A Dozen A Day: Pre-Practice Technical Exercises For The Piano [Book 1 Primary]

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As a teacher using this material over several decades, I have found that while A Dozen A Day can be tremendously helpful as a set of technical exercises, the resource can also be used holistically to support many other learning objectives, as appropriate to each student’s needs and musical interests. The aim is to learn two or three exercises at a time, which should be played each day before practising. Only when these are mastered should you add another. When all in the first group are mastered, the next group may be introduced. Many of these exercises may be transposed to different keys. I have been using these little books with my students since I first started teaching in the 1990’s, and although they have featured less prominently in my studio in recent years, they continue to make their appearance, and offer a hugely useful resource which can be used from the very first lessons, and right up to advanced level.

A Dozen A Day • All Year Round – Pianodao A Dozen A Day • All Year Round – Pianodao

Taken as a while, A Dozen a Day is a unique resource, and an extraordinary legacy that we are fortunate indeed to have at our disposal today. What is New? Dozen A Day exercises can also be used as the starting point for improvising and composing in a lesson. A Dozen A Day Book One: Primary contains pre-practice technical exercises for the Piano. The purpose of this book is to help develop strong hands and flexible fingers. Andrew Eales is a widely respected piano educator, writer and composer based on Milton Keynes UK. His book HOW TO PRACTISE MUSIC is published by Hal Leonard. Dozen A Day exercises naturally lend themselves to written theory too, building on all the points made above.I hope that the suggestions in this review will help teachers and learners alike to find fresh engagement with these little marvels. Closing Thoughts It is also worth noting at this point that Burnam herself suggested learning a couple of exercises at a time, playing them slowly and softly at first, then introducing a range of dynamics and speeding up the tempi. While the first three books are broadly appropriate for players working towards UK Initial, Grades 1 and 2 respectively, the later three books have scope to be used more freely; individual exercises are useful and appropriate right up to Grade 8.

A Dozen a Day: Technical Exercises for the Piano to Be Done A Dozen a Day: Technical Exercises for the Piano to Be Done

Pre-practice technical exercises for the piano. The purpose of this book is to help develop strong hands and flexible fingers. The idea is to learn two or three exercises at a time, which should be played each day before practising. Only when these are mastered should you add another. When all in the first group are mastered, the next group may be introduced. Many of these exercises may be transposed to different keys.

The last exercise in each dozen, across all six books, is always called Fit As A Fiddle And Ready To Go. The obvious idea here is that at the start of practice, the current Group of 12 exercises provide a suitably varied and helpful warmup routine. I would suggest this may depend on other factors, of course, and much can be gained from targeted use of individual exercises from within the cycle, as I will explain later. Understanding intervals, reworking an exercise using a different time signature (e.g. simple vs. compound), writing in different octaves, key signatures and clefs can all be explored as they relevantly relate to the learner’s ongoing music tuition. How might the musical ideas from two or three simple exercises be combined into a larger piece? What narrative can the piece then be given, and how will it develop? Can a basic Dozen A Day exercise be used as the core material for a piece which expresses a particular emotion, idea, story, mood or colour? The Dozen a Day books are universally recognized as one of the most remarkable technique series on the market for all ages! Each book in this series contains short warm-up exercises to be played at the beginning of each practice session, providing excellent day-to-day training for the student.

A Dozen A Day Songbook: Book 2 - Early Intermediate: Early

Each book offers six groups of twelve exercises, totalling 60 exercises per book and thus 360 across the full series. All the exercises are named after physical exercises or activities, suitably (and quirkily) illustrated. Do not try to learn the entire first dozen exercises the first week you study this book! Just learn two or three exercises and do them each day before practising. When these are mastered, add another, then another, and keep adding until the twelve can be played perfectly. When the first dozen exercises, Group I, have been mastered and perfected, Group II may be introduced in the the same manner, and so on for the other Groups.” Hussey has also written a new performance piece to conclude each of the six books, bringing the total exercise count up to 366. All Year Round, indeed! Using the Material A bonus: it can be helpful to talk to the student about technical problems the exercise helps with, asking them to identify passages in their new, active and recent repertoire which will benefit. This book helped me with a series of very small and manageable exercises to improve my finger dexterity and flexibility. Some exercises gradually get harder and test your hand and finger coordination and geography (playing both hands together). It tests and improves different aspects of your piano practice and should be done daily to achieve the best results.

In her introduction to the books, Burnam gets straight to the point in explaining the value of A Dozen A Day: In the context of an integrated approach to piano education, here are just some of the strategies which I have found productive and helpful for students: However you choose to introduce and use exercises from A Dozen A Day, remember that like any cycle of technical exercises, using them inappropriately won’t just potentially mitigate against any benefits, but could cause fresh problems for players. The advice of an expert teacher is always crucial when developing good technique at the piano.