Dear everyone,

I'm learning Czerny 599 book. It has 100 pieces. If I practice all of them, it'll take long long time. I want to quickly go through the essential pieces of it and then advance to Czerny 849 book.

What are the essential pieces in Czerny 599 that I should practice ? What's the recommended order to work on them ?

I had practiced the Beyer book and currently practicing in the middle of Czerny 599. I've practiced 2 pieces of Czerny 849 book and don't feel any hardship for it.

Thanks a lot.
Jackie

Hi Jackie, and welcome to the Piano World forums!

You might get more responses to your question on the Adult Beginners Forum. There are several different forums here on Piano World.

Me personally, I just started learning to play the piano on my own and I play whatever I’ve heard before. I can read music just a little, but I’m having too much fun playing by ear to concentrate on the reading part. Plus, I’ve actually heard enough music in the past to keep me busy with the “by ear” part for a while.

Take care,

Rick

Hi, Jackie

My answer is first a question. Do you have a teacher? I'm guessing not because of the nature of your question.

The interesting thing about Czerny and others of that ilk is that they don't explain how to play the exercises. The idea is that mere repetition is going to build strength and endurance, when in fact you need very little strength to play the piano and if you're enduring something, how can you enjoy making music? There may also be a vague sense that somehow certain pattern repetitions will help you play other pieces. When you've finished with a study, though, all you have is a Czerny study, not a piece of music. Only play these exercises if you enjoy doing them.

I prefer to teach technique in the music students play. So, my advice is to find some pieces you would like to play and begin by focusing on the difficult parts first. Make those spots your etudes. When you finish, you'll have some music to play. If you can play Czerny 599, I think you might want to look at some of the Anna Magdalena Bach pieces or introductory books by other composers, starting with the passages that contain scales and arpeggiated figures, perhaps hands separately at first. Try it. And have fun playing the piano.

Hi, Rick,
Thanks for the tip. I'll look at that forum.

Jackie

Dear Mr. Neil,

I had a good piano teacher when I was in university, at around 20 years old. The teacher was the piano teacher of the university. At that time, she taught me introductory stuff, like the Beyer book, some Czerny 599, and I tried some Czerny 849 by my own. I'd say I was a quick learner for these. Maybe I should have started learning some piano since 3 years old, haha, ...; now I'm trying to become a professional but for personal entertainment and hobby.

Recently I felt interested in piano again, but I don't have fixed amount of time and schedule so it's hard to learn with a teacher. Usually with a teacher, I need to do one lesson a week, sth like that. Sometimes I have to be busy on other stuff.

I agree that many of the Czerny exercises are quite boring; and yes, when I don't like the music, it's harder to remember the score and play it smoothly. But I know the Czerny series are still widely used and it's a system of study.

If I just wanna do some very essential pieces in Czerny 599 and then learn some nice piano work at same level, do you have a list of the essential pieces in 599 that worth learning ?

What are some piano work at similar level of Czerny 599 and are nice and fun to learn ?

My plan on piano learning is to upgrade my skill from the beginner level to some intermediate level, learn some essential pieces in Czerny 599 and 849 ( or some other exercises at similar level ) and then reach the earlier part of Czerny 299 level. Then with the skills I learn, I can try to play a lot of nice piano work and enjoy them. That's my objective.

You seem to be a nice piano teacher. Can I have your personal email or msn id ? My msn/hotmail id is: jackiew1@hotmail.com. You are very welcome to email me or chat with me on msn. I wanna make some friends in the music community. I myself is a IT professional, so if you got any questions on computer (eg. web site ...), I'm willing to help. Math is another strength of mine, I was a national winner in a high school math competition, and I learned most of the math courses for the math major degree with my degree in theoretical computer science.

Thanks a lot.
Jackie

sorry, I saw a typo:

...... now I'm not trying to become a professional but for personal entertainment and hobby. ......

http://bbs.popiano.org/viewthread.php?tid=233924

Check out the first post of this thread for the recommended order of Czerny 599 etude.

You can probably try Burgmuller op 100 or some easy sonatina.

Thanks C.Y.

What are the easy sonatas at 599 level ?

Get a sonatina album and probably start with Clementi op36 no1.

Thanks C.Y.