Mmmmm. I finally became intrigued by all this talk of 'Chang's Book' in several threads. I am only 50 pages in and it appears that just about everything I do in my practice sessions is wrong!!! Aarrrghhh!! Luckily, I have discovered this very early in my piano playing days so have only wasted approx 150 hours so far

I've started this as a new topic because I didn't want to pour cold water on anyone's sense of accomplishment by posting this on the "hanon challenge' thread.

Sorry if this has been discussed to death before. I'm only asking this because Matt's comment about HS practice really highlighted to me how playing HT hanon masks the weaker hand. A lot of the info in Chang's book makes a lot of sense and goes a long way to explaining why I seem to make great progress with a new piece on the first day I practice it after my lesson, and then the progress stagnates for a few days and then actually goes backward the more I practice.

I am starting to question the benefit of these excercises when my practice time is so limited.
There seems to be a few people in the 'hanon challenge' who are big proponents of Change so can I just ask what your thoughts are on the benefit of practicing hanon when he is openly 'anti-hanon'?

Hi Shimmer, I found the Chang book after straining my right hand a week and a half ago, it still hasn't fully recovered. I think I did this from playing with too much tension in my hands.

He has some excellent tips on how to relax while playing which has been a big help.

When I first read Chang's criticisms of Hanon in a thread here somewhere (posted by lol_nl) I thought his points were quite weak. However when read in the context of the book it makes a lot of sense. Remember though, his main contension is that Hanon is a waste of time, not inherantly dangerous. He recommends learning Bach inventions, scales and arpeggios instead.

I tend to take the viewpoint that neither Hanon nor Chang is gospel, try it and see if it works for you. Take what you like and leave the rest.

I am not very familiar with the Chang book, but I think one thig he really emphasizes is to play with relaxed hands.

I recorded the Hanon 2 played with relaxed hands a got a non-approval by the Hanon group, so I guess I find that "Life is too short to bug your ears with Hanon"

Ragnhild

I agree MA, nothing is gospel. I skimmed through parts of the Chang book and some of it made sense to me but other parts just seemed bizarre. Different things work for different people and part of playing piano is finding out what works for you. Of course that is less of an option if you have a teacher. Back when I had a teacher I pretty much had to do whatever she said and if I didn't she'd get mad (Piano for me is much more fun now as an adult with no teacher).

BTW, I hear the Chang book mentioned a lot but does anyone know who exactly he is? Is he a pianist/teacher/professor or just some dude who decided one day to write a piano book?

Chang stresses that you shouldn't "waste" time on Hanon. He thinks that you should build technique through PLAYING pieces and not through dull repetitive motion.

This is quoted from Chang's book online ...
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Hanon makes some surprising claims in his introduction with no rationale, explanation or experimental evidence. This is exemplified in his title, "The Virtuoso Pianist, in 60 Exercises". Upon careful reading of his introduction, one realizes that he simply felt that these are useful exercises and so wrote them down. It is another prime example of the "intuitive approach". Most advanced teachers reading this introduction would conclude that this approach to acquiring technique is amateurish and would not work. Hanon implies that the ability to play these exercises will ensure that you can play anything -- this is not only totally false, but also reveals a surprising lack of understanding of what technique is. Technique can only be acquired by learning many compositions from many composers.

There is no question that there are many accomplished pianists who use Hanon exercises. However, all advanced pianists agree that Hanon is not for acquiring technique, but might be useful for warming up or keeping the hands in good playing condition. I think there are many better pieces for warming up than Hanon, such as etudes, numerous Bach compositions, and other easy pieces. The skills needed to play any significant piece of music are incredibly diverse - almost infinite in number. To think that technique can be reduced to 60 exercises reveals the naiveté of Hanon and any student who believes that is being misled.

All 60 are almost entirely two-hand exercises, in which the two hands play the same notes an octave apart, plus a few contrary motion exercises in which the hands move in opposite directions. This locked HT motion is one of the greatest limitations of these exercises because the better hand cannot practice skills more advanced than the weaker hand. At slow speed, neither hand gets much workout. At maximum speed, the slow hand is stressed while the better hand is playing relaxed. Because technique is acquired mostly when playing relaxed, the weaker hand develops bad habits and the stronger hand gets stronger. The best way to strengthen the weaker hand is to practice that hand only, not by playing HT. In fact, the best way to learn Hanon is to separate the hands as recommended in this book, but Hanon never seems to have even considered that. To think that by playing HT, the weaker hand will catch up to the stronger hand, reveals a surprising ignorance for someone with so much teaching experience. This is part of what I meant by "amateurish" above; more examples below.

Locking the two hands does help to learn how to coordinate the hands, but does nothing to teach independent control of each hand. In practically all music, the two hands play different parts. Hanon doesn't give us any chance to practice that. Bach's Inventions are much better and (if you practice HS) will really strengthen the weaker hand. The point here is that Hanon is very limited; it teaches only a small fraction of the total technique that you will need.

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He and Hanon wern't the best of friends...

Origanlly posted by Debussy20.. or Chang:
Thank you Matt... and Mr Chang.
My ears will love your suggestion

Ragnhild

My opinions (and the opinions of my teachers):
(1) Hanon is a waste of time for any age student. Completely mindless and non-musical. Czerny is slightly less a waste because it at least attempts to be musical.
(2) Scales and arpeggios are useful for younger students and would be useful for adult students if we as adults had as much time as younger students (by time I mean years of time to develop as well as practice time).
(3) While the Chang book may have some useful information, remember that the author has no background in music pedagogy but has written a book about his observations of his daughters' piano lessons. The information may not be complete and generally represents one school of piano technique.

