Product Description

This is the first book ever written on how to practice at the piano! Learn the most efficient practice methods, musical playing, relaxation, and Mental Play (playing the piano or the music in your mind) which has been neglected by most teachers; all great musicians used it, yet often failed to teach it. Mental play impacts every aspect of piano playing: memorizing, controlling nervousness, developing performance skills, playing musically, acquiring absolute pitch, composing, improvisation, etc. Genius is more created than born; most of what had been attributed to talent are simple knowledge-based solutions that we can all learn. Improved memory can raise the effective IQ; memory is an associative process based on algorithms -- music is such an algorithm, enabling us to memorize hours of repertoire. Learning piano makes you smarter and teaches project management. Includes chapter on tuning your own piano; the chromatic scale, temperaments, circle of fifths, etc., are explained.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #51401 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-31
• Released on: 2007-10-31
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 266 pages

About the Author
Born in Taiwan, 1938; lived in Japan, 1945-1958; started piano lessons in 1949, then received a BS degree from RPI, Troy, NY (1962), and Ph. D. in Physics from Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (1967), USA. Worked as analytical research scientist, 1967-1998, mainly in electron microscopy and spectroscopy, at the Bell Telephone companies in NJ. This book originated from observations on the piano methods of Mlle. Yvonne Combe, who taught our two daughters; while writing it, I discovered that piano pedagogy had never been researched, documented, and analyzed properly; therefore, this book is my attempt at correcting that deficiency. It is not a definitive finished product: it is just the beginning of a sea change in piano pedagogy.

Customer Reviews

Essential!
I am very happy to see this book available on Amazon, so that I may publish my gratitude to its author.

Read the Product Description above, carefully. That sums it up, and it is no idle boast.

As a self-taught pianist, I have read many books and articles on piano playing, including some of the greatest teachers and pianists. Though I have learned much from my studies, it was not until I read this book that I had the breakthrough that really opened up my abilities. Reading this book, one has the sense of taking a fantastic excursion to places yet unexplored, and coming away with a sense of astonishment that this is indeed the first treatise to really come to grips with the fundamentals of learning how to play the piano.

The proof of any self-help manual is in the result, and I can say loud and unequivocally that my playing has developed tremendously since I applied the techniques found here. I have taken on repertoire that I never would have attempted previously, and I am constantly amazed to watch myself, my hands, traverse the keyboard with such surety, even in demanding passages.

Before, too, I was hesitant to play in front of persons outside my own family. Through these methods, I have learned my pieces so well that I now have the confidence to play in front of complete strangers.

I could go on and on, but you don't need to be reading this review, you need to get and read this book. For me, it was the single greatest find in all my pianistic ramblings.

A plenitude of stars.

Outstanding Book for Self Teaching
This book radically improved my piano playing. I was a good amateur classical guitarist when younger, but did not take up the piano until age 40. I assumed it would be impossible to develop enough technique as an adult to play anything very interesting. I spent 8 years or so banging out Hanon exercises and scales and got nowhere at all musically. With much painful labor I could work through some of the easiest Hayden sonatas at 75% of proper tempo. This book taught me how to practice the piano musically and in about a year and a half all of the Mozart and Hayden sonatas are within range and I am able to play for teachers or friends without falling apart. I no longer creep through scores looking for approachable adagios; I go straight for presto and allegro con brio.
This book clearly shows what's wrong with the way many students and teachers approach piano practice and tells you how to do it efficiently and quickly. Some of the tips I found most helpful were (1) throw Hanon in the trash (2) practice hands apart more than you think you need to (3) whenever you are working on a tricky passage, play it over and over at whatever tempo is relaxed, but end by playing it once very, very slowly (4) start your practice by playing a difficult piece musically without a long warm-up on scales and exercises.
The author sometimes has an idiosyncratic way of looking at things. For example, he suggests that in order to learn to play an Alberti bass very fast you should just realize that playing all notes of the chord simultaeously is the same as playing the Alberti pattern infinitely fast -so all you need to do is slow down a bit from the infinitely fast tempo. Clever, but not really that helpful. In spite of little quirks like that, though, this book can really help.

Best Practices on piano practice
This book is set up as a scientific research thesis, therefore the author goes systematically into great detail on piano practicing techniques, and includes numerous cross-references throughout the book, plus a long list of references to other resources at the end (of which many are reviewed by the author too).
Mr.Chang does not claim to re-invent the wheel, but he does succeed in making this a broad overview of 'Best Practices' (once you get used to the many acronyms used in the book - the book would have been twice as long if they were written out every time - it becomes an 'easier' read).
The book starts with an introduction chapter of 'success stories', which may sound a bit like marketing talk to sell the book.
That said, the content of the other chapters is what matters more, and although many aspects sound like common sense (e.g. starting to practice hands seperate - HS), the key is: when to play what, and how.
Despite the strictly scientific approach, the main goal is making music (that's one of the reasons that Mr. Chang prefers Bach Inventions over Hanon exercises).
If there is one word that jumps out all the time, it is: speed (but not speed just for the sake of speed). Many of the practice exercises described in the book are dealing with getting you up to (and above) final performance speed (and why).
A lot of attention also goes to mental play (MP) as a key to memorizing, avoiding blackouts, learning absolute pitch, etc.
This book has an online version which is kept up to date by the author. It also includes e.g. a short video sample on TO (thumb over playing of scales).
I wish there was a full length video about all the techniques explained in the book.
Or even better, what about making a documentary showing the progress of student(s) over a long period of time.
And even though I found it a little strange that the author reviews his own book in the review section at the end, and claims it to be a must read, I must admit he's right.