The role and significance of etudes in piano teaching

(1) Cultivate the "logic of the fingers"

Piano playing and acting is both an art and a technique. Each art or technology has its own characteristics and internal requirements, has its own unique "logic" and norms, and there are corresponding logics and norms in the method. In the process of learning to play the piano, the player needs to develop the "logic of the fingers".

Piano playing is an art and technique that uses fingers to play and perform, so it is important to train the ability of the fingers to achieve the purpose of playing and performing. By playing etudes, learners are able to establish the correct finger touch method, establish standardized fingering, and achieve a higher level of playing through more complex finger technique practice. The technical focus and difficulty in all playing are nothing more than the deepening of logic and the complexity and sublimation of skills, so establishing an accurate and standardized finger logic in the basic learning stage is very critical for piano learners. By learning and playing piano etudes, piano learners can play the basic skills and continuously improve on a solid basis.

(2) Train the independence and flexibility of the fingers

When learning to play the piano, especially in the initial exercises, the independence and flexibility of the fingers are the most basic exercises, and they are also the basic skills of the fingers that the piano learner must master. The five fingers of man differ not only in length, but also in independence, strength, and flexibility. In particular, the flexibility of the ring finger and the little thumb is poor, and they are easy to adhere to the middle finger, and the independence is not strong, which directly affects the effect of the music. Therefore, when playing etudes, pay attention to the independence and flexibility training of the ring finger and little thumb. By learning to play etudes, you can improve the function and state of your fingers, make your five fingers balanced, and lay a solid foundation for later practice and performance.

(3) Targeted training of finger skills

Piano practice music is to write the finger technique and the technical focus and difficulty in the performance of the music in a targeted and concentrated manner, which is convenient for the players to practice. In the form of a piece, it includes the basic exercises of technical modes such as scales, arpeggios, diphthongs, chords, octaves, ornamental tones, vibratoes, and hold notes.

For example, Article 1 of the Lemmon Etudes is a training for the fingers of the right hand scale, while Article 2, corresponding to Article 1, is a training for the running of the fingers of the left hand scale.

The first song of cherny piano fast etudes 299 is an etude for practicing scale-type fast running, and the seventh is an etude for the left hand that focuses on training the left hand evenly and smoothly. The 35th song in 50 Piano Etudes of Cherny 740 focuses on the technical subject of homophonic wheel fingering.

The fourth song of the Moshkovsky Etude, which requires the strength of the palm to be concentrated and powerful, is an etude for chord training.

In addition to the above examples, technical topics with targeted training can be seen in each etude. As the practice deepens and progresses, the length of the etude also increases the endurance of the player's fingers, which can make sufficient preparation for playing large pieces later.

(4) Systematic and advanced training to improve the level of playing

Each composer and each etude has a common and consistent consideration in the creative ideas and style arrangement, and according to the order of the textbook, we can see a technical characteristic from simple to difficult and from short to long in length. Such considerations and arrangements also match the process and regularity of learning. Taking Cherny's piano etudes as an example, it is possible to clearly see the systematic and advanced repertoire creation and teaching arrangement.

The Cherny Piano Preliminary Tutorial Opus 599 can be used as a collection of etudes for beginners. It contains important techniques such as: scales, decomposition chords, chromatic scales, diphthongs, chord ornamentation, rhythm changes, etc. The basic touch keys are: broken, legato, and semi-diptych. The whole set can be divided into three parts, the first part consists of 1 to 40 etudes, mostly fragmentary and short sentence exercises. As the difficulty increases, when it comes to the second (including 41 to 70 etudes) and the third (including 71 to 100 etudes), the training of strengthening finger endurance and running fast begins.

After completing the practice of Cherny's work 599, in order to further improve the various techniques and skills of the fingers and to learn piano playing comprehensively, "Cherny Piano Flow Etudes 849" and "Cherny Piano Rapid Etudes Op. 299" can be used as two textbooks for intermediate stage exercises. Compared to Op. 599, the length of each etude increases, and the speed requirements are faster, and the finger endurance and technical requirements for the learner are higher. The requirements of work 299 for finger strength and speed have once again increased compared with work 849, and the requirements for training fingers in terms of endurance, independence and flexibility, as well as the coordination and coordination of arms and bodies have increased significantly.

Cherny Piano Etudes 50 Opus 740 is a textbook usually chosen after the successful completion of the study of Op. 299. It is one of the more difficult volumes in the Cherny Piano Etudes series, which contains very comprehensive technical training, is very long, and requires extremely fast speed. Each etude has a major technical topic of training, and in contrast to the previous beginner and intermediate exercises, a variety of different techniques of comprehensive practice and singing training are added.

In the process of learning piano, systematic and advanced training is made according to the playing ability and learning purpose of each stage, and the continuous improvement of the playing level is a "progressive road" for piano learners to grow and progress.