[.ca] Virtuoso Pianist in 60 Exercises - Complete: Piano ... (ISBN 0793525446)

For the experienced pianist ONLY:
I bought this book along with a few others. I was hoping that it would teach me practice exercises for playing. Unfortunately, it doesn't. What other reviewers here as well as Amazon.com fails to tell you is that this book is strictly for the experienced student. You should NOT get this book unless you have a strong knowledge of music reading. This is not for beginners. Don't waste your money. However, if you're experienced and looking for a book to limber up your fingers, well, then this might help you.

prefer spiral binding:
For $8.95 list, Alfred has a spiral bound edition of this great exercise book

A Better Book is Available:
"The Virtuoso Pianist" is very useful and well edited. However, if you're willing to tolerate some poor editing there's a much better book: "Hanon Revisited". Hanon wrote his book in the 1920s and both hands play the same notes throughout the book. "Hanon Revisited," by Gold and Fizdale was written in the 1960s and is the same as Hanon for the right hand but the left hand plays counterpoint. This more recent book helps develop hand independence in addition to finger strength and finger independence, and also results in a stronger left hand than Hanon's book acomplishes.

These exercises really work.:
If you want to strengthen your fingers and learn note patterns relevant to all types of music, you need this book. Yes, the exercises sound repetitive, and they'll drive anyone listening to you practice them nuts, but they work. And after practicing them for a while, you begin to realize that they are not as repetitive as they seem. The patterns vary in a way that becomes more obvious as you practice them more. The exercises are carefully designed to (1) strengthen the weak fingers of the hand (3-4-5), and (2) teach patterns of notes that recur not only in classical music but in melodies of all types of music. Each exercise varies in a manner that rests the fingers worked on in the previous exercise, so you can play through a series of them without overly tiring out your hands. For this reason they work great as warm-ups. The book is divided into three sections of 20 exercises each. I use the first 20 as warm-ups, playing them for about 15 minutes. The later exercises are more advanced and teach things like fast running octaves, arpeggios, and repeated notes. Since I started using these exercises, my hands are noticably stronger. I've been playing piano for 32+ years, and play at an advanced level. But these exercises (at least numbers 1 through 20) would be useful for a pianist of any level, from beginner to advanced. Yes, they can be boring to play, but the improvement you will notice from 15-20 minutes a day is worth it.

Hanon hurts, but in a good way!:
Hanon is a great tool to pianists of all levels. The only limit is your discipline to practice it. 15-30 minutes a day minimum will yield excellent results that you will notice quickly. I also recommend it as a warm up before you begin to practice actual music. If you think there is a ceiling to your ability, I guarantee you, you don't know what it is. Practicing these exercises will enable you to play better over time than you imagined. Practice practice practice!