The Piano Blog
April 2012
I'm getting into my bath...
When I lived at my old house I used to have baths more frequently, now it’s just showers. I would always listen to music whilst in there. The main pieces were:
- Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.1, Op.1
- Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.2, Op.18
- Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.3, Op.30
- Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.4, Op.40
- Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1, Op.23
What pieces do you listen to for relaxing?
abdominalmuscles answered your question: Piano Teachers
My piano teacher only takes students who are doing private study post piano-school and she has a dress code for me >.< Not the nicest person
Oh, that sounds horrible. My piano teacher takes students of all abilities and ages.
I remember one time she told me that she has a student in their 30’s (Or it might have been 50’s, I forget), that when they do well on a piece of music or on their scales they like to have a sticky star put on their music.
It sounds like something I’d do actually.
My teacher doesn’t have a dress code but I do like to dress smartly for my lessons as I feel most comfortable in something smart looking.
Piano Teachers
I was thinking about my piano teacher today and how we have an absolutely amazing relationship.
I’ve known her for 9 years and we get on so well. The start of the lesson would generally consist of a 10 minute conversation about a concert I’ve been to, something I’ve read or just something absolutely random.
Some weeks she’ll have one of her piano magazines on the piano to give me as after she reads them she likes to let me have them.
We then get on with the lesson and sometimes have random conversations in between.
The end of the lesson would arrive and whilst packing up she’ll start talking to me, we’ll slowly advance to the front door where we will have a conversation lasting anywhere up to 20 minutes.
She has a brilliant sense of humour and we get on just so well. We often tell each other how absolutely crazy we are.
As I’m her last student she sometimes goes on a bit longer with me too.
ANYWAYS! Main point of this post… (If I haven’t bored you off already)
~~~~~QUESTION~~~~~
Please, feel free to write as little or as much as you like.
What type of relationship do you have with your teacher?
abdominalmuscles answered your question: Question time!
It was 13 years ago, but I believe it was the Musette in D Major XD.
Oh, that is an absolutely fun piece!
My very first thing I learnt must have been Jingle Bells. My current piano teacher (Of 9 years) wrote the notes down when I started at my new school for me as I so kindly asked her. A few months later I was getting piano lessons with her.
I think learnt a small song that we used to sing at school about a tailor and a mouse.
However, my first proper piece learnt and played to an audience was *Drum roll* Walking in the air, from The Snowman. Exciting, or what!
Question time!
The Piano Blog now has 36 followers, which I’m extremely thankful for!
I’m aware that we have quite the range of pianists from beginner to advanced (We might have some semi-professionals that I’ve just not spoken to yet).
So, here’s a question that all of you can be involved with!
What is the first piece you remember learning properly?
hakitteh answered your question: What’s your view on the Hanon exercises?
ABSOLUTELY. However, Hanon exercises are actually only basic ones.. I still play them a lot, but my teacher says its for new piano “babies”..
I disagree with both you and your piano teacher on that one.
What “babies” at piano do you see playing:
- Broken arpeggios in octaves
- Scales in broken octaves
- All the scales in thirds
- Notes repeated in groups of three and four
- Trills in thirds
- Trills in sixths
- And 6 pages of tremelo’s?
Forgive me if I’m wrong but I do not see much in there that is considered basic or for piano beginners.
March 2012
I would like to append to my thoughts on Hanons. They do make excellent warmups and isolating technical difficulties to practice, but it is critically important that you play them with relaxed wrists. Tensing up and pushing yourself beyond your capabilities is extremely dangerous and can cause carpal tunnel and related issues. The strength built from playing Hanon and the piano in general is very gradual, and to my own experience is something you cannot and should not attempt to rush.
thestarsareright is absolutely right!
With strength building exercises one should never expect immediate results otherwise you risk injuring yourself.
I would just like to point out that this person has a brilliant tumblr url...
http://peayeahknow.tumblr.com/
It’s brilliant!
That was a much more positive response than I expected. Not a lot of people like Hanon, however I do!
In a way yes. For me, it definitely helped with trills and my fingers are able to move faster and it’s more flexible after..
They definitely have their uses.
depends
As a beginner I’d say definitely yes. My teacher admits he hasn’t used them in 15 years but so much can be extracted from each exercise.
moltovivace - I agree with you on this. They do exactly as they say in the book. They will strengthen your fingers so they’re more or less equal. It’s a good feeling when you can play certain passages in tricky pieces without panicking over whether your 4th and 5th are going to behave this time!
peayeahknow - For a beginner, I agree, they’re very good. However, I’m far from a beginner but I’ve never really studied technique exercises before and I’m finding them extremely useful. They’re very good as warm ups too.
You must make sure that you’re practicing them properly though. I see many people doing it completely wrong and it doesn’t help them as much as it could.
What's your view on the Hanon exercises?
Do you find them useful?
abdominalmuscles replied to your post: Question for the musicians out there…
That’s a rather good looking piano you’ve got there! What’s the sound like?
I’m always nervous around baby grands as my latest experience with a Yamaha C1 was just awful! However, my piano teachers sounds brilliant.
Oh, also, your piano stool looks dreadfully uncomfortable! Doesn’t it get uncomfortable if you go for a 6 hour session?
Question for the musicians out there...
Feel free to answer with a picture, that’d be nice. Do also include any interesting info about it too! I’d love to read it.
What piano do you own?