(Flamesuit on)

Hanon is not a waste of time - if you know what you are doing, why you are doing it, what you want to achieve by it and what the limitations of this method are.

If you want do build up stamina, then Hanon is fine. If you want to learn how to be relaxed in arms and wrists while playing at ludicrous speed with your fingers, then Hanon is fine (since it is simple you can focus on other things going on in your body). If you want to become familiar with the landscape of black and white keys, then transposing Hanon exercises in various keys is fine. If you make up your own exercises based on the material, it's fine, too. If you don't want to waste endless hours spoiling "real music" struggling with basic techniques (such as getting a run smooth or getting your fourth fingers to work etc.), then Hanon is fine.

If, on the other hand, you are not paying attention to HS even in Hanon, you will indeed mask weaknesses. If you want to build up the repertoire of your musical expressions, then other methods or the use of "real music" might be more fit.

As adult students we all should be able to identify our "problems" and should find out how to address them best. Hanon is good to reach certain goals, nothing more, nothing less. It would be a bit short-sighted to generally rule it out (though I get the point about Hanon being boring ... this is why I hate running when it comes to sports )

I tend to agree with Euphonatrix. It has a place as a technical exercise. You won't be a concert pianist when you finish working through the exercises. It's a tool toward improvement. If it works for you, good. If it doesn't, there are many other ways.

I tend to use Hanon as a left hand exercise and play through most of the exercises left hand only to work on stamina and technique in the left hand. I tend to use Czerny for right hand work.

Find what works for you and use it.

i only did first 2 Hanon exercises in the beginning, and have hardly touched any after that. i find playing pieces are more beneficial. if i do need some exercises, i'd just do some scale/arpeggio practice for the piece i'm working on, or just practice the similar passages i have trouble with, which is more than an exercise and to the point.

Haha it is possible to find a teacher who is flexible, mine is!

As for who he is...
Basically he is a physicist who stuggled for years to become proficient at piano. When he saw his daughters playing pieces of difficulty he presumed they were simply talented, until he sat in on their lessons and found that they were being taught in ways very different to how he was taught. Of course he hasn't simply written down these ideas, but analysed why and how he thinks they work and he has obviously done some research with other teachers.

Here's a description by one of his daughters of the genesis of the book:

http://www.touchrelief.com/piano.htm

It's a wonder Hanon did not fade from the culture along with the other abusive practices of our ignorant past, like mandatory dosing with castor oil and writing on the blackboard "I will not chew gum in class" 100 times during recess.

Fortunately my adult teachers preferred those exercises that actually taught something of musical technique instead of mindless repetition, for instance, the works of Carl Czerny for developing the technique to play Beethoven Sonatas, or the Chopin Etudes for learning to play his larger works, like the Ballades.

Of course, one can always begin with the targeted work itself, which may be preferable for an adult who's time is limited by work or advanced age.

Yes, Hanon can cause hand strain, but those who indulge in this archaic practice risk an even worse fate--a lifelong disdain for piano playing. Just say no!

Thank you, everyone, for your thoughts. It was great to get a variety of responses.

My problem at the moment (one of many ) is that my memory and concentration are shocking and learning a new hanon each week seems to be using up valuable space in my limited little brain at the expense of the pieces I am trying to learn.

It may be time to relegate Hanon to the back of my folder to be reviewed at a later date when I will hopefully have a hold on some of my more immediate basic requirements.

Memory and concentration are shocking? Limited little brain?

I thought I was the only one. Nice to know I'm not alone. lol.

BTW, Piano Again, thanks for the link. It was pretty interesting.

I enjoy the Hanon exersizes. I am seeing improvement in myself as a result of the Hanon Challenge.

There are many paths to sucess, and they are not the same for everyone.

A "Hanon Only" diet is not good for anyone, and no one is reccomending it. It's only part of a "Balanced meal".

It's my experience that the finger patterns in Hanon are well thought out, and progressively challenges me.

Anything that a student percieves in a negitive light will be counter-productive. This includes Etudes and Inventions, as well. Enjoy them, or find something else that you do enjoy.

The advice that scales and arpeggios are better than Hanon, only shows ignorance of Hanon's work.
Look at Hanon #38 thru #60 for proof of this statement. They are scales and arpeggios, and labeled as such!

Different strokes for different folks.

I decided that after many years of practicing Hanon, I'd had enough. Chang's comments simply verified what I had thought for a long time. Giving up Hanon gave me more time to practice music. With only an hour or two a day to practice, this makes a difference to me.

I do think they can be helpful for beginnners, because they get you familiar with the keyboard and with the feeling of playing fast passages. The last teacher I had instructed me to play through the whole book every day in one octave. I did it diligently for a while, even memorizing the exercises, but it started to feel like a big waste of time and brain cells.

There are a few finger-twisters at the back of the book (not part of the main group of exercises) that can be useful, but I have really found that the music I've worked on provides at least equally sufficient, but usually greater, challenges on every front.

As far as the scales go: what seems helpful is to memorize the finger patterns that are generally used for different scales. You don't need a book for that. Even there, when you get to real music these patterns don't always seem to apply.

Anyway, if you like playing Hanon, go right ahead, but I agree with Chang that its usefulness is pretty limited. And I REALLY agree with his observation that printing out all those repeated passages, up and down, for every exercise, is a cruel waste of trees.