I grew up with a fluorescent green book full of a wonderful world of finger exercises by a man called Charles-Louis Hanon. This book had several redeeming qualities: It glowed in the dark, and it entertained me for hours and hours upon end. OK, so maybe it wasn’t so entertaining… and it didn’t actually glow in the dark. But little did I know, as I was hammering away at my Hanon exercises, a raging debate was taking place about whether these exercises were helpful, or … dun dun duuuuuun….. harmful! to your technique.
There are several arguments for Hanon:
Hanon-the-Good
- Hanon develops finger strength and dexterity. I can’t argue with this one. Hanon is equivalent to running on the treadmill: It takes you nowhere, but you can certainly feel the burn!
- Hanon develops finger independence. I think this could be true, except for that in my experience most Hanon exercises are the same in the right and left hand. But don’t take my word for it – I haven’t used Hanon in quite some time.
- You can let out your anger with Hanon. It certainly is satisfying to bang out a quick Hanon (pardon the ahem, innuendo). You can play it loud, you can play it ugly
- You can annoy your neighbors with Hanon. Yeah. I find these exercises very annoying. This might belong under the Hanon-the-Bad category. But sometimes it can be useful to annoy your neighbors.
- You can train your fingers to find intervals with Hanon. In my opinion, this is one of the major strengths of playing Hanon. It’s all about learning where the notes are and training your fingers where to find them.
Hanon-the-bad
- Hanon gives you wrist problems? Some say that the repetitive nature of Hanon exercises can give you wrist problems? I’m not saying it’s not true. I’m just skeptical.
- Hanon does not increase musicality. Hanon is repetitive. Hanon is boring. So by extension, Hanon cannot be musically engaging and increase your musical ability. Again, I tend to disagree (not about the repetitive and boring part), because I think that an increase in control can help your musical expression. Hanon does help with control if played correctly. Hanon exercises are not intended to stimulate your creativity.
- Hanon exercises were developed like a million years ago… how could it be applicable today? Argue this one yourself. Or don’t.
OK, that’s it. So it’s pretty obvious that I’m biased. Hanon is boring, Hanon is repetitive, but in my opinion it IS useful for strength and dexterity if practiced correctly. My verdict: Hanon is OK!
Check out the new book. Its not bright green, and it doesn’t glow in the dark, but its still Hanon.
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Hanon: The Virtuoso Pianist, Complete Edition By Charles-Louis Hanon. Edited by Robert Heath. For Piano. FJH Classic Editions. Traditional Studies. Book. Published by The FJH Music Company Inc. (H1006) See more info… |
Tuesday, 17. November 2009
Hi
I do like hanon and it is not boring but you do have to pratice a lot and it give my fingers abilty