Dear Mr. Chappell:

I know I should play exercises like Czerny. Can you help me figure out which ones are the best?

— Exerciser

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Dear Exerciser:

It’s important not just to play piano etudes and exercises because they seem to be part of everyone’s piano lessons, but instead to really take inventory of the benefits of each one and use them purposefully.

Hanon exercises are good as finger calisthenics and they contribute to even playing in terms of rhythm and tempo, to the development of speed, and to fingering facility. They also help with playing the two hands simultaneously.

Philipp and Pischna exercises are good for strength and independence of the fingers because they involve holding some notes while playing others at the same time.

Czerny is musically very unrewarding. I generally avoid assigning his exercises. I think that the exercises by J. B. Cramer are far superior as actual pieces of music, and as a result students enjoy playing them more and get more out of them. I recommend them over Czerny’s works.

But Czerny is okay if it contributes to general fluency at the keyboard. He tended to write the same exercise several times, so after you have done one exercise, try to find one that has a distinctly different technical challenge.

— J.C.