Hey Guys!

My Piano Teacher has given me the "School of Velocity" book she learned from as a child. She said her teacher gave it to her and it looks like its a really old book...anyway, she gave it to me (How nice..I feel honored) and wants me to start working out of it. She played the first exercise for me and also showed me this video:




Does anyone have some tips for how to effectively learn and play this exercise? I doubt I can play it as fast as this guy, but the point of showing me this video was to let me see how well I could do with it if I practiced it enough.

Thanks,

Broken

I think that you answered your own question. The only tip I can offer is to practice practice practice. My teacher gives me a lot of Czerny and Hanon exercises too. I never play them a quickly as she does, but over the past year, I certainly have learned to play them MUCH faster.
Good luck and have fun!!!!

I'm like Christine - I have a bunch but never practice them enough to get completely up to speed. Actually, my teacher doesn't expect me to get close to the suggested metronome markings - some of which she thinks are ridiculous. For each of them, she is more interested in my understanding the specific point of each exercise, whatever it is.

Thanks for the tips guys.

I think I am often TOO focused on playing like the people on youtube! Someone in the Teachers forum told me to take my time and build up the technique it takes to play these exercises.

Out of all the books my teacher has given men (Hannon, etudes, scales...etc) I think I really like the Czerny exercises a lot!

I agree with you BrokenChord. Czerny exercises sound much more musical than do those of Hanon. I think Hanon exercises are an awesome way to warm up. I have begun to "hear" my weak 4th finger on my left hand too. I thought it was especially nifty to be able to hear the problem......now I am looking forward to hearing the improvement over time.

You could also try Czerny's Preliminary School of Velocity, Op.636. The exercises there are a little bit easier than those in the School of Velocity. It should be available at IMSLP.

Make sure you keep your wrists loose and lift your fingers up so you play each note distinctly; practice practice!

Thanks Guys,

Im considering giving her the book back and asking for something that could help me build up the foundation to do these. I get too obsessed with playing things how they are supposed to be and I feel I will lose a lot of sleep not being able to do these :|


Is there a book other than the Preliminary School of Velocity that I should also look into?

I think one of the hardest, but most valuable lessons I have learnt since becoming serious with my piano playing is to not worry how well / fast / technically superior, others play pieces but to get what I need and can get from a piece. Especially true of studies. I wouldn't sweat it.

Having said that, there are easier Czerny studies. Here's the two sets I've worked on:

1. Opus 139 (Progressive Studies without Octaves). Once my teacher felt I was getting little value from these we moved on to ...

2. Opus 849. 30 New studies in technics. That's what we're working on now.

I have two books published by Schaum called Czerny In All Keys. I like the pieces a lot. They sound musical and since there are pieces in all keys, you can choose the exercise that goes with whichever scale you happen to be learning at the moment (this is how my teacher and I are doing it). I also like the organization as the pieces are grouped with first the major key and its relative minor on the subsequent page. Here is a little blurb from inside the book
"Because these studies are short (just 16 measures each) they offer great flexibility for assignment and increase student motivation by creating short units which are easily completed."

The pieces in each book are drawn from several opus numbers (139, 599, 100 Recreations, 453, 823, and 261).