In parallel with the discussion on C C Chang's online book betty made this observations:

Let us try to compile a list of recommended pedagogy books:

I'm at work so all that I can think of offhand are:

"The Art of Piano Playing" Heinrich Neuhaus
: the teacher of Richter, Gilels, and Radu Lupu. The focus of the classic work is more on the inner development of the artist than on the outer work of technique.

"Notes from the Pianist's Bench" Boris Berman
This is the most generally useful book I have found on piano. I think there are limits to what can be conveyed simply by reading - as opposed to study with a good teacher - but this book comes about as good as anything I have read.

"The Great Pianists" Harold Schoenberg
HS is always a fun read and this book is full of informative and interesting details.

"Piano Technique" Walter Gieseking
A general introduction to piano training and basic skills - to some extent the same territory as CC's work but much more readable. There is also a brief monograph by G's teacher Karl Keiner which is valuable even if you do not take his advise to MEMORIZE THE ENTIRE PIECE FIRST AWAY FROM THE PIANO. (!)

"Interpreting Bach at the Keyboard" Paul Badura-Skoda
A thoroughly enjoyable, insightful and ground-breaking book. Half the book is devoted to Bach's ornamentation. The best and most up to date book on Bach.

"Interpreting Mozart" Eva Badura-Skoda
Wow - that powerhouse husband/wife team of Badura-Skoda. This book is scheduled for release next month so I havent seen it yet but I'm sure it will be great.

"Chopin Pianist and Teacher" Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger
I just finished this - I took it out of the local library - a sequence of short observations on Chopin's teaching methods, pianistic style, and insights into a number of individual pieces. Great footnotes, useful information on all sorts of details. You will come away with a much clearer idea of how to approach CHopin's music.

"The art of piano playing" George Kochevitsky
A theory of the development of technical skills from the viewpoint of the russian neurophysiologists who trained with Pavlov. The first half of the book is a fascinating historical overview of the various approaches to piano pedagogy - you will find CC's ideas in some of the older schools. The second half is the presentation of the author's views which I find very interesting - it is a bit abstract and probably requires a broader background in the Pavlovian school than I have. It would be interesting to try to extend this work more in the direction of something more practical - perhaps somebody already has.

That's it for now -

Here are some that I have and use (pretty much in order of use). Note, these may not be considererd pedagogy books, but they certainly contain practicing tips.

"The Perfect Wrong Note" William Westney
Among the useful tidbits in this book is the one that a juicy mistake is good. It tells us what we are doing wrong and gives us an opportunity to fix the underlying problem.

"The Inner Game of Music" Barry Green

"The Art of Practicing" Madeline Bruser

"Improve Your Piano Playing" Dr. John Meffen

"Effortless Mastery" Kenny Werner - I have not read this book yet, but it is in my library.

Thanks Dragon, I have heard about all these books and havent gotten around to reading them yet. Maybe I'll take a trip to the library this weekend.

I have some not listed yet, mostly unread presents; I must do some reading...

Arrau On Music and Performance, Joseph Horowitz.

Basic Principles in Pianoforte Playing, Lhevine.

Great Pianists on Piano Playing, Edited by Cooke. Really interesting essays by well known pianists.

Musicophilia, Oliver Sacks.

Chopin, A Graded Practical Guide, Bailie. Awesome book for learning Chopin.

Music and the Mind, Storr.

A Social History of the Piano, Hilderbrant. Fascinating history of the piano.

Piano Notes, Charles Rosen. Interesting personal views on all aspects of being a pianist.

Let us remember Dr. Denes Agay - Composer, Editor, Piano Pedagogue who died at the Age of 95 June 10, 1911 - January 24, 2007.

Denes Agay wrote a two volume (set) pedagogy collection of "Teaching Piano".

In 1963 Dr. Agay and Music Sales Corporation jointly formed Yorktown Music Press and published a host of educational piano material and piano songbooks including the celebrated Classics to Moderns and Joy of series. For nearly 60 years, the Joy of series has set the standard in every piano teacher’s repertoire and comes available in a wide range of styles.

He received his Ph.D in piano composition and performance from the Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, before coming to the United States in 1939.

Searching in the PWF for “Denes Agay” there were 2 pages of mentions (about 60-70).

We have as resources now, not only books, but videos, magazine articles, and a treasury of books written by teacher/pedagogues in earlier centuries. We have inherited a vast knowledge - all we have to do is approach it and learn from it.

Betty

I would add;

'On Piano Playing' by Gyorgy Sandor

'Playing the Piano for Pleasure' by Cooke (a wonderful book for the amateur)

'Performance Practices in Classic Music' by Rosenblum

'Pumping Ivory' by Dunn

'On Piano Playing' by Abby Whiteside

Schubertian, Thanks for starting this great thread and thanks to everyone else adding to the list. This is a valuable reference thread.

From my English language books I'd like to add:

"What every pianist needs to know about the body" by Thomas Mark; intended to give the anatomical facts necessary to bring about improved body awareness, better quality of movement, better, freer playing and to help overcome/prevent injuries.

"The everything music theory book" by Marc Schonbrun: well written, clear explanations, reading is fun though the text is not trivial, exercises, audio CD.

