I just learned about hanon and czerny, I started to practice hanon few days ago because I felt like I was worse as a piano player than I was 2 years ago because I haven't played the piano for the past two years, your video really helped explaining how to practice in the correct way, so thank you!.
Thank you for sharing your feedback. I'm glad you found this video useful!
Hanon and Czerny are what I consider muscle training in piano. They are less musical and not as much fun to play compared to regular repertoire, but they really help you build basic technique that will be useful for anything you do on the piano. It's like athletes building strong body so they can play their specialty sports well. These are excellent choice if you had limited time to practice, and have patience to spend it on basics.
Please let me know if you have any question, or request for future video topic. I'll be happy to assist you as much as I can.
I remember 30+ years ago buying this book (Hanon) and working through it on guitar looking for new ideas even though I had never heard anyone play any of them. so much easier now a days with RUclips anyone can easily hear them with the click of a mouse. thanks for posting it's inspired me to go back and take another look at them
This really works, I practiced this for 20 minutes daily for a month, my fingers are really moving very fast! I can see improvement in flexibility over the time, cheers!
Yay! I'm glad it worked for you, too!
Thanks for sharing the result. This makes my day!
Love the hanon exercises!
Sometimes I'll throw in a sharp 4 or a flat 7 just to goof around with a couple modes. :D
Bronson Bragg
Had I read only the first sentence I would have been a little concerned. But the modality is an excellent practice suggestion, especially if you don't cheat by using white keys only. Sharp 4 plus flat 7 is cool (Lydian and Mixolydian mixed).
Speaking of discipline freaks, did you ever hear about Adolph Henselt, who reputedly used to read the Bible while playing Bach's WTC on a dummy keyboard? Quite apart from the loss of impact when Bach's notes are not heard, the Word of God is not heard either when there is too much distraction. Bach himself would have acknowledged that the Bible is infinitely greater than WTC.
Oh wow the result of this exercise is really astonishing! I've only been using this exercise for almost a week bfr i practice my fav piece and can't believe I almost can play the full piece without a lot of struggle. I thought that i can master this piece next year but thank god RUclips recommended me your video! Thanks very much akira ikegami for this!
I'm glad to hear it worked for you, and thank you for sharing your result!
I appreciate if you can like my other videos and share them with your friends, too. It'll help this channel tremendously.
I'll keep sharing my piano tips and other interesting stories with everyone.
You are the best at teaching,very clear and easy to follow 👍
Great piece of advise.... My Hanon has been collecting dust for a long time.... maybe it's time to recall it
Excellent!
You can also develop the long-short/short-long into long-short-short/short-long-short/short-short-long, and you can keep adding short notes once you get comfortable with the current amount you are working on.
You are a very positive person, respect to you. Your method is Royal and the way you respect other teachers is Royal too by saying every one has their own agenda and not complaining about them. Thank you 🙂
I try :)
Play from the surface of the key for better technique and control. You can play these exercises without leaving the surface of the key. Think touching the key then playing it. Also try not to connect with finger legato, meaning overlapping the notes withOUT finger connection. Separate a little like a strand of pearls. Close together but space between. This makes you relax and give you limitless headroom in tempo later.
Not stacatto ?
Serious study of Hanon + Bach WTC can make the most middling pianist a beast almost overnight. Great video!
Great explanation and so much valuable info, thanks! I've been practicing Hanon for a few months but haven't been consistant and I wasn't getting better. I'll definitely try it your way!
Thank you for sharing. I am going to start tomorrow.
Hanon is an excellent book, very musical and certainly promotes release from tension. I found it especially useful one day when I ran out of toilet paper and it sounded great. It has real liberating power ❤️
Not sure if you are being serious or sarcastic, because you can actually learn to be musical and releasing tension through Hanon :) Unfortunately, not many people realize that and not many teachers know how to teach that way.
