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Show HN: Hanon Pro – piano technique and exercises for the digital age

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Re: Show HN: Hanon Pro – piano technique and exercises for the digital age

#61

Post by kaidon »

kashunstva wrote: post #36
wccrawford wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not strong opposition there. One basically says it's boring, and the other says that only a certain technique can ever be good, and then it isn't even cited.

Professional pianist here. They are boring but that’s hardly the biggest issue with Hanon, unfortunately. The biggest problem is the instructions that the composer leaves for the student, which includes the insistence that the student lift the finger high off the keyboard with each note. I can think of practically nothing more injurious to good technique and nothing more likely to induce tension than this. Hanon coul…

> practically nothing more injurious to good technique and nothing more likely to induce tension than this.

Oh my goodness yes. I started playing on January and followed the Hanon instructions with the sheets. I have been trying to release tension, especially around my flying pinky… and realized that this way of playing Hanon was making it worse. I am in the process of fixing this now, and am enjoying less tension.

Re: Show HN: Hanon Pro – piano technique and exercises for the digital age

#63

Post by Xeyz0r »

huhtenberg wrote: post #58

Yo, OP. That's your third post on HN in two years. All posts are promo, and yet you made not a single comment. If you are doing a "Show HN", it wouldn't hurt to engage with people a little. Otherwise it looks like a low effort drive-by ad and not much else.

And here it is highly valued and can help you more

Re: Show HN: Hanon Pro – piano technique and exercises for the digital age

#64

Post by nh2 »

mrbombastic wrote: post #57
nh2 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want kids to be excited about playing the piano, get a keyboard with light keys like the Yamaha EZ-300. Combined with a learning software that can control the light (Synthesia, or the one from Yamaha itself, maybe also the one in the original post), it creates a huge amount of fun and motivation. Also works very well for adults. Keyboards like this do not give you proper hammer-action piano keys, but it makes…

Question from an adult because it seems like you have experience with some of these tools, I’ve been using SimplyPiano for a few months, which listens to notes you play and gives you feedback, and while it is satisfying to hear the music I can’t shake that I am not really learning just copying. For instance I can play some of the advanced songs in the app but I open a piece of sheet music and I am lost. Is there simi…

Yes, the same concern exists for Synthesia. It teaches a significant amount of muscle memory.

But that is not such a bad thing:

* Muscle memory is part of the game, for any instrument (at least for the ones I know).

* Some of the muscle memory is transferable. For example, when you learn some chords on Synthesia, you can transfer many of them to other parts of the keyboard, also when you're not using the tool.

* For many people, motivation must come first. Learning a piece by muscle memory shows you that you can do it. Wanting to read sheet music naturally follows, from the fact that muscle memory is limited, and to play more stuff.

* Synthesia also teaches rhythm, which some people already have but others don't. You can learn rhythm because Synthesia shows how long each note is, and you can see it coming ahead of time.

* You should learn to read music notation in all cases. Learning the concept only takes 30 seconds: Remember where one note is and do the rest by line counting. The speed of reading will come automatically over time. Then for some songs, enable Synthesia's sheet note display and cover the falling notes from sight. It will show you whether you're reading it correctly. It'll be painfully slow at the beginning but improve over a couple days. It allows you to transfer over to just reading the sheets. Eventually that will become the more convenient way, as the need to download (e.g. from MuseScore and import into Synthesia) disappears; not that it's great effort, but eventually you can just browse easy pieces of sheet music and start playing the ones you like as you see them.

Tools like Synthesia help improve on some of the skill axes; use other methods for the remaining ones.

Re: Show HN: Hanon Pro – piano technique and exercises for the digital age

#65

Post by sixo »

alfiedotwtf wrote: post #56
solarengineer wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there any exercise books or videos or schools that teach this concept of weight transfer that you speak of? I am a one-finger pianist at the moment.

Literally the Hanon set of books will teach you this :) But if you’re a hunt-and-peck for piano, I would recommend stop what you’re doing and go back to the very beginning and relearn everything properly so that you don’t have any bad habits. As for other resources, this app looks like a good bet!

