Preface

This book is a condensed but detailed textbook on what you must know to learn piano as quickly as possible. You do not start with exercises and lesson pieces because that wastes too much time; you start by learning what you want to play because most aspiring pianists already know what they want to play. In case you don't, there is a section on suggested pieces for beginners [ (3) Starting a Piece ].

I took piano lessons for over seven years from age ten, practicing up to eight hours on weekends. My successes in life and lifelong dedication to the piano [see (85) About the Author ] gave me every reason to believe that I should be successful in piano. Although I became a choir accompanist and church organist, I was struggling with the Beethoven sonatas — difficult passages remained insurmountable no matter how long I practiced. This made no sense because there have been thousands of proficient pianists in the world — how did they all learn? I was told that musical talents and perseverance were the only ways, but I suspected that there are teachers who know how to teach. They must have written books. So I read books and they all taught the same things: practice scales, arpeggios, exercises, start with easy lesson pieces, etc., which I was already doing. Even published interviews with famous pianists gave no clue as to how they learned, except to endlessly tout their exceptional talents, an obviously self-serving device with no pedagogical value. Was lifelong, daily, total dedication to piano, at the exclusion of everything else, the only way?

This book originated in 1978 when I took our daughter to her piano lesson with Mlle. Yvonne Combe (see back cover). After a few years of lessons, our two daughters were progressing at unbelievable speed, which we attributed to their "exceptional musical talents". During this lesson, the teacher took out a book with lesson pieces arranged according to difficulty, for choosing a new piece to study. Combe said "Choose whatever you want!!!" and my daughter looked all over the book, as Combe played excerpts from various pieces. I couldn't help interfering to ask "Shouldn't she stay within her level of difficulty?" Combe smiled knowingly with our daughter and answered "Difficulty isn't our problem, is it?" I was so flabbergasted by the implications of what she said that I decided to investigate her teaching method. It took 15 more years of research and experimentation at the piano for me to realize that efficient practice methods were the key to success, not talent!! , and additional 10+ years to gather all this material.

I read over fifty of the most popular piano books and have reviewed them here and they demonstrate that practically every piano learning method consists of showing students what to practice, and what kinds of techniques (runs, arpeggios, legato, staccato, trills, etc.) are needed. There are few instructions on how to practice in order to be able to play them, which is mostly left to the student and endless repetitions. These books represent how teachers taught, because they were written by respected teachers.

Most of the known methods of how to practice for technique acquisition have been assembled in here, see [ (50) Summary of Method ]. New pieces are quickly learned using these methods because there are solutions to every technical problem, and previously "impossible" pieces come within reach. The difference in learning rate between approaches based on efficient practice methods and others can be the difference between a rewarding musical experience within months and a lifetime of exercises, lesson pieces, little progress and nothing to perform. I also researched hundreds of internet sources and over fifty [ (82) References ], and included any insights on practice methods from all these sources into this book . Books with significant useful information have been labeled "must read" in the reviews [ (83) Book Reviews: General Comments ].

As a scientist, I knew that organizing this material into a logical, scientifically sound structure was the only way to write a useful textbook that did not contain fatal flaws such as false assumptions, a common flaw in most piano literature. My career as a research scientist was critical to the creation of this book and, together with the most complete treatment of practice methods, distinguishes it from every other book on piano; see (64) Why the Greatest Pianists Could Not Teach , (66) Scientific Approach to Piano Practice and (83) Book Reviews: General Comments . Eliminating some widely accepted practice methods based on incorrect assumptions frees up enough time to not only learn piano, but also pursue the education needed to navigate in today's world, or even have a separate career. The higher education is necessary for understanding and teaching piano! I became convinced of this book's potential to help students and teachers and, since 1999, have made it downloadable free on the internet — you can't put a price on a child's ability to make music.

I did not originate most of the basic ideas in the practice methods. They were re-invented umpteen times in the 200 years since Bach, by every successful pianist; otherwise, they would not have had such success. I started writing this book using the teachings of Combe, the teacher of our two daughters who became accomplished pianists; they have won many first prizes in piano competitions and averaged about 10 recitals a year each for ten years; both have absolute pitch, enjoy composing music, and have careers in the computer field. Too many students spend 100% of their time learning new compositions and, because this process takes so long under the old teaching systems, there was no time left to practice the art of making music and to get a needed general education outside of music. The objective here is to make the learning process so fast that we can allocate 10% of practice time to technical work and 90% to making music, an objective first enunciated to me by Combe.

