Hanon Exercises And How To Use Them Correctly

Many piano teachers assigned Hanon exercises to their students. The Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises, is a collection of 60 exercises that include scales, arpeggios, hand coordination, etc that are meant to train the piano players in tempo/speed, precision, agility, and strength of all of the fingers and flexibility in the wrists.

One way you can try is put a coin on the back of the hands while playing hanon and see if the coin comes off. Many players can play hanon well using the aids of wrist - this will not build the strength of fingers. I also suggest to start the exercises slowly to build stronger fingers. Once you can play the exercises in a slower tempo, increase the speed. Relax the wrists and shoulder to gain maximum benefits.

According to the wikipedia, these exericses help overcome common problems which could hamper the performance abilities of a student. These include "crossing of the thumb," strengthening of the fourth and fifth fingers, and quadruple- and triple-trills.

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Taking Piano Lessons - Practice Log

If you have just started learning piano - congratulations! Piano playing is one of the most fulfilling and enjoyable activities. They are millions of piano players in the world, and countless hours been spent on practising piano.

The first thing one need to focus on is to devote at least 20-30 minutes a day, at least 4-5 days a week. Tell your friends and family members that you need this time off to practice. Very often, adults fail to allocate a specific time for this learning and practice effort. Just like any younger learners, we adults need to spend quality "uninterrupted" time for practice.

The next thing that will help you is to keep track of your progress. Whether it is a new song or same scale/arpeggios you are working on, you need to keep track of your progress. Here is a link to download your practice log

Also write down your short term and long term goals.

Invest in a decent quality keyboard/piano. I would recomend a touch sensitive full size digital piano for beginner. Once you are working on technical skills, be prepared for a digital piano or acoustic piano that can help you build stronger techniques.

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Performance Anxiety - How To Overcome It

Performance anxiety is a real thing - it is a huge obstacle to many pianists. It also varies with personality. An outgoing person that likes human interaction seems to be less affected by it. An introvert or someone who is less interested in personal interaction are more susceptible to it.
If you can expose yourself to public performance earlier on in your life, chance are, you can adapt to it easier. There are many ways you can improve on your performance anxiety.

a. Give yourself opportunity to perform in public - Start in smaller venue. You can start by performing for a few friends. Local senior center is also a great place to perform as you get to play in front of people who are supportive.

b. Breathing techniques - Deep breathing technique helps. Do you know deep cleansing breathing can help relieve stress? Breathing technique is common used in labor room. Once you take deep breath you tend to forget about what you are focusing on.

c. Know your music - This may seem like a no brain er. Many performers may not know their music as well as they thought. Are you able to pick up any measure without starting from the beginning? A good way to practice and memorize music is by breaking pieces into many smaller sections. If you can start the music anywhere on the piece, your chances of forgetting (the music) are much slimmer.

d. Take it less seriously - Don't think it is a big deal to mess up the performance (really)! Just have fun and enjoy the process. If you have the correct mentality and attitude, you will less likely be overly anxious and nervous.

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Playing With Curved Fingers Or Straight Fingers?

Have you noticed how Vladimir Horowitz performed? You probably noticed he was playing with completely straight fingers. Why is that our teacher emphasized on curved fingers, and famous pianists don't seems to follow the rule?
Glenn Gould sat very low and almost seemed to play from under the keyboard. What did they do that?
These professionals managed to be at the piano in a position where their muscles and ligaments were working for and not against them. It is possible to play for long periods of time without experiencing any tiredness or pain. In order to achieve this goal, our body must be as in tune as the piano.

There are some physical exercises that you can do to achieve this goal.

Relaxation is very important. Below is an article written by Shmuel Tatz (phd) with Sheild Weinstein enlisted some techniques to tune the body:
a. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent. Hold your torso erect, arms loose at your sides. Shake your wrist, raising them higher with each shake. As you continue to shake your wrists, bring them back down to the starting position. Repeat this a few times until you feel the relaxation effect.

b. Stand with your legs slightly bent, torso relaxed, arms hanging at your sides. keeping both feet on the floor, turn to one side, then to the other, in a scythe-like motion. Your arms should swing fleely.

c. Stand with your legs slighly bent. Move your shoulder blades toward each other. Lift your shoulders up, and then pitch them forward, as if throwing the shoulders out of joint. Repeat several times if this is comfortable, and then do the exercise in reverse. Lift your shoulders up and move them forward, then downwards and back towards your shoulder blades. Stay relaxed.

Below is a streching video that I find helpful:

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Bluegrass music and its origin

Do you know what bluegrass music is? Honestly I had no idea what it was until recently. By definition bluegrass music was inspired by the music of immigrants to the US from the British Isles, particularly those from Scotland and Ireland who settled in Appalachia. Their musical traditions combined with the traditions of old time music, ragtime, and blues, and began to develop as a unique style after WW II.

In the beginning, bluegrass was dance music played in rural areas. Later on, the popularity grew and it began to spread to more urban areas. Hundreds of bands across the South were playing bluegrass music in the 1950s. There are different sessions in the bluegrass music, each instrument player will take turn playing the melody and improvise around it - the term bluegrass became official when Bill Monroe's band, the blue grass boys used it.

Acoustic strings instruments such as upright bass, mandolin, guitar, five-string banjo, and fiddle are common bluegrass instruments. Other instruments such as accordion, harmonica, piano, and drums can also be found in bluesgrass music. It focuses on traditional songs, that have been passed down from generation to generation.

If you are interested to hear more about bluegrass music, here are a couple places to find them:
Bluegrass Country
Bluegrass Radio

Music Playing And Health Conditions

I recently read an article on Making Music magazine. The article wrote about 3 musicians who refused to let illness and disability stnad in the way of their passions.

One of them suffered a sudden stroke even though she lived an active lifestyle. The stroke affected her motor skills on the right side of the body. She was devastated. You could imagine how disappointed it was not being able to play piano after you had been playing it for years. She said she would listen to cd and visualize the hands moved along with the music. Many months of treatments and therapy using a special device called the Bioness NESS H200 - she was able to play "Jesus Loves Me".
It was a wonderful victory.

She said "When you've played the piano as long as I have, music is a huge part of your life. "

I am inspired and touched by the story. Very often, we forget to give thanks for what we have.