Piano Playing: With Piano Questions Answered Volume 1

When buying a french cookbook, one can choose from wonderful derivative sources (for example, an American popularist of french cooking such as Julia Childs, or a Betty Crocker clone) or visit with a text written by a master native-born French chef for those who wish to learn how to cook authentic French cuisine from one of the top chefs in France. Interestingly, the same phenenomena exists with books on piano-playing. There are certainly Betty Crocker-style books written by marginally talented pianists who tailor their texts to aficionados who don't wish to think too much about piano-playing theories and methods. Then there are the books written by the real "chefs" or "chiefs" of piano-playing, like Josef Hofmann, who along with Rachmaninoff and a few others, ranked as the superlative pianists of the 20th Century. What Liszt was to the 19th Century, Hofmann was in the 20th Century. In Piano Playing the reader is treated to high-level advice on many of the most important aspects of piano playing. To be sure, unless the reader has had a high level teacher who has provided him/her a legitimately good foundation in piano-playing and piano knowledge, the book may feel less useful. But that's true only if the reader reads too hastily, and with an eye at being entertained instead of educated. Serious, that is "real" pianists, would not want to miss owning and reading this wonderful book.

Probably the greatest pianist of our time telling us the secret of his success: how one should approach the piano and music, how Rubinstein taught him, what music to start with, the advantage and disadvantage of having a perfect pitch... a lot more. Most amusing as well as informative. It deserves more than 5 stars. However, note that more often than not, a child prodigy wouldn't be able too tell you very much how he got there. And I dare say Mozart's father would be able to tell you more about it than himself. Say, for instance, how would it be possible to avoid all but really good concerts as suggested by Hofmann? Without the benefit of both, how would we be able to differentiate the two? However, at a certain point of time this is so correct! Hofmann's insistence on the cleanliness of the keyboard, I suppose would carry different meaning for different pianists too. Likewise, soaking one's hands in warm water to warm them up may or may not work for all. And having a terrific memory, Hofmann is celebrated for his ability to learn, like Mozart, a piece by listening to it instead of sightreading any music. As such, Dohnanyi (the pianist), Richter, Gulda or even Nelson Freire might be in a better position to tell anything substantial about it... All in all, this book is nothing like an anti-biotic that can cure your ailments within virtually a couple of days, but just some very general guidelines or principles which would, nevertheless, takes you years if not months of practice to accomplish, if at all. Nonetheless, there are some good suggestions that would lead you and guide you through some turning points, without which you may get easily lost or else need much more time to unlearn.

I can't begin to tell you how many people make a poor attempt at learning very difficult piano pieces just so they can say "I can play this, and I can play that". However, if they're serious about piano, they will come to a point where they realize that, sure, they can "get through" the piece, but they can't actually "play" it. There is so much more to the piano that so many people are missing out on these days. Technique, dynamics, tempo, and even simple things such as how you are seated at the bench. Most teachers skip over teaching these key aspects of music because most students just want to be able to play what they want as fast as they want. This book covers all the things that many have missed out on. It covers nearly everything you need to know on how to be a great piano player. Combine this book with natural talent, and a desire to bring the piano to life, and you're set. Theres even over 160 pages of frequently asked questions that amatures sent to Hoffman over the years (and answers of couse). If you're serious about playing the piano, get this book before your poor playing habbits are implanted in your head even further. If you're not serious, or just like to mess around... then skip it. It would be a waste of your money.

This book, originally published as two separate volumes in 1906 and 1907, is a collection of articles Hofmann wrote as a regular feature of the LADIES HOME JOURNAL. Although Josef Hofmann was himself a phenominal talent, he offers thoughtful answers to the simplest of piano questions, and guides the reader with a practical, common sense approach. Most of the advise in this little book is timeless, and the pictures of Hofmann himself demonstrating correct and incorrect positions of the hand and body make this a pedagogical gem that his admirers will cherish.