You’re quite right in thinking that I’m not a food writer, and marmite is, of course, a rather dark, thick, sticky, potent, yeast-based paste that we spread over, well almost anything. You either love it or hate it. Apologies to vegetarians and vegans who will, no doubt, prefer Vegemite! 

In this post, the marmite connotation refers to the practice of piano exercises. Pianists tend to have a love-hate relationship with piano studies or études. This subject rears its head probably more than any other in various social media piano and piano teacher groups, particularly Facebook sites. It has quite recently been the subject of discussion in my Adult Piano Returners Facebook Group; do join us if you’re not already a member of this group (click on the group title in the line above to find us!).

Pianists often fall into two distinct camps regarding studies; some love them, whilst others refuse to even entertain the fact that they can be a useful practice tool. Into which camp do you fall? Have you thought about why you hold that particular belief? If it’s negative, it may be because you ‘suffered’ playing studies at the hands of a piano teacher years ago, or perhaps you have, even worse, injured yourself whilst practising them too much, or dare I say it, in the wrong manner. 

Most teachers realise that using studies sparingly during lessons forms part of a healthy ‘balanced’ musical diet. In my experience, it all depends on the student, in fact, everything depends on the student; their current level, their ability, their available practice time, their piano ‘goals’, and so on. However, if you have unfortunate memories of working at studies, or you haven’t received any specific instructions about how to practice them, then it’s too easy to fall into the ‘mindless practice’ scenario, which is to be avoided at all costs. 

As a student, I worked on studies endlessly. Right from the beginning, Czerny and Cramer were prescribed by my first teacher. I found them quite entertaining, although probably had no clue as to why I was practising them at the time and certainly no idea of the significance of learning them. As a young teenage student, I was ‘prescribed’ Czerny’s Art Of Finger Dexterity Op. 740. This large collection consists of fairly basic extended exercises comprising most technical permutations, as one might expect from such a volume. I practised four or five exercises over a two week period, after which I had to present them, often at several tempi, in a lesson, separate hands only and memorised. This followed another couple of weeks of practising hands together until I could play them at tempo. I worked through almost the entire volume in this manner. 

Was this somewhat protracted practice, useful? Yes, it was. I learned many crucial elements relating to body movement, particularly hand, wrist, and arm motions, as well as firming up fingers.

Memorisation

An unexpected plus; by working separate hands only, this practice tool highlighted the importance of focusing my attention equally on both hands irrespective of where the melody and accompaniment occurred in the piece, and this made memory playing easier in the long run. I have worked this way ever since, and I do encourage my young students to memorise their repertoire using separate hands from the outset. They comment on how much more secure this makes them feel during a performance. 

Fingering

In the same way, as each hand is given a special focus during separate hand memorised practice, fingering is also highlighted and becomes cemented in our minds. That is, provided we are using suitable fingering in the first place. 

Pedal

We know the effects of a heavy right foot only too well. Smudging is nearly always the unhappy result and this type of practice distorts proper use of the fingers; they can only be heard and evaluated effectively without the aid of any pedal at all. Studies, by their nature, need to be ‘clean’ and often ‘pedal free’, at least during the learning stages.

Movement

The overriding benefit of practising piano studies is the development of proper movement. The ‘pattern’ element found in the majority of studies, that of note patterns being repeated over and over again, can give rise to tension – or ‘locking-up’. This must be overcome for a technique to be fully formed. It’s not easy to do this and it requires input from a skilful teacher who will work with you until a solution is found. This solution should involve the development of firm fingers whilst producing a full sound via the use of a flexible wrist and the employment of arm weight; or essentially dropping the weight of your arm into the key via firm fingers. This statement is simplistic as there is considerably more involved in this aspect, but if honed properly over some time, each study can be managed easily, forming an ever-improving technical armoury; an armoury which can be applied to repertoire meaning that technical issues become less intrusive over time.

Isn’t this time-consuming? Yes, it is. Can it be learned at any age? Yes, it can, but it’s much easier to do it as a young person because a child’s physique is far more pliable. In this respect, it’s similar to the training of an athlete. 

I only encountered Hanon’s notorious tome The Virtuoso Pianist when I was a student at college. Consisting of a group of 60 exercises, I’ve never practised them with any real zest, but have played them through on occasion, and, rather surprisingly, I have an adult student who loves them and uses them as part of her warm-up routine. The issue with Hanon is that due to their rigorously ‘patterned’ concept, it’s easy to incur tension when playing them, and, therefore, they ideally shouldn’t be practised without teacher ‘supervision’. Having said that, many find that their left-hand control increases significantly after regular Hanon sessions and others find playing these exercises in all keys, helpful.

Repertoire

I’m careful with my students. Rarely do I use Czerny, Cramer, Pischna, Josephy, and the like. I think students need to hone technique alongside developing musicianship. 

When working with young students, I encourage exploration of a selection of ‘technical’ pieces, and prefer to use the music of J S Bach; either the two-part inventions, sinfonias, or preludes and fugues, depending on the level of the student. These works teach us everything so beautifully if practised in detail. Exercises I prefer to use are those by Stephen Heller and Moritz Moszkowski. Some may argue that Heller and Moszkowski’s studies are less interesting than those by other composers, but I don’t see them that way and neither do my students. 

Heller’s Op. 45 and Op. 46 études include some delightful little pieces which can be programmed into performances as well as providing the basis for useful exercises. I would use these studies for those of Grade 6 – 8 level. After working on several Heller studies, we move on to Moszkowski’s 15 Etudes de Virtuosité Op. 72, which would be considered diploma level. Some of my colleagues prefer these works to Chopin’s études, perhaps proving that they are worthwhile studies and concert pieces. 

If you would like to explore these works further, I recommend starting with Etude No. 2 in G minor and Etude No. 6 in F major, followed by the ‘star’ piece of the set (in my opinion), No. 11 in A flat major. You can enjoy hearing them by clicking on the links below, and decide for yourself on which side of the ‘marmite’ camp you preside: