What is the best Hanon for Accordion?

[Felipe Ventura]

Good morning Felipe and thank you so much for sending me Hanon 60 Exercises for Accordion.

I read an opinion that Hanon has the downside on consuming time and energy that could otherwise be spent on learning new items of repertoire. I can see the author’s point but apart from developing finger strength and speed, I think the exercises will develop, and maintain, an intimacy of feel with the keys and buttons. Starting a 15 minute or so session with exercises and then working on repertoire in my opinion can only be a good thing.

Thanks again Felipe, our friend in Brazil.

You're welcome, my friend! If you need anything I can send, just ask!

I agree with you! If you study just one Hanon exercise well, that's already great! The best musicians are those who don't mind the time invested in learning.

I'll give you a summary of how I study the first 38 exercises (which in my opinion are the most important):

1- Study one at a time exactly as they are written, following the fingering to the letter. After you've got your hands together well, play with the metronome at 60. If it's good, increase the metronome by 5 more numbers. Keep increasing until you reach 108.

2- After you've learned 3 exercises with the metronome at 108, you can try playing all 3 in a row without stopping. Doing it 3 at a time is good.

3- After you've learned them all well, play at different rhythms! Change the beat, the values of the figures, staccato, legato and other articulations and dynamics of expression... Invent different rhythms! (Use the rhythms you are studying in your repertoire!)

4- After learning rhythmic variations, study each exercise in all major and minor keys. I suggest that you do not follow the progression of the keys in a "cycle of fifths", but study in chromatic progression (C#, D, D#, E, F, etc... Use the keys you are studying in your repertoire!).

We have to understand that Hanon is not a "disposable" book. We have to keep in mind that it is our "Bible", which should be studied every day a little bit and we will study it until the end of our lives! If we think like this, Hanon will be our best friend for life, but if not, it will become our greatest enemy!

 

[Rodney]

You're welcome, my friend! If you need anything I can send, just ask!

I agree with you! If you study just one Hanon exercise well, that's already great! The best musicians are those who don't mind the time invested in learning.

I'll give you a summary of how I study the first 38 exercises (which in my opinion are the most important):

1- Study one at a time exactly as they are written, following the fingering to the letter. After you've got your hands together well, play with the metronome at 60. If it's good, increase the metronome by 5 more numbers. Keep increasing until you reach 108.

2- After you've learned 3 exercises with the metronome at 108, you can try playing all 3 in a row without stopping. Doing it 3 at a time is good.

3- After you've learned them all well, play at different rhythms! Change the beat, the values of the figures, staccato, legato and other articulations and dynamics of expression... Invent different rhythms! (Use the rhythms you are studying in your repertoire!)

4- After learning rhythmic variations, study each exercise in all major and minor keys. I suggest that you do not follow the progression of the keys in a "cycle of fifths", but study in chromatic progression (C#, D, D#, E, F, etc... Use the keys you are studying in your repertoire!).

We have to understand that Hanon is not a "disposable" book. We have to keep in mind that it is our "Bible", which should be studied every day a little bit and we will study it until the end of our lives! If we think like this, Hanon will be our best friend for life, but if not, it will become our greatest enemy!

Thanks Felipe, my friend, as always your advice is good!

Hanon is drawing me in and will take 15 minutes at the start of each practice session (usually 2 per day). I’m a subscriber to taking it very slowly at first so that I can master what’s written and then turning up the speed in small increments so as not to learn errors. I started at 40 bpm with Ex 1 and will increase 5 bpm at a time.

I’m using the 16 exercise version in English first to ensure I follow any advice then switch to the 60 exercise version to continue … I plan a long partnership!

 

[JerryPH]

I've started doig something lately to address a condition I have started to notice.

Becuase I am on the keyboard all day each day, its not good for me, and the arthritis really has a chance to set in a little more each day. This manifests in my accordion playing as slow stiff fingers, playing that is painful and no real endurance.

Instead of starting with exercises, I start off with music I want to learn and save the last 15 minutes for high endurance exercises to finish me off both mentally and physically fatigued.

Things that will really fatigue and push my fingers to the point of physical failure, so its all scales at medium speeds and then 1 different hanon exercise per day played slow for the first 2 times to get the rhythm and increasing speed each time NON-STOP until I get to 200BPS and then repeat until failure and I cannot play anymore.

First time it took me about 3 repetitions at full speed after the scales and I was done, I am up to 6 times now and my goal is 25 times at full speed non-stop. Currently I am peaking around 200bps, but I'd love to get to 250bps for the full 25 reps. To explain, thats not 200bps per beat (per quarter note), but 200bps at 2 quarter (or more accurately 4 X 8th) notes per beat.

250bps is a LOFTY goal at this point in my life, its pretty close to what I was doing in my early 20's, which was around 270bps (no idea if this is even possible for me, but its a goal).

 

[Felipe Ventura]

Thanks Felipe, my friend, as always your advice is good!

Hanon is drawing me in and will take 15 minutes at the start of each practice session (usually 2 per day). I’m a subscriber to taking it very slowly at first so that I can master what’s written and then turning up the speed in small increments so as not to learn errors. I started at 40 bpm with Ex 1 and will increase 5 bpm at a time.

I’m using the 16 exercise version in English first to ensure I follow any advice then switch to the 60 exercise version to continue … I plan a long partnership!

Perfect! Keep it up! You'll evolve quickly!

 

[Felipe Ventura]

I've started doig something lately to address a condition I have started to notice.

Becuase I am on the keyboard all day each day, its not good for me, and the arthritis really has a chance to set in a little more each day. This manifests in my accordion playing as slow stiff fingers, playing that is painful and no real endurance.

Instead of starting with exercises, I start off with music I want to learn and save the last 15 minutes for high endurance exercises to finish me off both mentally and physically fatigued.

Things that will really fatigue and push my fingers to the point of physical failure, so its all scales at medium speeds and then 1 different hanon exercise per day played slow for the first 2 times to get the rhythm and increasing speed each time NON-STOP until I get to 200BPS and then repeat until failure and I cannot play anymore.

First time it took me about 3 repetitions at full speed after the scales and I was done, I am up to 6 times now and my goal is 25 times at full speed non-stop. Currently I am peaking around 200bps, but I'd love to get to 250bps for the full 25 reps. To explain, thats not 200bps per beat (per quarter note), but 200bps at 2 quarter (or more accurately 4 X 8th) notes per beat.

250bps is a LOFTY goal at this point in my life, its pretty close to what I was doing in my early 20's, which was around 270bps (no idea if this is even possible for me, but its a goal).

Excellent! Jerry! I completely agree: warming up with the repertoire and combining a few exercises works very well. Always slowly at first, of course! You are right: scales and arpeggios are very important, otherwise Hanon would not have written them...

But the half note at 200 BPM is excellent! Congratulations! You don't need all that, but if you can reach the goal without pain, that's great!

 

[JerryPH]

I can reach that speed easily enough, but maintaining it for endurance is what I noticed I was loosing.