@@AkiraIkegamiChannel Yes, dear Maestro Akira. Frankly, I am not a fan of the book and was just trying to convey the idea in a fun way, to stir up a bit the comment section. Personally, I believe one can, and should, achieve dexterity by playing actual music. A lot of pieces have tons of technical passages which can be practised profitably. IMHO actual music is just too vast, and life too short, to use the piano to do pure gymnastics with it ❤️. I know the opinions on the Hanon can be very different, and of course, anyone must be free to enjoy his piano any way he likes. If one wished could also do decline inverted rows with the piano 😂
@@W-HealthPianoExercises I actually used to think like that too. Had a teacher for 2 years and when she asked me to do those exercises I thought it was terribly boring and pointless. Last week I decided to step up and learn an intermediate piece, Clair de Lune by Debussy... and I kept feeling frustrated because my fingers didn't obey when I wanted to do some transitions. Especially the 4th and 5th fingers, very very stubborn. Researched about finger independence, strength and agility and here I am, back to this Hanon book! It's making all the difference. Now I get why my teacher asked me to play those "boring" exercises.
Thanks for this.
Thank you very much for this video. Just got the book a week ago so it seems that I'm lucky to see this video!🎹🎹🎹
What a beautiful memory! I remember when I started out studying piano, back in the 70's. I usedd to play throughoutly at least once a day
I let my pupils play "normal/ long short/ short long / normal " as one round.
Stacc is fine, i also let them play left hand forte/ right piano and Vice versa. Staccato Right hand , legato left hand and vice versa
Very nice is hands in Canon,
And very good is transposing into other tonalities.
Thank you RUclips for recommending to me such an awesome channel! You just got a new subscriber!
Welcome aboard!
So basically I learned that I have a lot to learn. And that you can play every song
There is always something to learn. Piano journey never ends.
And it's more like I have fast and independent fingers to tackle pretty much any piece. But I still have to learn each piece just like anybody else.
Thank you. I practiced Hanon without any explanation and just blindly play through Hanon 1~10 as warm up exercises. Eventually I stopped playing them and go straight to playing piano pieces and found that my finger coordination is really bad and always misses notes. Now that I found your video, I have deep appreciation of Hanon exercises and immediately ordered a copy of Hanon book online. I will definitely be practicing again starting from the basic. I couldn't thank you enough for your instructions. I will chew this book slowly and report back my improvements in a few months time. Cheers!
One rythm I often give to students just beginning to speed up the hanon is long short short short and asking them to check if their wrist is relaxed while on the long note. The most major drawback on hanon is often the crispation some develops if practiced wrong
Yes. Hanon can lead to injury if not done right.
That's why I check student's Hanon progress each week to make sure they are not developing bad habit.
Thank you Akira, im an amateur guitarist trying to get into piano. Injuries are always a concern, i do have a carpal tunnel in the left hand, so im gonna go first to your other books before hannon videos. Im not in a hurry to progress.
This legit is a great exercise to improve,finger precision on the piano.I don't have a healthcare professional or teacher or someone to consult about this,but I am passionate about improving on the piano so although I'm still very much a beginner I think I'm pretty much ok with the basics and will always refer back to it, however I'm starting Hanon practice tonight,I will be very careful tho😁
Just saw this for the first time, and have subscribed to your channel. I have played piano by ear ever since I can remember, in fact, I do not remember much of my early playing. I never learned proper fingering on the piano and am weak in that important area but consider myself an advanced player and student of the keyboard...skilled, but with plenty of area to improve. I love all genres of music, and even at 64, I am committed now more than ever to being a better player. It starts here, today. Thank you for posting this. I will begin this lesson and am convinced improvement will happen rapidly.
Welcome! You came to the right place!
I've been posting these tutorial videos to help students in various levels, as well as teachers share my tips. You may find my "First Piano Lesson" series. Check them out!
Thank you... I have this book as a beginner (1year) so this demonstration is helpful... thank you... subscribed too...
Awesome!!❤🙏
Great video! I'm learning both jazz and classical piano pieces and my teacher is having me practice Hanon in all 12-keys. Pretty tough, but great practice!
