When it comes to how pianists acquire their technique, the 19th century tradition of practising specially written exercises and studies (etudes) perseveres to this day. Yet many top players claim they never really practised such mechanical drill; they got their technique from the music itself, inventing their own exercises based on the problems they encountered in spots from pieces. This dichotomy begs the question: to what extent do studies actually help us?
Firstly, we need to define the differences between an exercise and a study. An exercise has no pretensions towards artistic merit, is usually short and easily memorised, and focuses on a specific mechanical or technical goal (so-called ‘fingerwork’, chords, double notes, octaves, etc.). Examples of sets of exercises include Hanon, Beringer, Tankard and Harrison, Dohnányi, Pischna, and so…