Warm-up Exercises

[KTE88]

Hey,

Do you guys know any good warm-up exercises - I find that my fingers dont really move as fast as I want them to until Ive been playing for a while....

Thanks

[Zorbas]

Scales and arpeggios seem to work fine for me.

[Rudess]

I think one wise technical guru once said that "putting ones hands down their pants is the quickest way to get warmed up". Personally I recommend my Online Conservatory and the exercises found within...

Keep laughing!

JR

[hephiroth]

haha...pants...lol

acutally, i still use a lot of the warm-up/finger strengthen techniques on JR's keyboard wizardry video. especially the expansion/compression ones that use chromatic passages and maj7 chords...know which one i mean?

-jeff-

[deltagmc]

I think one wise technical guru once said that "putting ones hands down their pants is the quickest way to get warmed up".
JR

Yes... in the DVD (Live at budokan) I saw u with funny gloves... hahahaha!!... they are cool...

[maJ estY]

I go with Jordan - these exercises are also part of the Total Keyboard Wizardry book.

[KTE88]

Thanks for the advice guys,
I think I'll go with Jordan's idea (The online conservatory part of course....)
;-)

[Piranha]

Putting your hands in your pants is less expensive though ;)

[April]

As one of the few women here, I can't resist pointing out that you usually get what you pay for ;)

[Murasamee]

Play stuff from the Hanon book. Thats possibly the best warm up exercise book for any instrument on earth. Good stuff.

[dt67789]

Play stuff from the Hanon book. Thats possibly the best warm up exercise book for any instrument on earth. Good stuff.

yeah, good stuff, worth ur money, of course i also have the total keyboard wizardry, which is so COOOL

[aibohphobia]

I'm a classically trained pianist with a good deal of ADD, and I get bored very quickly with Hanon, scales, arpeggios, etc. so the secret is, find and/or make up little warm up songs that cover different things.

One example that I use (to sound like a dorky Rudess fan, I guess) is the live "Univeral Mind" solo that he does on the live Metropolis album. I've changed it a little bit in order to encompass more scales and more left hand movement, but there's lots of arpeggios in it, a whole lot of moving octaves, and just about everything else I need. Plus I don't get bored.

If you must do a written out classical warm up, don't do Hanon unless you're a masochist. Go for Czerny, his stuff is much more melodic and interesting. Muschowski(sp?) also wrote some very exciting and effective warm up etudes.

[nismael]

Muschowski(sp?) also wrote some very exciting and effective warm up etudes.

Hehe what you are looking for is Moszowski :) I have a book with plenty of studies from him, ranging from grade 5 to 8 or 9. Much more meldic than hannon, but Hannon is still great to improve any specific aspect of your technique. But don't overdo Hanon and take frequents break if you do it for a while. I know something about it....

[Sk]

Would you be able to give me some link to these exercises? Or do I have to buy the book (=I'll never buy it and stick with JROC's exercises)?

[April]

Try the Hanon backwards ... or turn the page upside down ;)

[April]

One of my fondest memories is seeing Keith Emerson walking through a hotel lobby during the ELPowell tour, carrying a book of Hanon exercises with him.

[April]

Another book of exercises for rhythmic complexity is Paul Hindemith's Elementary Training for Musicians . It is FAR from elementary though! This book gave me total fits through 4 semesters of conducting classes. What starts out as exercises that are 2 against 3 eventually works it's way to some of the most complex rhythmic variations I've ever seen. We would have to tap out the top staff in the right hand and the bottom staff in the left, and to this day it is THE most influential exercise book I've ever used and has forever spoiled me against musicians who can't keep even time. All those complexities and mixed meters also make it perfect for progsters. Add your own notes and there you go.

http://www.bookstore.juilliard.edu/shopping/product_details.php?id=18846

Amazon carries it too, as do many other outlets.

[normthesamurai]

I think one wise technical guru once said that "putting ones hands down their pants is the quickest way to get warmed up". Personally I recommend my Online Conservatory and the exercises found within...

Keep laughing!

JR


Yeah if ya use the pants technique then you can be sure no one will pester you by playing your keyboard when you're in practice, and plus you know, its a lot more fun then doing scales!

Paganinni (Sp?) Is really good becouse he was a violinist and lots of his music does the same sort of thing as arpeggios and scales do but it is so much more fun to play.

[Grey Loki]

Anyone else use 'The Glass Prison' Arpeggios?

[ktriton]

If you must do a written out classical warm up, don't do Hanon unless you're a masochist. Go for Czerny, his stuff is much more melodic and interesting. Muschowski(sp?) also wrote some very exciting and effective warm up etudes.

LOL!

The fun part is trying to harmonize your hands so that it's melodic ;)

But yeah, I do both Hanon and Czerny.

[McMare]

Anyone else use 'The Glass Prison' Arpeggios?
I play it with both hands, and it kick ass. I play it on 3/4 of original speed. My hands burn like hell for another 10 minutes:)

[Stimpus]

maybe not so much warm up excersises (although i use some of them to do it) but czerny composed a book of technical excersises to get your fingers trained and excersised. maybe have a look at that too

[Keyman]

I always do Hanon, Pischna and Czerny exercises, but also a lot of scales and arpeggios...

[KTE88]

Personally I recommend my Online Conservatory and the exercises found within...

JR

OK, so I signed up to the OC, can anyone point me towards any specific exercises that I should do as a warmup? I had a quick look through them but I would appreciate your comments on the best ones to try

Thanks

PS Is anyone else having problems logging in to the OC right now or is it just me?