Hanon patterns are good examples of the exercise genre. Exercises have no pretensions toward artistic merit, although they can be played musically. Exercises should be easy to memorise, so that the whole attention can be focussed on the specific mechanical or technical goal we’re aiming to master. I’m going to make one or two suggestions for each. There are three main ways of categorising such material. I am a fan of taking some exercises and using them off-label (finding a different way to use an easily memorable pattern of notes than what the author may have had in mind). I supplement the repertoire with carefully chosen material, often culled from a variety of unusual sources – and some of it of my own invention. I follow a middle path when it comes to the studies and exercises I suggest or assign to students, preferring to work on technique from the music itself rather than have them learn a whole slew of dull and dreary studies they won’t especially enjoy.
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