Piano, Music Technique & Performance, General & Miscellaneous Music Biography, General & Miscellaneous Performing Arts

Fundamentals of Piano Practice

Name: Fundamentals of Piano Practice
Author: Chuan Chang
ISBN: 9781419678592

by Chuan Chang

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Overview

Best book available for learning how to practice at the piano. Also explains Chromatic Scale and Tuning your own piano. Learn Project Management which is helpful at school, work, and home. This material helps teachers and parents create "geniuses".

Synopsis

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.

About the Author, Chuan Chang

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, mostly with the Bell Telephone companies in NJ. This book originated from my observations on the 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. Although this book is the best teaching aid available now, this book demonstrates that it is not a finished product: it is just a beginning.

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Editorials

"Flight" MiGMan

Best book yet on how to practice a musical instrument. . . it has probably the best information ever assembled about how to practice and learn music efficiently. I am a published author in this field myself, and I unhesitatingly recommend Chang's book . . . For complete reviews, go to Amazon Books, Fundamentals of Piano Practice.

Craig Niedzienski

I have read books on piano playing, from the greatest teachers and pianists; it was not until I read this book that I had the breakthrough that really opened up my abilities. Through these methods, I have learned my pieces so well that I now have the confidence to play in front of complete strangers. 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.

Garby Francis Leon

Dr. Chang sets out a number of incredibly important insights about practicing and playing the piano which you will find nowhere else. He also talks about speed in arpeggios, leaps and octaves in a way that I have only heard discussed from one master teacher, Artur Schnabel's assistant in the 1930's. If you follow what he says, it will transform your playing. There is no other source which will give you this kind of practical information.

Flight MiGMan

Best book yet on how to practice a musical instrument. . . it has probably the best information ever assembled about how to practice and learn music efficiently. I am a published author in this field myself, and I unhesitatingly recommend Chang's book . . . For complete reviews (these reviews are excerpts), including all the others listed here, go to Amazon Books: Fundamentals of Piano Practice.

B. Rogers

This book radically improved my piano playing. It 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. It explains what's wrong with the way many students and teachers approach piano practice and tells you how to do it correctly.

C. L. Messina

I find extraordinary value to budding pianists in this book. It is truly the missing link for students stuck at a point of fear in public recitials, passages of music they can't ever seem to master, fluidity in playing and zest in performance. Chang's strength is his clarity and ability to dissect a physical movement and/or mental process, analyze the movement and suggest a more efficient path. Chang argues that prodigy's aren't born, but made. A million 'thank you's' to Dr. Chang.