Beyond Czerny and Hanon Exercises

As a long time student of the piano, I have done my fair share of Hanon and Czerny exercises.  At times, one can get bored with the repetitive nature of these exercises.  Yet at the same time, when you really analyze what the exercises are working on, often strengthening of a specific finger pattern, you come to appreciate the value of these tried and true etudes.

I know I have mentioned before in this blog, that one of my teachers Dr. Suzanne Newcomb, who is a piano professor at Otterbein University.  As a pre-teen she actually played Czerny Exercise #5 in a piano recital.  I must admit, that over the years it has become one of my favorites.  It is fast, and has the quality and intricacy of a piano sonatina or sonata.  It actually is fun, and whether you play it slowly or speed it up, you can sound like you know what you are doing.

So beyond Czerny and Hanon there is Stephen Heller.  Born in Hungary in 1814, Mr. Heller developed a career as a brilliant pianist, and from the notes of my Heller book by Lynn Freeman Olson, he actually studied as a boy with Carl Czerny.  Quoting Maestro Heller, his purpose in writing the etudes was "not only to help the development of finger ability,but also to enable both students and amateurs to perform a composition with the expression, grace elegance, or verve demanded by the work."

Well, to quote a famous movie line from My Big Fat Greek Wedding...."there you go"  I guess I should have read the music notes before I started conquering the etudes.  Perhaps I would have been a bit more tolerant of the work required of these gems, to become a more capable pianist.

So now to focus on the Etude in E Major Opus 45, No. 20.  This is an exercise that can bring out the expletives in even an upstanding person like myself.  From the view of the amateur, there are a number of partial arpeggios that require you to use the fingering patterns that are in the edition.  In my line of work as a lawyer, we legal types often think we know everything.  Well when it comes to piano fingering, I have learned, I DON"T.

The next tricky aspect to this etude in particular, is playing legato notes in the right hand, and staccato notes in the left.  I can add that for an older student, this probably works important parts of your brain, and could contribute to sustaining your memory.  Maestro Heller does let you off the hook,starting around measure 68  with a passage, that is more like a simple sonatina.  So if you can conquer the first two pages, the third and fourth pages offer smooth sailing ahead.

I often start my practice sessions playing popular music of the days.  But in my stacks of music, Czerny, Hanon and Heller, are there, and you can't ignore them, if you want to play with more ability, control and even elegance.  So pianists, put on your poker faces, grit your teeth and jump in.  You will be glad you did.  And quoting Lynn Freeman Olson the editor of my Heller edition, "And do keep in mind Heller's own goal of finger "ability" as a servant of the expression inherent in each piece."