Short poll, just for curiosity's sake, please...

Seems like there's such disagreement these days over whether exercises such as Hanon/Czerny/etc. are useful or not.
Who incorporates these into their lessons and who does not?

My teacher told me that she likes Czerny better because Hanon is just Parallel or Contrary motion and that she feels the Czerny develops techniques better.

Just to test it out, she has my little sister (18) working out of a Hanon book and me (21) working out of Czerny's School of Velocity.

I use both, but with purpose. I use snippets of Hanon exercises (usually just 1 and 6) to teach students about keeping the arm behind the hand and rotation. I use Czerny 160 Eight-Measure Exercises to apply these principles. I like them because they are short and to the point. Students can memorize them easily.

I know many teachers just assign the exercises, thinking the exercise itself will teach the student technique. Not so.

I just got out my Hannon a few weeks ago after not looking at for years. I was surprised with the improvement in my playing after spending some time with it. I've only worked with the beginning exercises, but the simplicity is what makes them valuable - they make your technique naked and it is easier to study what is going on with your hands and body. The synchronized playing may do something interesting with right brain/left brain integration.

I showed the first few to my 9-year-old who is in lessons with a teacher who doesn't use them. My son seemed to like them, and he was having some success with using them with the metronome, which has been a struggle for him.

Ryan, just spotted your post. Even though these were written for the older pianoforte with ultra light action, encourage your son to flex/rotate his wrist as he plays through the exercises. It will help him deal with the heavier action of the modern piano, and help him learn not to be stiff in the wrist as he tackles Romantic era music.

My approach is similar to Minniemay's. I use Hanon 1 and 6 - especially 6, for it's rotation value. I supplement with Heller and Czerny. Heller's exercises are very melodic and provide excellent technical exercises at the same time, IMO.

I use music for technique. The original rationale for the above-mentioned "studies" was that it is necessary to "strengthen" fingers and by repeating these exercises the fingers would become "strong." There is little or no instruction in how to perform the exercises or what specifically they were designed to produce. (The authors also hoped to use their own notoriety to make money.) We need to train the refined muscles for physical coordination, not for strength the way a weight-lifter trains. These exercises can be used to teach technical principles, but once you've learned these principles you no longer need the exercise. (Unless you believe in training for strength.) So, I use the music instead.

I hope you explained to his teacher what you have done.

Have you checked out my Hanon style etude in this site? I will be glad if I know your opinion about it.
Link:
http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1836997/New%20age%20Hanon.html#Post1836997

What do you mean by flex?

Ben, I'm sure you've noticed most students play with rigid wrists, ie, using only the fingers and arms. For them, the wrist remains an unused and useless joint. This is a great time to help them get away from the locked wrist and gripping hand, which you see so often. I understand that these two pedagogues were writing to increase finger dexterity, but here we have the opportunity to make so much more from their studies.

John

The question isn't so much whether they are useful or not (they can be very useful), but whether or not they make the best use of the student's available practice time. If I have a student practicing for 30 minutes a day, what percentage of that thirty minutes do I want them to be spending on warm-ups and exercises like Hanon? Three minutes would be 10% of their daily practice. That would probably be the MAXIMUM in my book.

I think the best advice is that assigning exercises and warmups for no real reason other than the feeling that it must be "good" for the student can be a waste of everyone's time.

Definitely assign exercises when you feel a student needs work with a particular aspect of technique that cannot be addressed in more creative and fulfilling ways (e.g. through actual repertoire). But don't feel obligated to work straight through such-and-such book of technical exercises as a necessary "right of passage" for each student.

Lots of fantastic pianists swear by Hanon and Czerny, and lots of fantastic pianists swear "at" them instead. There's your answer...

John,
Thanks for clarifying. For a moment I thought you were promoting a constant state of flexion in the wrist.

Luke, if one of my students were practicing only 30 min a day, this wouldn't even be on the agenda!

I do use Hanon for its simplicity and patterns (and for the scales that come with the book). But I only assign Hanon for students who need them.

Instead of Czerny, I use etudes by Kabalevsky and Burgmuller. I am just starting to use Gurlitt and Heller.

Absolutely. These are much more useful for the "exploratory" student.