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Are these exercises still employed by piano instructors?

My former piano teacher did.

My new piano teacher is kind of continuing what I was doing with a twist. She varies the exercises to make them more beneficial.

The Hanon exercises are controversial. Old school (of which there are still many devotees) considers them of paramount importance and requires students to spend hours on Hanon (sometimes in several keys - right, loly? ). Some newer schools (not all), however, consider mindless playing not so beneficial, and some even believe that they are harmful (and can cause injury!). The truth, IMHO, is somewhere in between. For example, when moving from light keyboard to heavier one, Hanon may be beneficial as a finger strengthening exercise. But, in my opinion, given that we are adults with busy schedules, I'd much rather concentrate on musical content and play something like Chopin etudes if I need to improve technique. Hanon is just so unbelievably boring...

some use it and some don't. i bought the book when i started several years ago, but actually only did 1st 2 exercises there and after that never got back to it.

many piano major people did a lot of Hanon and Czerny stuff at the early stage, which i remember my teacher mentioned, but my teacher also suggested to make up some exercises from the passages in a learning piece to do so that it would work out toward practicing the piece itself.

This is what I have heard and suspected. An old-school approach. My instructor has suggested that I work on my music and accompany that work with scale practice at 60 per quarter note-- one octave using quarter notes, two using eighths, three using triplets and four octaves using sixteenth notes. My scales usually are in the same keys as the pieces I am working on.

I am intrigued by Hanon, though, as for the most part, it isn't just sequential notes.

Just curious -- I'm getting restarted after having had about 10 years of non to semi-serious lessons (through college, primarily on organ) and am now restarting after 20 years. How long should it take me to get these exercises up to 108? I just started with Hanon, and am tripping up at about 95 per quarter note. And is the protocol not to move on to the next exercise until the previous one is clean at 108?

Sincerely,

DG -- an old school piano student

I'm using them to work on finger strength and dexterity. I find them a good warmup for my practice sessions. My teacher uses them to help students develop a lighter touch.

Gee, this is certainly very individual... I can play some exercises at 180, but for others it is much more difficult. But, I never try to push for speed - that just seem to lead to deterioration of quality. Actually I almost never play Hanon these days - I stopped noticing any improvements, and my teaches told me to stop wasting my time. Play some passages from Chopin's etudes instead - much more musical...

This is what I started doing instead of Hanon: I plug my headphones on my P140, and play "A Whole Lotta Shaking Going on" by Jerry Lee Lewis as fast as possible. *Way* more fun and builds your finger strength and speed just the same.

This is where I learned it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9vVEgfH_Wk&mode=user&search=

An update on this. I was reading Chang at lunch today (Fundamentals of Piano Practice), and although he strongly objects to Hanon, he does recommend learning Bach's Inventions instead. I didn't pay attention to this before, but I think I'm going to try this advice.

His argument is that Bach's inventions are basically what Hanon based the exercises on, but if you learn the Inventions you are learning an actual song and therefore have to practice both making music and acquiring technique. My motivation for learning the Inventions is that they look really impressive when you play it for someone in person

They are downloadable free at http://www.mutopiaproject.org/ if you search for Bach. I'm starting with #1 and seeing where it goes from there.

I´ve just had a look they sound great, cheers. I wasn't aware of these before.

I've done about the first 12 Hanon exercises. I noticed a huge difference in strength even playing at 60. I never increased the speed. I don't really find them boring, I find them rather meditative, but they do take a certain discipline to practice. I haven't practiced them in awhile.

I'm not sure I see a connection between the inventions and Hanon. I would like a more detailed exposition on the matter.

I always felt a certain burn when practicing Hanon, nothing painful, just the muscles are being worked. I don't know if that's a good thing, but I never noticed that playing anything else: Mozart sonatas, Bach p&f, Beethoven sonatas, Ravel, Chopin.

Also, doing anything the wrong way can cause injury.
And how many students mindlessly play through actual music anyway?

i agree with Bach inventions, which actually are more difficult than Hanon because each hand doing different things most of time. also, Bach prelude in c minor (WTC1 no.2 prelude) is a good exercise piece, which is pretty much like Hanon with both hands in synchronized rhythm for most part and yet is a fantastic piece of music. see if you can play this prelude fast, and its presto section even faster? i go back to this prelude from time to time to exercise my fingers...

I worked on the book with my teacher, at my request. I love the exercises and always feel my fingers get a nice workout after practicing them. One of my favorite pianists, the late and truly great William Kapell, partially credited his formidable technique to these Hanon exercises.

People who feel these exercises are "old school" must also think the Prelude #2 from the Well Tempered Clavier (Book 1) is "old school" as well, for the patterns are very similar.

Anyway, the Hanon exercises work for me and have certainly helped build my technique and more than any exercise by Czerny.

I think that the "new school" thoughts on Hanon are just that they are a very inefficient way to spend your practice time. The new thinking is that your time is better spent on actual pieces. Like I mentioned above, Bach is considered to be a great alternative for technical development, and you get the added bonus of it being worthwhile to know after you spend so much time practicing it.

Chang also seems to imply that Bach is what the great 19th century players learned from, not Hanon (since it wasn't around until late 19th century). I do not know how true this is, but it does make sense since Bach was very popular and readily available.