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Originally Posted by KellyC
Ok, so I'm doing a quick Wiki search on Hanon's technique exercise and it seems to have its flaws, according to the article. They say it does more damage than good. Bach's Inventions and Sinfonias seems to be a better altnative.
I checked out the samples in Wiki, I have to admit Bach's *sounds* a lot more pleasing, whereas Hanon is dull and boring. But for the effectiveness of the technique exercises, I'm not so sure which one I should go anymore. Can any one give some input about this?
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My opinion is that it's all useful as long as you don't spend many hours doing exactlyk the same thing. If you play the same scale for three hours, you are repeating identical movements, and that can be damaging. If you play different scales, there are different fingerings etc which mean you are changing up the motions your muscles go through.
I strongly believe in making your practice musical. As soon as you get the basics of the scale (the notes and fingerings), change up the rhythms, practise emphasising different notes, etc.
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Originally Posted by KellyC
Edit: by the way, is there any tip to improve sight reading? Even with the well known nemonics Every Good Boy Does Fine and FACE I still have problem sight reading. Or should I just continue what I'm doing and it'll progress? Patience is key, no?
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In my opinion the use of mnemonics is a barrier to effective sight-reading. You basically need to get to the point where you can play the note immediately upon seeing the note (rather than seeing it, working out what note it is, then working out where it is on the piano, then which finger, then playing it). My recommendation is to start with very simple, unfamiliar pieces, then do exercises to speed up your recognition, such as seeing how quickly you can pick out all the notes. I get my students to practise rhythm-recognition separately.
Note that sight-reading is a long-term exercise. Do it a bit every day.