for your information

Classical Music

New Announcements

New Articles

Music Techonology

New Announcements

New Articles

My Creations

New Creations

*** *** ***

Did you know that ... you can send your own announcement concerning Music Technology to be published here ?

Enjoy Artissimo.gr Material Now : hundreds of pages, articles and many-many music compositions and mp3s are here just waiting for you !!!

You want mp3s !!! You want mp3s !!! You want mp3s !!! mp3 ! mp3 !
Well, click here and have a good look !

New !!!   I want to play in artissimo.gr role playing game ! So click here !

Welcome to the artissimo.gr pages of News !

English Language : Classical Music : News : Summer 2002

Sunday 18 August 2002 : Daily finger exercises basis of improvement in overall piano performance !
 

Experiences

(attention ! - all the followings concern amateur pianists only) - Whatever words you are using to express it, it's simply true : the regular finger exercises ** are often making the difference between ... the difficult, "lumbering" playing and the easy, perhaps even expressive execution. However boring all those exercises are, they are definitely offering too much in self-confidence and final performance level. This is the right place for me to say a few words about my own example referring to Mozart's "Marche Turque" - this piece is definitely not the hardest to be played, but, nonetheless, executing it perfectly at the correct tempo was always almost impossible for me - something that was not the case any more after ... some weeks of "good" finger exercises ***. Now, the execution of the specific piece is not far from ideal - at least according to my own artistic expectations ! :-) [perhaps I am a kind of too keen on finger exercises, am not I ? :-) ]. Actually, if you have reached a point where you want to play well, but your fingers are ... just not capable of ( :-( ), then, perhaps, you should consider taking all those exercises for your fingers ! You will see an impressive improvement in the execution of difficult parts ! ****

** The undersigned is totally amateur but plays frequently for the last 15 years. I think that at the most half an hour of finger exercises, 4-5 times a week, is absolutely OK for amateur pianists without plans of great ambition, but with a relative love and enthusiasm for the whole thing.

*** Speaking in personal, I am ... torturing the exercises from 1 to 31 at the beginning of Hanon's book, but, I am following the fingering and also playing in a realistic tempo. The most quick "passage" I have ever achieved is the one in 22 minutes ! However, some day, I should learn to play the whole Hanon's book (after those introductory exercises, there is a lot of stuff about scales, arpeggios and the likes ...)

**** The biggest trap in all those daily activites is to ... dig into it for a couple of days and then ... throw it up. One needs to keep the balance and play just a little but in a steady daily basis, as if he was having a physical exercise course (OK, this is not easy - I know it - I am not myself always consistent with this plan either).

Download and enjoy a recent composition ! Your opinion counts !

READERS' COMMENTS :


06.11.05 02:45:35 : New Comment
Name : David Kit
Relationship with music : Hobby Pianist
Hanon's finger exercises are great to help improve independance of fingers. I had a very awkward left hand where the third, fourth and fifth finger had difficulty executing clean crisp passages where the thumb and the index were not involved (the strongest of my two fingers). After practicing hanon (medium tempo) I found rapid increase in strength in the 3 fingers. I have also derived other exercises similar to this which boost specifically the 3,4,5th finger that involves rapid systematic firing up and down three octaves (which forms part wrist exercise as well!)
But make sure the fingers have adequate break after 20-25 minutes or 5 minutes of numbness (whichever's sooner). And then return to playing soft fast tempo of that day's practice sequence.


04.04.06 19:00:58 : New Comment
Name : daiv
Relationship with music : Ameture pianist/guitarist/percussionist/sound engineer (jazz/classical/ect,ect,ect
Great advise about taking regular breaks, i like to throw in 10-15 mins
of mad freeform co-ordinated key bashing improvisation, using the scales or chords i'v been practising
, putting extra emphasis on the dynamics of my weakest fingers, This relaxes my mind and joints a little after all that rigidity, and often leeds me, to
discovering new phrases and interactions, i would not otherwise have found.


07.03.09 14:31:45 : New Comment
Name : Jack
Relationship with music : Intermediate Pianist to Advanced. ( Recreational )
Hanons is a great way to do finger exercises.


07.03.09 14:39:15 : New Comment
Name : Jack
Relationship with music : Intermediate Pianist to Advanced. ( Recreational )
Their is another great way to strengthen fingers, without a piano.
How:
1. Find a flat solid area, e.g. Table, desk.
2. Now simply put your fingers in the natural postion as if they were at a piano. (Hands up level, firm with fingers curled).
3. Now on your weak finger, (or any finger) Simply get ur other hand and press one finger on the joint of the finger that is weak. Leaving your weak finger hand in piano position. ~~~* Try to resist, and push ur finger back into curled position. ( remember to push on the bottom joint of finger near nail, not near nuckle).

WRITE YOUR OWN COMMENTS FOR THIS PAGE !

Here write your name or your artissimo.gr community username :



Here write about your relationship with music :



Write your comment below : use as many lines as you want !