My beginnings

[GeorgeH76]

I inherited an accordion from my Polish grandfather who used to play in bands. I think it was an Atlas.
I think I started taking lessons from Mr. Palombo in Providence RI.
After several years when I was 18, I started taking weekly lessons from Ernest Pagliarini in Cranston RI. He was a professional player and teacher.
I got my first "real accordion" about that time. It was a Giuletti F94.
Ernie focused on technique as well as the ususal sheet music songs.
He also had connections and hooked me up with other musicians...sax, trumpet, drums, guitar. We started playing gigs.
He also had me exercise my fingers using The Virtuoso Accordionist. I would play the exercises Legato and Staccato
I stilll try to keep using the exercises. There were 30 total exercises which got very difficult.

 

[murathan]

Hanon is essential for every pianist. Thats accordion version. The original name was The Virtuoso Pianist. It comes from that. It helps but not everything. You may start with scales only (24 scales, one major and one minor). That may help better. You also need some books like Palmer-Hughes. Exercise books like this are thought as side goals actually.

 

[JerryPH]

It is all part of the same puzzle. Each piece fits in a specific place and expresses a different facet of musical technique
Hanon
Scales
Chrods
Arpeggios
Exercises from others like Zordan, the PH books and many more.
I don’t see many mention techniques like trills, tremolos and bellows shakes as they are less used but they are no less important.

I’ve always looked at exercises as small songs that once mastered make playing the songs you really want to play, easier. Sure you can “practice” a piece like an exercise just like you can read a comic to learn to play… but learning the alphabet and how to build technique is the more traditional and IMHO faster way to improve quicker.

 

[JerryPH]

I stilll try to keep using the exercises. There were 30 total exercises which got very difficult.

I have this book, picked it up a couple months ago, but I just noticed something… the 2nd measure has a typo and doesn’t follow the established pattern in all other measures…lol
When I get home I will check if my variant has the same “error.”

 

[JKJ]

I would play the exercises Legato and Staccato

My piano teacher (a 1/2 century ago) suggested the same thing with Hanon, sometimes penciling in legato and staccato on alternating measures, and sometimes varying the dynamics, loud and soft (important for piano). In addition she had me play exercises with variations in timing within the measures (and keep that timing up and down.)

but I just noticed something… the 2nd measure has a typo and

I noticed the same thing right away when sight “playing” the notes in my head - the inconsistency jumped off the page and smacked me in the eye! At closer look it appears someone penciled in a “G” under a note and put a pencil mark on the G line. Hmm…but not for the problem note!

My Hanon The Virtuoso Pianist exercise 14 has no note typo that I can find - the exercise is consistent up and down. The thing about Hanon is once you learn the patterns you seldom look at the notes.

 

[Pipemajor]

It is all part of the same puzzle. Each piece fits in a specific place and expresses a different facet of musical technique
Hanon
Scales
Chrods
Arpeggios
Exercises from others like Zordan, the PH books and many more.
I don’t see many mention techniques like trills, tremolos and bellows shakes as they are less used but they are no less important.

I’ve always looked at exercises as small songs that once mastered make playing the songs you really want to play, easier. Sure you can “practice” a piece like an exercise just like you can read a comic to learn to play… but learning the alphabet and how to build technique is the more traditional and IMHO faster way to improve quicker.

I still have trouble with my Chrods

 

[JKJ]

I still have trouble with my Chrods

Maybe you need higher quality. Even Amazon carries them, but even the small diameters aren't cheap:

Chromium Rods

Amazon.com

Ha!

 

[GeorgeH76]

I have this book, picked it up a couple months ago, but I just noticed something… the 2nd measure has a typo and doesn’t follow the established pattern in all other measures…lol
When I get home I will check if my variant has the same “error.”

Yeah, the teacher pencil mark under it.

 

[JKJ]

Yeah, the teacher pencil mark under it.

Just erase that "G" and make a new one under the "F" to the immediate left. And move the penciled-in note.

 

[GeorgeH76]

Just erase that "G" and make a new one under the "F" to the immediate left. And move the penciled-in note.

Correct. Now I'll have to go through the rest of the exercises and look for pencil marks. It looks like there are some finger corrections in measures 14 and 15

 

[JKJ]

Correct. Now I'll have to go through the rest of the exercises and look for pencil marks. It looks like there are some finger corrections in measures 14 and 15

My opinion: the original fingering in measure 14 was correct as written. I disagree with the teacher’s marks to change the last note in the measure from finger 3 to finger 4.

Finger 3 in measure 14 was indicated since it would be a larger stretch to go from 4/E to 5/G at the start of measure 15. Going from 3/E to 5/G makes more since when switching from the ascending pattern to the descending pattern, allowing a more fluent transition.

The original RH fingering at the is consistent with the fingering in my copy of The Virtuoso Pianist.

I see, at least in the pianist version, several other exercises in that volume also indicate fingering changes from the pattern at the ascending/descending transitions, for example exercise 15. Exercise 17 is even more interesting since it chances the last note in the ascending pattern, again, for a good reason.

BTW, this thread has inspired me to start working again on the exercises. After I picked up on the piano again after illness recovery, I’ve been working on some, but usually only on the first few. Those do help keep my fingers limber but i’m missing out on the value of the set.

JKJ