A Guide to Hanon's Exercises (how to make the most of them!)

I’m currently working on first 20 exercises. I’m particularly interested in how to approach the tempo increase. So far, when I learned first 5, i gradually increased the tempo to 90. Meanwhile I was learning exercises 6-8, again at 80 and then increasing gradually to 90. Now I’m playing all 8 at 90 and started learning the next 3-exercises chunk at slow tempo. The reason I do it is weak 4th finger of my left hand. Do you have any suggestions how I could improve my approach regarding increasing the tempo on metronome and maybe some tip on how strengthen faster my 4th finger?

Thanks.

Interested in the arpeggio pages. 

Hi dominic, can you shed some light on the technique required to executed volume 3 properly . I.e forearm rotation. Low/high wrist? High finger action? Particularly on the double/triple note trills , tremolos and repeated notes.
 

Is muscle fatigue in the arms a sign of progress or simply a sign of poor form/technique? .

 

Lastly, any tips or thoughts on how to practice them as a set? 1 volume per week? Or a selection of exercises from each volume per practice session.

We're out this evening [7pm in the UK].  Sorry to miss this but will catch up at the weekend.

For a novice beginning adult piano student, is it better to spend more time working on the 12 Major and Minor scale keys, associated arpeggios and common cadences, than to invest too much time in the Hanon exercises, except perhaps a few for warming up, hand/finger choreography, and stretching? Can you recommend the "must-do" exercises for key elements of daily practice/skill-building? Thank you.

As I try to increase Tempo a lot of tension happens in my wrists, hands, and fingers. How do get past this?

How much slow practice would you recommend with Hanon? I also keep hearing about practicing on a closed lid, what are your thoughts on this approach?

Hello Dominic, nothing about in and out, rotation, double rotation? well i am gonna get hurt! In fact I got hurt practicing Hanson because I was not taught those fundamental concepts. 1 is In, 2 out, 3  out, 4 in and Five in to renforce equality between fingers. And I think it is essential to,get good hand positions . It’s all the purpose of these exercices. Otherwise, tendinit!!!i!

Thank you for the PDF, Dominic! 

 

I enjoy the distinctions you make and the metaphors/similies you employ to make concepts clear.

"Puzzles", "tongue twisters", "Rubik's cube"...ways to make your brain activated and not complacent...counteracting the "proximity learning". Yes, to improve, one has to challenge the brain and body/hands to stay alert. Therein lies the efficacy of your methods. 

 

Excellent emphasis on "efficiency". Getting the most out of our practice - time and energy investment. 

 

My notes:

 

Approaching this in a way to maximize doing things in a "healthy and relaxed way".

 

Pischna exercises - be cautious; can be exhausting because of how he leans into holding notes and then isolating fingers

 

Scales and arpeggios - finger technique - if you can play these great, you can play anything in the standard repertoire

 

It is extremely helpful to hear your perspective on how to think about one's playing of these exercises...not notes, but the outline of the scale. 

 

As always, I thoroughly appreciate your efficient and thoughtful use of technology - showing the overhead view, for example, when that increases the viewers' understanding of your points. I love that. It adds so much.

 

Parallel motion - primarily used in most music that we'll play

 

Memorize scales and arpeggios.

 

Approach with "surgical" precision.

 

"Be patient with yourself. Stay persistent. You will see results." Grouping practice with scales and arpeggios.

 

Spacial awareness is part of this training. As is pattern recognition and muscle memory, too.

 

Octave practice: 

Structured

Relaxed

 

Keep fingers relaxed and close to the keys.

 

Exercise 57 - Excellent! Spatial recognition and awareness of the keyboard!

 

The way to bring out the "musical" aspects of these exercises is in the voicing.

 

The tempo has to be fluid. 

 

You said you like to keep things simple and not complicate things. Superb advice.

 

Thank you, Dominic! Thank you to those who asked questions, too!

Dominic Cheli Thank you, once again, for an insightful and instructive livestream! I wasn’t able to attend the live event but listened afterwards. I have been doing some Hanon exercises over the last 6 month’s transitioning from an old “light” digital piano to a firmer acoustic piano (kindly gifted to me by a friend). Along side Penelope Roskell’s finger exercises, doing 4/5 of the “tongue twisters” a day has gradually built up my finger strength and independence. I now use them as a warm up, first one slow tempo 2nd a little bit faster, faster again and 4th one at 108. This seems to be a safe way to warm up my fingers and the piano, and I love the idea of now randomizing the exercises, and am also excited to delve into the rest of the book after listening to this livestream. I will also be looking at some of Penelope Roskell’s alternative fingerings for the scales and arpeggios to accommodate my small hands and just to see if there is a smoother flow than with some of the standard fingerings. I really appreciate and value all that you and the tonebase team and guests share with us, my technique is definitely improving!  

Thanks for the interesting livestream and walking us through the entire book. Good idea to pick an exercise to practice from each of the parts of the book. 

This is such a valuable lesson! appreciate Dominic generously sharing his expertise!

Hello, I have been practicing only the first 20 exercises for two years. But I tried everything showed by Dominic in this video and I can assure you that it made a big big difference in my playing. I revisited pieces and it is like if I had new hands. Thanks you!

Thank you Dominic for your timely insights into the mind of Hanon. I have never had a hate relationship with these pieces. There is much to learn from the simple grounded approach. I would not necessarily think of them as tongue twisters, rubic's cube much less puzzles, but rather and assortment of variations on a theme. This theme at least from 1 thru 19 are all based on sequences that occur within the space of major 6th interval. They are inventive, easy to memorize and fun to play.

RE: Hanon 45  

This is the “two finger exercise” used and recommended by Liszt. It was taken up and developed with great enthusiasm by William Mason in Touch and Technic (1889). Mason recommended varying degrees of loudness, and speeds up to 172.  According to Mason, Liszt said that after his retirement, when he felt the need to prepare for a private performance, he would use this exercise exclusively for two or three hours without interruption. 

 

I find it helps “get the rust out” and reestablish my normal degree of finger independence. I don’t know whether it helps *improve* my baseline, but then I rarely cycle through all the fingers more than two or three times. Even my *dogs* find that trying.