I am recovering my piano skills after having studied piano as a boy. I am taking lessons and, in terms of technique, I am implementing new exercises.
Scales, arpeggios over two octaves, trills, exercises with thirds... I still can't manage scales with thirds, etc... Given that I am still far from acceptable levels.....?
The question I am asking you is the following: in an hour of daily practice (it usually lasts longer but for this question I will limit it to one hour) is it more profitable to do a little bit of everything or to dedicate one day to scales, one day to arpeggios, etc....?
Difficult answer. The Teacher must decide how and how much time to dedicate to "technique". In my opinion, there is no precise rule. Instead, it is important to choose some studies in a varied way, so that the specific "skills" of one or another technical peculiarity can be developed. For example, tackling a study based on arpeggios, then one on repeated notes, then one on octaves, etc....
I have always thought that "technique books" constitute a formulary. A way to know this or that technical difficulty and how to face it, i.e., with which "fundamental basic gesture" (rotation, articulation, drop, etc.). Repeating the formulary daily as a gymnastic exercise could be sterile. Instead, it is useful to tackle this or that difficulty immediately within a musical context. This is why "studies" exist, which have the merit of "insistently" inserting the pianist into the repetitiveness of the technical formula, but applied to the musical piece.
I am personally against Hanon. I find instead the courses by Rossomandi, Longo, and the great Alfred Cortot to be very valid and exhaustive.
Thank you, I would be grateful if you could recommend a text that contains "intelligent" exercises because I actually have the feeling you described. Perhaps a text that has exercises for doing arpeggios, trills, repeated notes, thirds, etc... in a harmonic and organic way.
One must be patient. Your Teacher will know how to suggest a program for you. For studies, I recommend the Czernyana volumes, which is a selection of all of Czerny's studies. Reaching the level of playing those from op. 740 is a good milestone. Cramer's 60 will help you discover many things. I wouldn't neglect Heller's studies for rhythm and expression. After the six famous sonatinas, I would tackle Clementi's sonatas and Mozart's easiest ones. I do not know your level. Clementi's preludes and exercises are also very useful. In short, one cannot give advice from a distance. The important thing is to contextualize progressive technical difficulties and not leave them in the sterile repetition of the "formulas" found in so-called "technique books." Above all, the Teacher must dedicate a third of the lesson to illustrating individual difficulties and suggesting how to resolve them, with which movements, with which "gestures." Suggesting and having one experiment with the co-participation of larger muscles with smaller ones. Gravitation. Relaxation. Articulation. Pressure. Rotation... etc... but, immediately, choose a small piece or a study where the Author has used such elements to construct a musical piece. This cannot be found in Jazz or light music (even if Oscar Peterson wrote a beautiful multi-volume treatise on the practice of improvisation and on the tonal and modal harmonic formulas of Jazz!!). There, the pianist must possess, in addition to mastery of harmony, already a certain technical skill at the service of fantasy and improvisation. Therefore, dedicating attention to classical studies is not "wasted time"!!!!! For a few years, even as an adult, one must practice the great Authors and the music that has made the history of our instrument. I am sure you are already doing so. So, happy studying
Regarding whether to alternate or do everything at once, there are those who do everything every day, while others, like me, focus on a little and alternate days.
I can tell you that doing it this way works better for me because often, by concentrating on everything, I always risk rushing and therefore wasting time, so... I would alternate, whatever it is you have to do
If you feel it is better for you, that's fine. There cannot be a precise rule. Always remember that it is not the repetition or the quantity of exercises, but the quality. That is, trying to understand what your hand is doing and how your hand can resolve the difficulty. In this, the Teacher is indispensable. The Teacher must supervise the hand and the way the student uses the energies that they have at their disposal in that learning phase. Nothing can replace the "vigilant" eye of the Teacher. The solution does not lie in doing this or that exercise for fifteen minutes or twenty minutes, but in how these exercises are performed. It will be discovered during the course of studies that Music itself suggests the technical solution. It is evident that at the beginning one must develop some skill. For example, if one is studying a Chopin waltz where the trill appears several times, study that passage taking into account what the Music demands, paying attention to the hand, relaxation, the shoulder, the arm, etc. Decide whether it is better for us 13131313 or 123123123 opp. 23232323, observing with the goal of obtaining the best result with maximum naturalness. Stiffness, pain, tension... are indices of error. Especially in ornaments (here we have taken the trill as an example), it will be mandatory from the beginning of study to establish how many notes it is composed of, whether it is with or without preparation, whether it is with or without resolution and WHY. The same goes for arpeggios and scales: being aware, by memory, of which notes the element is composed.
Scales deserve a separate discussion. One must perform a reasoned and mental study of them. Knowing the alterations and the constructions of this or that scale by heart. Then sit down at the keyboard and play the scale in one breath without stopping, even in case of mental or physical errors. Only at the end will one reconsider what happened that prevented success. All this first for one octave, then for two, and then for four. Clarify immediately what "thumb under" or "thumb over" (beside) means and attempt, once well-acquired, also a certain speed.