The Age of Exercises (1900-2000), epitomized by Hanon's exercises and Cortot's book ( Cortot, Alfred, ), is finally ending because we know much better methods for technical development. The age of "you can't play this for ten years because it is too difficult" is also over; we can all start making music from day one of piano lessons and aspire to acquire significant repertoires of memorized, performable music within a fixed schedule of time. I did not realize how effective these methods were until after I finished my First Edition book in 1995. These methods were better than what I had been using previously and, for years, I had been applying them with good results. I experienced my first awakening after finishing that book, when I read my own book and followed the methods systematically -- and experienced their incredible efficiency! So, what is the difference between knowing parts of the method and reading a book? In writing it, I had to take the various parts and arrange them into an organized structure that served a specific purpose and that had no missing essential components or fatal errors. It was as if I had most of the parts of a car but, without a mechanic to assemble it, find any missing parts, and tune it up, those parts weren't much good for transportation. That is a major advantage of books: everything can be carefully thought out and organized; nothing is forgotten. A teacher teaching a student in real time doesn't have that luxury; I always remembered important things that I should have taught (in science, piano, etc.) after the lessons were over. Without a good textbook, it is impossible to convey the information in a good book in lessons lasting just several hours a week.

Teachers are better than books because they can adapt their teachings to fit each student, but good books can provide more information than any one super teacher can hope to know, are always available to anyone, and cost less. Everyone agrees that the best system is a good teacher with good books, as practiced at all schools and universities. Can you imagine your school or university teaching without textbooks? Piano teaching got away without genuine textbooks for so long because it was based on talent instead of knowledge. Where would our civilization be today, if all institutions of learning were based on student talent instead of knowledge, where each student had to rediscover algebra, science, history, etc., on his own, without books and with only the teacher's memory as the source of information?

This book is not a dogmatic set of practice rules; it is a collection of tools for solving technical problems. It empowers students to create their own practice routines because each individual is different. It is about growth into independent, self-sufficient, mature individuals and musicians who control their own futures, instead of career students waiting for instructions.

Music, the ability to memorize a large repertoire, and IQ are linked. This book discusses this linkage, see (65) Creating Geniuses . Learning piano can lower the IQ (with mindless repetitions of exercises and cultivating a lazy brain) or raise the IQ by learning how to memorize, conversing with the greatest geniuses that ever lived through their music, increasing brain stamina and speed, and learning the four "genius skills" : efficient practice methods (this book), mental play [ (15) Mental Play (MP) ], absolute pitch [ Absolute Pitch, Relative Pitch ], and play by ear [ (18) Play by Ear (PBE), Composing ], that we can all learn . It is astonishing that a majority of teachers never taught these genius skills -- little wonder that genius was such a rarity.

In order to understand music theory and to learn piano, it is helpful to understand the (76) Chromatic Scale and piano tuning [ Chapter Three Tuning Your Piano ]. Pianists need these types of knowledge to communicate intelligently with the piano tuner. Every tuner is familiar with these subjects, but they run into impossible problems when the pianists are not informed, so that the tuners decide what is best for the pianist. Bach and Beethoven used specific temperaments and some temperaments are problematic with Chopin's music. Today, you can change temperaments with the flick of a digital piano switch and experience the unbelievable sonority of Beethoven's Waldstein or hear key color with Bach's Well Tempered Clavier, that are impossible with even the most expensive concert grand tuned to today's standard (Equal) Temperament.

This book is only a beginning; future research will reveal better learning methods with limitless possibilities. Today, babies are tested for hearing as soon as they are born; tomorrow, parents who want musical children will teach them Absolute Pitch before they learn the alphabet, see Absolute Pitch, Relative Pitch, (65) Creating Geniuses.

Don't worry if you find yourself reading the same sections several times; that is normal because the information density is so high. Today's pianists can learn so many skills so quickly that no amount of "inborn talent" can hope to compete with a properly educated pianist.

Acknowledgements: I must thank Dr. Robert B. Marcus, my supervisor at Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ, who introduced us to Mlle. Yvonne Combe, the volunteers, some of whom spent years translating my book, and the thoughtful readers who contributed comments.

Here are eye-opening Testimonials; what teachers think of this book and how it affected each pianist. What readers say, matters.