Books I have, but not yet mentioned in this thread:

"With Your Own Two Hands: Self-Discovery Through Music" by Seymour Bernstein

"Making Music At the Piano: Learning Strategies for Adult Students" by Barbara English Maris

"Mastering Piano Technique: A Guide for Students, Teachers and Performers" by Seymour Fink

"Practiceopedia: The Music Student's Illustrated Guide to Practicing" by Philip Johnston"

"Just Being at the Piano" by Mildred Portney Chase

Sleepingcats, some of those sound very interesting!

My 2 cents:

I haven't read a lot of piano pedagogy literature. I'm trying to spend most of my time actually learning to play!

That said, I don't have a lot to compare Chang to. But I do have some answers (right or wrong) to Betty's question, as to why he is so often quoted.

First, his book is free. My local library has no decent piano pedagogy books. A rank beginner may be unlikely to realize that there IS such a field of study, much less search them out and pay for them (this thread is great, in that regard, BTW).

Also: I think he takes a step back in a way that some of the other literature I've read simply doesn't. For example, Gieseking's idea of memorizing a piece first, away from the piano is, IMHO, ridiculous for a beginner. Learning, at my level, is as much about teaching my fingers and ears and aural memory, as it is about my eyes and visual memory (more, actually). I don't have audiation skills, and I doubt most beginners do. As I've said many times, the thing I found most useful about Chang is that he took an approach that encouraged me to question everything about assumed learning approaches, and challenged me to figure out what works for me. Before I read him, I'd always read music books (i.e. music theory, and guitar technique) as some kind of recipe book, vs. information I might put to use to find my own manner of learning. Now I'm putting my foot down and actually learning something!

So even though I find his book a little ostentatious and occasionally thin or insubstantial, I have found it, overall, to be the most useful single thing I've read on the subject.

But of course, I'm still at the beginning of all this!

As an adjunct, if people have any comments on books that they've actually read, that would be useful: just the listing of a book and author isn't that helpful to me... though there are very good reviews on many books on Amazon...

Keith

Very well said, Keith! Actually, I would say worth considerably more than $0.02. Some of your remarks really struck a chord with me (no pun intended).

A bit OT, but I've had some similar discussion about how to learn a new piece with my teacher recently.

I'm 2-1/2 months in to my piano "career" and going through Alfred Book 1 for Adult Beginners, page 33 last night. On Tuesday when giving me my assignment for the week, I tried to explain to her how I have been learning each new piece which includes:
1. First learning the fingering LH and RH,
2. Putting it together HT,
3. Adding the tempo and correct note values using my own counting,
4. Working with the metronome for steadiness, and finally,
5. Fixing body, arm, hand, and finger positions and relationships.
6. Listening throughout. The most difficult but becomes easier as I progress to each step in learning a new piece.

I actually try to think about all those elements all the time, but I apply specific focus and effort to the various elements in that general order. It seems to work for me. I'm generally ready the following week to move on to the next skill and piece.

But my teacher tried to tell me that my approach is not the best and that I should be putting all the tempo, note values, and steadiness all together with the fingering when I begin each new piece. At the time (and still), I thought, "easy for you to say." So while I have tried to adopt a bit of that strategy, I continually find myself doing (and adapting) more what works for me.

Before I actually started my piano journey, I had read most of what Chang has to say and at first believed it to perhaps be an end-all. It hasn't taken much time to realize that his is one of many perspectives. But many of the concepts he presents have given me a nice starting point to at least consider in my "quest," realizing more and more now that I may find myself adopting or adapting his advice as well as that of others, including that from some of the folks on the forums. But for all of us, in the end, our journey will be relatively unique and our paths reflective of what works for us, the ideas and concepts we're exposed to, and the effort we're willing and able to expend.

Good conversation.

Thanks,

I also agree Keith's post is well stated. I cannot grasp, at this point, just what it is I would be memorizing away from the keyboard.

Rodmichael, I use almost the same process as you. I do think about other things as I go, but the main focus is on notes, then fingers, then HT, then the rest. Something tells me the first thing I must know is what note/what finger. Without that basic information, there is nothing to build on (for me).

I guess, at some point, what your teacher advises will become obvious, but for now, it is another thing I cannot comprehend.

"The Art of Practicing the piano" by Jeffrey Whitton, 1993. Focus more on how to practice piano. Similar to Chang in some aspects, but maybe earlier.

I haven't got the book with me right now but I distinctly remember reading in the introductory matter that this book is not intended for beginners.

Gieseking himself was, of course, renowned for his ability to learn concert pieces with not a piano in sight, sometimes actually playing them for the first time in public performance... amazing (if true), but I've also read that he often made many mistakes.

Neither does the small local library in the town where I live. But they're part of a much larger library network and every time I see something mentioned on the forum that I'd like to read, I log onto the library network and request it. There hasn't been a single book mentioned so far that they haven't been able to find for me somewhere, and I rarely have to wait for more than a week for a requested book to arrive.

Just to be clear: I wasn't suggesting Gieseking's idea isn't useful to SOMEONE (I have no idea), just that it would be unlikely to be useful to a beginner, as far as I can tell. At least this beginner!

Keith