Hanon: The Virtuoso Pianist In Sixty Exercises For The Piano, Vol. 925, Complete (Schirmer's Library Of Musical Classics) Paperback – November 1, 1986

Regardless of the skill level you're hoping to attain, these exercises will be a great help. Although the book is titled, "The Virtuoso Pianist," you don't have to be a virtuoso to benefit from it. Some of the drills are designed to increase the strength in the 4th & 5th fingers which are naturally weaker than the 1st, 2nd & 3rd. Others are designed to stretch the fingers - which is necessary, even for playing popular tunes where the bass involves broken chords with notes that are far apart. The metronome numbers are provided from slow to fast so speed & dexterity can be built up gradually. Also included are useful suggestions - like lifting the fingers as high as possible & playing each note with distinction.I recently started playing again after 42 years. When I started, I couldn't play anything-not even two or three notes together; I had lost all the coordination & dexterity. This was the first music I purchased, having remembered it as a child "prodigy." Within a couple of weeks of completing only half of this book, I was able to resume playing my favorite Bach Preludes & Fugues & Inventions at full tempo.I stopped playing the Hanon Exercises to spend more time learning new compositions but I noted I lacked the dexterity for the more difficult pieces. After resuming the Hanon Exercises, I was able to play one of my favorite pieces at tempo: "Flight of the Bumblebee." I've learned that even if you want to play Nocturnes, Mendelsohn's "Songs Without Words" & other quieter pieces that don't require much dexterity, you need finger strength to control the dynamics & bring out the main themes of the music. In many compositions, the main theme involves the weakest fingers (3rd, 4th & 5th) & many of these exercises are designed to strengthen those fingers. Try playing the middle section of Rachmaninoff's C-Sharp Minor Prelude with a weak pinkie. Impossible...that's the finger that carries most of the melody. I couldn't bring out the melody until I practiced the Hanon Exercises for several weeks. I learned how important stretching the fingers was when I started learning Liszt's "Liebestraum" & Rachmaninoff's Prelude. Both composers had huge hands & they wrote music for THEIR hands, not normal-sized ones. Before resuming the Hanon Exercises, my hands would be too tired & painful halfway through a piece & the second half wouldn't be well played. And, I'd need to rest my hands before trying to play another piece. Not any more!These exercises reminded me of "The Karate Kid" when the kid was bored & tired because his teacher had him wax cars & paint fences ("Wax on...Wax Off...Wax On...Wax Off.") He was benefitting a great deal & not realizing it.

Most useful exercises to get your hands in shape for any keyboard instrument

I know this is a book of just repetitive highly technical exercises, but somehow I'm really enjoying it. Something about the repetition feels incredibly relaxing, and I often practice this while watching netflix. I forgot which of the pianists (Liszt?) but there was a guy who used to practice these types of technical exercises while reading a book - that's basically me, but with youtube/netflix. I'm one of those people who don't feel satisfied doing just one thing at a time - it feels wasteful, especially if it's stuff like "watching" something, or only doing something with my hand. If my hands are busy, my brain/eyes need to be busy too, and vice versa.For that reason, Hanon exercises are awesome. The patterns are (so far, only on exercise 6) relatively simple, and it's just a pattern that you play up and down the piano. Once your fingers "get" the pattern, your brain basically goes into this like, floaty place where i just feel really chillaxed. To keep my brain occupied (and stop staring at my hands/keys), i put youtube or netflix/prime video on, and watch/half watch stuff.the book itself is really nice as well for so cheap. the notes ARE small - actually they're pretty much standard, but i think what makes it feel even smaller/so much more cramped is that there are just sooooooo many notes on a single page. The printing seems fine to me though, i don't find it as if it's been photocopied way too many times. I mean seriously, for $6.xx for such a thorough book is an awesome price. And i like that it'll basically last me forever - i expect to be using this for a long long time, regardless of my piano skills.this book is helping me feel motivated to actually practice. the idea of doing the exercises (and being able to just switch off my brain for a while), is such a nice thought that i'd be super willing to get cracking on my practice. As much as I love learning new songs (videogame music!), what's more daunting is having to read music sheets and trying to learn a new piece, as that can be so frustrating. Being able to start with Hanon exercises first kinda downplay the nerves and irritation of not being able to play the actual music right (and i know for real music sheets, it is SUPPOSED to take a while to learn, which i understand, but that frustration is hard to handle. Hanon, since it's not actually hard in a musical-sheet-reading type of way, lets me feel accomplished first).

This treatise has been around forever and is used by pianists the world over, beginners and professionals alike. The exercises are challenging but will, over time, develop accuracy with timing and STRENGTH in EVERY finger. I strongly recommend (and insist with my pupils) that you use a metronome whilst practicing the exercises. Such is the concentration required to perform these that if you do not use a metronome, I guarantee your timing WILL suffer. Also I recommend that you warm up with scales before doing these as after the first few exercises, they are tough enough to demand that fingers be flexible and 'ready'.The author claims that the whole book can be played through in an hour and a half. I think that's being slightly optimistic myself! Better to skip around by making a chart and ticking off those that you have done. You should easily cover the whole book in a week so in a year…..you will certainly have made major improvements in your technique!!There is also a 'Book 2' (Hanon "Revisited") which presents snippets of the original version, BUT with contrapuntal, canonic versions (played against each other) which are WAY more difficult than the 'unisons' presented here. I would say that Book 2 is for those wanting to progress toward virtuoso playing (and who have 'masochistic' tendencies!).This volume (Book 1) is the place to start and will literally last you a lifetime as there will always be 'room for improvement' in each and every one. Just remember - steady practice WITH a metronome and we might just see you at Carnegie Hall!!