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Anybody hoping to become or remain a proficient keyboard player needs daily technical practice to develop and maintain their skills.

The Hanon finger exercises have been a staple of piano teaching for a century and a half - and with good reason. They are easy to understand and play, and train the fingers as well as warming the hands up nicely for repertoire practice and performance.

The Musicarta Hanon offers a video edition of these famous and useful exercises, with ten sets of variations to keep your practicing lively and progressive.

If you'd like to hear more about the The Musicarta Hanon, click here to open the introductory page on Musicarta - or read the next section to plan your practice strategy and get started.

Your Hanon study programme

Every experienced musician will tell you that daily practice is the only way to be able to play the music you want to hear! The Hanon exercises have served this purpose for decades.

The first Hanon exercise sounds like this.

A perfect, simple opportunity to drill your fingers in playing what you want, when you want it!

So, to start, all you will do is get acquainted with the Hanon exercises, numbers 1 through 30, starting on this page.

But wait...!!

Those pages also offer some variations, so that experienced Hanonites can still use them as a cue for more advanced technical practice. IGNORE THOSE FOR THE TIME BEING!

Click through to the first page
of this series here.

Hanon Combined Patterns

Once you can play the basic Hanon exercises reasonably fluidly, challenge your self to combine pairs of exercises by playing alternating bars of each.

Here's Exercises One and Two combined in this way.

The challenge is to hold in your attention 'where you are', and play the right pattern without hesitation.

Click through to the first page
of this series here.

Hanon in Six-Eight

Vary your practice with Hanon a light, tripping six-eight rhythm. Here's an example.

Click through to the first page
of this series here.

Hanon in Sixths and Tenths

Playing the exercises in sixths (with the left hand starting on E) and tenths (right hand, ditto) feels like 'getting music for free'!

Here's Hanon No.5 in tenths.

Playing in sixths and tenths makes it more obvious if your hands are not playing perfectly together - but, like all practicing, listening carefully is essential.

Click through to the first page
of this series here.

You can play the six-eight versions in sixths and tenths, too.

Click through to the first page
of this series here.

Hanon with Held Thumbs

The right hand in popular music keyboard styles often plays both chord tones (or a chord tone) in the lower/thumb side, and melody notes with the little finger side - both at the same time.

You start practicing this crucial but challenging technique with just the right hand.

Click through to the first page
of this series here.

The left can also join in. Playing like this makes you very aware of how long notes last - something you're responsible for, of course!

Click through to the first page
of this series here.

Rhythmic Variations - First Series

These rhythmic patterns in six eight will 'crisp up' your playing and offer an excellent daily opportunity to practice syncopated finger patterns.

Complex patterns are rehearsed in a static five-finger position first before being 'unleashed' on the Hanon exercises themselves.

Musicarta doesn't just drop you in at the deep end though. Here's how you build up the syncopation.

Nobody gets left behind!

Click through to the first page
of this series here.

Rhythmic Variations - Second Series

The second series offers a selection of rhythmic variations in four-four. Here's one practice-speed example.

Click through to the first page
of this series here.

Hanon Canon

Knowing the Hanon exercises well provides an opportunity to develop critical keyboard skills other than simple dexterity. This mini-series applies the contrapuntal 'canon' construction to the familiar Hanon exercises.

Here's the familiar Hanon No.1 with the left hand coming in a quaver late.

Click through to the first page
of this series here.

"Mind the Gap"

The original Hanon exercises for the most part follow the shape of the (right) hand and place the principal 'skip' (third) between the thumb and the index finger.

Varying the Hanon No.1 pattern by moving the skip to between RH fingers 2 and 3, or 3 and 4 (and so on) offers a useful opportunity to prepare the hand for a greater variety of demands.

Here's an example.

Click through to the first page
of this series here.

Spreading the Hand

The Hanon exercises mostly cover no greater a span than a sixth - hardly much of a challenge! This series of variations expands the span of the exercises first to a seventh, and then to a whole octave.

Here's one of the versions, spanning a seventh and rising by thirds.

Click through to the first page
of this series here.

Touch and dynamic variations

The Hanon exercises offer an excellent opportunity to practice keyboard touch (staccato-legato), phrasing, and (soft-loud) dynamics.

Here's the kind of variation you might find yourself playing once you've loosened up and 'given yourself permission' to experiment.

Keep revisiting this page for daily inspiration - and a new angle on what 'practicing' is all about...

Being a musician!

Musicarta is streaming on Twitch TV! Bookmark keyboardcomposing and check the schedule for your local times!