I've been playing piano 50 years and Hanon about 40 years, self-taught. I got stuck on Hanon scales and advanced exercises and need something to get me back on track. This sounds like a good, solid approach to start Hanon fresh again. I took 4 years of cello at the university and devote a lot of my time to cello technique but I want to get back to the piano and be versatile with both. Thank you so much. I will be watching this video a few times.
I'll be releasing scale tips, too, hopefully soon...
It goes hand in hand with Carl Czerny first lessons
If you are doing something and hear Hanon no. 60 played by a skilled pianist, the music says, "stop what you are doing and listen to me." The exerecises are actually fun to practice and do variations with. Thanx for posting.
How can the robotic exercise improve tone and artistry? Strength comes from arm and forearm, not from fingers. Staccato is not a single finger movement. It is a collaboration of the body and hand. The original hanon was written for organ. Please check out the latest Faber Hanon which explains the purpose of all exercises and how the hands and body work. We need to be very careful on these exercises, especially on high speed. Without knowledge of technique, such as forearm rotation, it is very easy to get injury like RSI, carpet tunnel problem, etc.
Totally agree with you!
excellent!
Good concert pianists don't use rotation to cover up deficiency of finger strength. In fact, with strong MCP joints, one can play with relaxed arm with ease and authority
@@charispaxton113 Fingers don’t have strength but flexibility. Look at how flexible of Yuja Wang’s fingers. She can even flip the fingers at the back of the hand which people normally cannot do. Keyboard reaction can help to increase speed, too but definitely not finger strength.
This guy is amazing
5:00 I did not expect that coming so it was really funny. Thank you!! Subscribed and liked
Thank you!
I am going to training this way that u showed !! Let’s try !!
Your video brought back many, many hours with Hanon from my youth. It was tortuous at the time and I had no idea why my teacher made me learn these. Now I understand, so thank you for explaining. I can play fairly accurately and quickly on new music even over 40 years later. When I get stuck on a passage, I break it down to practice using these methods. I had a great teacher!
These are torturous for teachers too :) It's much easier if we can teach fun pieces all the time, but that won't develop lasting skills. So I work on and tell my students to do these first thing everyday so they are out of the way!
How about having students play select Hanon exercises in every key once they have mastered the key of C? This was suggested to me many years ago in order to make Hanon a more useful tool in developing good technique. It would be quite a challenge!
Check out my thoughts on that: ruclips.net/video/MKXMElUeOY8/видео.html
Awesome video! Thank you for the tips!!
I would rather (or also) recommend practicing softly instead of loudly. It's more difficult to be consistent when you're playing lightly.
That sure is a good way to practice, too!
That was very helpful!
Gracias maestro por ayudarnos
Thank you very much teacher
Heard the first bar and instantly had flashbacks to my childhood :O
Thank you very much sir! I'm going to practice it right now!
The disclaimer at the end of the video seems very relevant, it should probably be at the beginning. I would add that this exercises shouldn't be attempted all on the first day but rather get to be able to do all of them through constant practice. I've seen more than a few student develop serious injuries like tendonatis. Practice as much as you can, but always be aware of your body and don't play over pain: that won't make you a better player, it will just hurt you. Good luck!
Tendinitis
And yes try to relax your forearms
@@kapjoteh Thank you for the clarification! I googled the word but I had doubts, and now I see I was right to have them :P
Wow this is just a video to help me train my fingers thank you so much!!!
Hold up, I instantly knew the first piece that you started playing... It's what I've been practicing from this book my mom had that had literally lost its cover and back. Guess I know what it actually was
Also it was definitely helpful, especially in getting me to be able to have smooth consistency when playing semiquavers or triplets and the such in other pieces
What's it called
So happy to have found a teacher such as you! You finally came up in the algorithm I guess. Many thanks for all you do. I look forward to warming my winter days following your generous tutorials. 🥰🎵🥰
I'm learning piano in yt and these kind videos are so helpful. I can play with 152bpm but I Don't know how read sheet Music 😅. I'm learning music theory myself for 4 months and I'll learn music production next😬.
Learning music production and can't read sheet music. Is like writing a book without knowing the alphabet
@@LucaBonato not really
He told me to hit that like button and without a thought I did it. Respect to your skill sir.