No they don't teach this, that's the problem! The exercises are good but the right technique is v different from what Hanon describes.

Re: Show HN: Hanon Pro – piano technique and exercises for the digital age

#66

Post by sixo »

solarengineer wrote: post #45
kashunstva wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Professional pianist here. They are boring but that’s hardly the biggest issue with Hanon, unfortunately. The biggest problem is the instructions that the composer leaves for the student, which includes the insistence that the student lift the finger high off the keyboard with each note. I can think of practically nothing more injurious to good technique and nothing more likely to induce tension than this. Hanon coul…

Are there any exercise books or videos or schools that teach this concept of weight transfer that you speak of? I am a one-finger pianist at the moment.

It's subtle and best learned with a good (expensive, unfortunately) teacher. It's worth it, even for just a few lessons.

Re: Show HN: Hanon Pro – piano technique and exercises for the digital age

#67

Post by ghostpepper »

mrbombastic wrote: post #57
nh2 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want kids to be excited about playing the piano, get a keyboard with light keys like the Yamaha EZ-300. Combined with a learning software that can control the light (Synthesia, or the one from Yamaha itself, maybe also the one in the original post), it creates a huge amount of fun and motivation. Also works very well for adults. Keyboards like this do not give you proper hammer-action piano keys, but it makes…

Question from an adult because it seems like you have experience with some of these tools, I’ve been using SimplyPiano for a few months, which listens to notes you play and gives you feedback, and while it is satisfying to hear the music I can’t shake that I am not really learning just copying. For instance I can play some of the advanced songs in the app but I open a piece of sheet music and I am lost. Is there simi…

I am an adult who takes beginner lessons from a teacher and he says with new students he often has to undo the “learning” from (sometimes years of) those apps - and it can often be devastating to the ego, especially for kids.

Re: Show HN: Hanon Pro – piano technique and exercises for the digital age

#68

Post by navbaker »

larrysalibra wrote: post #26
rreyes1979 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Came to ask exactly the same thing. Want to buy one for my kids to practice but I don't have an idea which would be the best given our budget and preferences so a matrix of compatible devices would be great.

Just did research into this question...I'm someone that played piano as a child and wanted to get back into it. I wanted to get something that would integrate with apps, good action and sound without making a massive investment in case I don't stick with it. I also wanted something that was small and easy to move. My digital piano just arrived a few hours ago. I decided on the Roland FP-30X after trying several model…

I would highly recommend Pianote if you’re looking for an online lessons resource. They have tons of YouTube videos you can check out to see if their style works for you, then you can subscribe to the actual site when you’re ready for a more structured learning path. It did wonders for me getting back into piano after a few decades off!

Re: Show HN: Hanon Pro – piano technique and exercises for the digital age

#69

Post by domharries »

solarengineer wrote: post #45
kashunstva wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Professional pianist here. They are boring but that’s hardly the biggest issue with Hanon, unfortunately. The biggest problem is the instructions that the composer leaves for the student, which includes the insistence that the student lift the finger high off the keyboard with each note. I can think of practically nothing more injurious to good technique and nothing more likely to induce tension than this. Hanon coul…

Are there any exercise books or videos or schools that teach this concept of weight transfer that you speak of? I am a one-finger pianist at the moment.

A good teacher is definitely best, but I found the book "The Foundations of Technique" by Murray McLachlan very useful.

Re: Show HN: Hanon Pro – piano technique and exercises for the digital age

#70

Post by larrysalibra »

navbaker wrote: post #68
larrysalibra wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just did research into this question...I'm someone that played piano as a child and wanted to get back into it. I wanted to get something that would integrate with apps, good action and sound without making a massive investment in case I don't stick with it. I also wanted something that was small and easy to move. My digital piano just arrived a few hours ago. I decided on the Roland FP-30X after trying several model…

I would highly recommend Pianote if you’re looking for an online lessons resource. They have tons of YouTube videos you can check out to see if their style works for you, then you can subscribe to the actual site when you’re ready for a more structured learning path. It did wonders for me getting back into piano after a few decades off!

Thanks! I’ve added it to my list to give it a try!
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