Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner How to Use Czerny School of Velocity

Hello. First time poster here. Please be kind.

I am a 50+ year old pianist, having played daily, but not professionally all my adult life. My main interests musically are jazz and improvisational music, tho' I spend some time everyday playing some Bach.

Over the years, I have played the Hanon exercises a great deal. Recently for a change, I started playing some of the Czerny School of Velocity. Now I am asking for suggestions of how to use this set of exercises in my practice.

When I have warmed up some, I can play the first Czerny exercise at a tempo of quarters = 110-120 bpm, roughly half of the notated tempo. When warmed up, I can play the second exercise at roughly quarters = 90-100 bpm. In other words, I can only play these exercises very slowly if I want accurate execution.

So one question: is it better to work on one exercise to maximize the tempo, or is it better to play a wider variety of the exercises at slower tempos?

Another question: given my complete lack of velocity - presumably due to weak technique and training - would it be better for me to spend more time with Hanon?

Do you have a teacher?

There are various opinions on this but I don't think your time is best spent practicing Hanon and Czerny. You mentioned that you spend some time every day playing Bach and I think that's a great habit to have.

I think your time is better spent figuring out how to physically play with all the elements of good finger action, released tension and good finger, arm, hand, shoulder, body movement. This is something not easily achieved without the guidance of a good teacher. Five minutes of some good instruction in that will gain you more than you can ever get with a hundred hours hammering away at exercises.

IMHO of course.

+1! I would say about the same, plus: don't worry about Czerny's metronome markings, which often are faster than possible (well, maybe they seem so only to me...) And I would really recommend Stephen Heller's Etudes, which are musically far superior to Czerny, at least in my humble ears!

Hello. Thanks for your thoughts. I do not have a teacher now, and that is something I am hoping for. Sadly, I live in a rural area, and there are no piano teachers in my area that play at this level. The last teacher I had was a trained trumpet player who taught piano, mostly to young children. She was helpful in terms of jazz and improvisation, but I had better piano technique than she did. I would love to find a good teacher.

I make sure to sit at the piano with my back straight and my feet flat on the floor. I focus my attention on my wrists when playing to keep the forearm muscles as relaxed as possible. But I am sure there are ways I could improve my position and mechanics.

Plus, I would love to have some guidance on how to play the Bach. But right now, I have no teacher.

You throw the score on the fire for warmth.

Seriously, half of speed is 90% mental (as Yogi Berra would say), and much of the value of "School of Velocity" is how it sets up the kinds of passages to work on running away with. Slower with the right kind of momentum will speed itself up over time.

This is different than early Hanon, which is concerned mainly with finger independence, clarity, and (so-called) strength.

Those metronome markings worked very well with the lighter touch and thinner tone of the pianos in Czerny's day. But they are not practicable now on any modern piano. Many editors and historians have pointed this out.

So if I have two hours of practice time, would it be more advantageous for me to spend two hours playing Bach, or one hour of Bach, and one hour of Hanon/Czerny?

30 minutes Hanon/Czerny
1 hour Bach
30 minutes other composer(s)

😀

You can mow through 1 - 20 in Hanon for a warmup, adding either all the scales with sharp key signatures, or those with flat signatures, in no more than 40 minutes. Proceed directly to Bach for the balance of the two hour period.

In the afternoon, play whatever you want.

As for getting instruction where instructors are sparse, there is distance learning.

Best of luck!

The written mm's are still easier than Chopin etudes

Do you have a sense of what the obstacle is to moving faster? Is it just accuracy (which can be solved with good practice techniques), is it thinking that fast, or is there something else restricting your movement? Understanding your current limitations can really help create a plan for overcoming them.

You should be able to play the whole Hanon in less than 60 minutes. If not, you still must work up to speed before taking School of Velocity.
School of velocity will definitely take you to a very high level, but it will also take time because it's a progressive study. You have to do well in each lesson. Play it up to tempo accurately before moving on to the next, but you must replay all the previous lessons everyday. Once you started School of Velocity, you can slowly cut down on Hanon.

Playing with metronome is a must. You must strive for smooth even tones. It will take years but it's worth it.

The practice routine described above seems tedious at best - and would probably discourage many folks from learning to play the piano.

One certainly does not need to play all of the Hanon exercises in less than 60 minutes before starting the Czerny. Many of the Czerny etudes are fairly easy and accessible - and they aren't necessarily "progressive" in the strictest sense

Velocity and accuracy can also be developed by working on repertoire by various composers that one actually enjoys playing.

As a piano student I never played Hanon. I learned my basic scales and arpeggios, along with about 20 selected Czerny etudes over the years - and ultimately did just fine.

Here's a recent PW thread on Hanon which provides some additional perspectives and resources ....

http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2569285/1.html

Don't bother.