Thank you!
When I practiced piano, I started on tempo 60 as it says in the book. Each time I ended one exercise I repeated it in 5 to 10 BPM increments, depending on the level of difficulty.
I marked the book where I finished last and start from there in the same procedure.
When I finished all of those exercises, then I started all of them in a faster tempo, sometimes in 20 bpm increments.
If a slight sensation of discomfort on hands or any part of the arms, I’ll just stop and do some massage with warm water and just do something else away from the piano.
I really appreciate this video because a lot of people will tell you how to practice Hanon, but they never give examples of what the end goal of practicing Hanon should sound like, so that you don't know if you're there yet. Now I finally know what I'm shooting for, and here I was thinking that if I got to 108 bpm I was good to go.
If you can play evenly and accurately at 108, that's already great and you can handle a lot of pieces. But you can always aim higher so that you can play more advanced music with ease. It's normal for people to start over Hanon exercises with faster tempo. You'll be surprised how fast your fingers can move.
As an elementary piano teacher, I found this very helpful, particularly the long - short and short - long way of practicing Hannon. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
I like your videos. Your Hanon practice is good.
Great job man, thanks. Did you say that students in your studio start practicing Hanon at 108 tempo? If so, isn't it too fast to begin. Actually, 108 is the ultimate goal of speed that may take months to achieve...
That is correct. But I start my students' technical training with Dozen a Day series. So by the time they make it to Hanon, they are already used to playing 16th notes at 80. They still struggle a little in the beginning, but on average, most students can achieve 108 within a month.
@@AkiraIkegamiChannel congratulations to you then...I just started to implement your 4 way Hanon practice routine today. How would you suggest to split them? I mean, should I practice all four in one sitting or should I do the first part for several days then move to the others etc.
@@serkantekdemir9946 All 4 in one sitting (you can actually go from one way to another non-stop). You start all the rhythms slowly, but as you feel more comfortable, you can start playing faster. Don't do #1 too fast though, because that can build tension and cause injury.
I thought studying Hanon was useless until i stumble upon the 35-tuplet in Chopin's Nocturne in C Sharp minor....
Got a digital piano (Casio Privia 770) last Monday, never touched a piano in my life. The real and probably only reason why I bought is: Chopin. And maybe because that specific piece... Learning it right now and, man, it's a pain but I'm making little progress everyday, I can't be happier. And yeah, those 35 tuplets scare me, but also the change to 5/4 and 3/4 time signatures.... I'm proud of myself anyway, even tho I obviously still sound very bad.
I'm 24 year old now, I'm sad I didn't start years ago, but at least it's not too late!
@@FockeWulfFW200 It's never too late! Just be patient and practice every part slowly. That Nocturne is not particularly a beginners piece so don't be discouraged if it takes you several months to make it sound more or less decent. Oh and about those tuplets, don't try to force your hand to play ir super fast from the get-go or you can injure yourself and that's definitely something you want to avoid a pianist. Also i would highly recommend you to find a good teacher if you can afford it.
Thank you so much sir :)
Do you recommend using rotation, at least when playing the exercises in straight rythm (not dotted or staccato)?
Depends on how you use it. Your wrist and arms shouldn't be locked in place, but rather let the hands move to wherever your fingers take them to. As a result you may end up with rotating wrists no matter what you are playing. But if you are rotating your wrists in order to push down the fingers, no.
Yesterday I came across this video about how to approach Hanon. I've just put the exercises you suggest into practice, and I AM FASCINATED!!! I've also applied the four exercises to Czerny, and the result is amazing!!! You can immediately notice a difference. I'm particularly fascinated with excersise 2 and 3 (short long/ long short). Thanks a lot, Akira!!!
Glad It Worked For You, too.
How about transposing these exercises to other keys like G Major or F Major. Can you imagine the different fingerings for each key?
the best is to use same fingering for black keys. I even let my students use minor keys for Hanon. so they learn difficult keys also very fast.
