Playground Forums

I am about finished with rookie boot camp, but am not satisfied with the ability of my 4th and 5th fingers of both hands to match the greater strength and agility of fingers 1 and 2.

I happened to look at some books on piano playing that I have had for several years and came across "Hanon exercises", an entire series intended to build finger strength and agility. Exercises #1 and #2 are to scales played to help the 4th and 5th fingers, so I am going to be using them as a warm-up for my daily practice sessions.

Have any of you tried Hanon exercises? There is a web site https://www.hanon-online.com/ that offers them for free with downloadable PDF's that give you a printable copy.

I learnt Hanon #1 in C major and was using it for a while. I think it’s okay, and it does work out fingers 4 and 5 more than regular scales do.

I sometimes run through it a couple of times as a warm up, but now that I’m onto the hands together scales for my grade level I kind of prefer to do those.

I use the Hanon exercises for strengthening my ring finger and as scales practice. I've never really used the finger exercise sections beyond exercise #1, as just looking at them gave me a headache However, the book, to me, was invaluable in getting me started with the scales, and I think it probably helped with the #4 finger.

Hanon exercises are a great supplement to Playground. As with any good teacher, it's in poor taste to claim to have all the answers. Hopefully you'll be able to enjoy Playground more, and Hanon more, and vice versa!

Yes, they are great exercises BUT for me motivation is a real problem with these...

I think it helps to have a paper book available, they are really not expensive and it is a nice change from your computer display. If you search the forums for hanon there should be another discussion on this where I think I left an ISBN or a link to a cheap but complete edition.

Where do we find Hanon in Playground?

About a month ago I stared doing Hannon, not the original but the "Junior" version. It is a classic book recommended by all teachers and many players... I find it tough,  but it is very satisfying to be able to play an exercise from 40PBM to 90, (hopefully I get faster...), and to be able to play them from memory... I'm just starting on #3.

When it's released it'll be unlockable under the "Courses tab"

I don't have a release date but it's being worked on.

Andrew

It will be good to see that as a part of PGS.

At present, I use Hanon as my warm-up exercise as part of my practice routine. It isn't a replacement for scales, but it does a nice job of loosening up my fingers and hands to prepare for playing. I typically play through 5-8 exercises each day, rotating through the ones I have practiced. That way, I'm not spending too long with my warm-up, and I am keeping the different exercises fresh.

That is fantastic news that the Hanon exercises will be part of PGS at some point in the future.

I am one of those that practice the Hanon exercises outside of PGS - to build strength in fingers 4 and 5.

All these exercises are in a book named "The Virtuoso Pianist" and is freely available in PDF format all over the Internet. The book is so old it is no longer covered by copyright, so download and print it guilt-free. There is also a printed book available on Amazon for $8, if you don't want to stress your computer printer.

At first glance the exercises look terrifying, 1/16th notes with both hands flying up and down the keyboard, but in actuality the word "repetitive" does not do these exercises justice. Just watch one of the many Youtube videos of someone playing these exercises and you will immediately understand.

This is a good workaround until the exercises are implemented into PGS. Best of luck, I need to go practice!