I guess I have to bring back my Hanon and practice the exercises again. I'm a retired school teacher and housewife with all the home chores but take time to play the piano, which I adore. Love to play the pieces I learned before and play new ones on my own. My old teacher cancelled the classes due to CV. I've been practicing on my own. Need to find a new teacher. I like to watch tutorials and the information I get. Thanks.
I used to practice Hannon, didn’t work for me. I randomly just started doing czerny exercises for no reason and they did more help in 5 days then Hannon did in 1 month, maybe I didn’t practice it right..
Daniel Florencio
The explanation is simple. You are a human being, not a robot. Or like me, you lack the necessary masochism to stick with the programme. I use it in small doses with the very few students who can tolerate it, and I would insist on transposition. Who in the past 500 years has played on white keys only?
Whoever sings or plays an instrument has to attend to quality of sound and rhythm. Hanon teaches one nothing about these. Rhythm is more than the ticking of a metronome. People who believe in Hanon as the foundation of keyboard playing remind me of the type who think that money makes the world go 'round. If God made us in His image, we should not degrade ourselves aesthetically, any more than we should degrade ourselves morally.
@@jesusislordsavior6343 wow, you are correct, I realize that now.
@@jesusislordsavior6343 You cant learn everything at once. You have to crawl before you walk and walk before you run. There is nothing wrong with Hanon excercises.
@@junjungatbos3548
No, there is nothing 'wrong' with them, but they are exceptionally MONOTOMOUS. This can be a deterrent against practice for a lot of people. Other very good sets are neglected by comparison. An experienced teacher will know how to invent exercises based on common patterns.
I don't think of them as appropriate for beginners in most cases. If one takes all 60 into account, and not just the first 20, they offer challenges even for quite advanced players.
I wish you a Happy Easter.
I reached an intermediate beginner level decades ago. Since I was almost entirely self taught my development was uneven, but one thing I was good at was coordinating both hands playing scales. I stopped piano at that point due to living conditions but just lately, thanks to classes at the local senior center, I have started up music studies again.
Apparently, the virtuosos swear by Hanon but I question training both hands to play exactly the same thing all the time. Eventually, you are going to have get them untracked and playing different things often going in opposite directions. The Hanon exercises, at least as far as I have gotten, are designed to be played in both ascending and descending order. What I have done is stared at opposite ends of the keyboard and after my hands meet in the middle, reversing directions. I also am using Hanon to help develop even and on-time play in both hands rather than speed.
Try it yourself.
It’s good to practice Hanon in the twelve major keys.
And minor too
I left Hanon a year ago because I thought I wasn't making progress. Instead I should have just pushed through. Will continue. Thanks for the inspiring and alternative ways of practicing this. I'll check out your other videos, as I also have a stack of Czerny I could work through.
Not making progress is a sign of needing a different way to practice.
I hope these videos help.
The most important thing - which should have been said - is this: if it starts hurting, stop immediately - you are doing something wrong and the practice will harm you. This is one of many reasons to learn an instrument from a teacher. Alone you cannot correct yourself!
Amen!
Thank you
What books do you recommend starting with before Hanon?
Sorry, for late reply. I just noticed your comment.
I start my students' technique training with Dozen a Day series. They provide variety of small exercises with which you can you can reinforce good finger shape while practicing note reading.
Im going to start practicing piano and want to say thank you. Will start doing this and get results
My girlfriend will appreciate this!!
She told me it works much better 😊
yes. Ikegami-san.
i am inspired.. and i start Hanon exercises everyday now. my friend had this Russian teacher from the start.. my daughter tried the russian teacher.. ut my daughter said.. she doesnt like her.. she also wacks my daughters hands.. when she does something wrong.
she ended up in the Menlo park , California Music conservatory with a british teacher.. kind and patient .. and she loved it. yes.. posture is key too,
thank you.. i need to watch more of your videos..
doomo arigatoo Ikegami-san.
jaa mata desu, 😀
My Scottish piano teacher used to whack my 5 year old fingers with a ruler if I made a mistake playing scales. I have a vivid memory of sitting at the piano with tears streaming down my face.
Wow I’m still learning and nowhere near 152bpm
Took me a long time, too!