Carl Czerny – Practical Method for Beginners, Op. 599 | Piano Exercises and Etudes with Online Audio | Classical Piano Technique Book for Developing ... | Hal Leonard (Hal Leonard Piano Library)

Recommended by my instructor and I have found the exercises to be very helpful in learning piano.

This book was about one week to get delivered. I am not sure that is a good speed.Book came with great quality.

Carl Czerny was a genius. A kid prodigy who later devoted his life to teaching music and composing music specifically for teaching. This is a collection of compositions that stood (and still stands) the test of time.Carl Czerny was introduced to Beethoven when he was 11 (I think) and the kid impressed the famous composer so much that Beethoven said, something along the lines of, "Bring this kid back to my place next week. I'll be his teacher from now on." So, let's say that Beethoven was one of the early "reviewers" of Carl Czerny.Later Beethoven chose Czerny to be the music teacher for his own nephew, Karl. Beethoven didn't want just anyone and I think we all know that with his reputation he could have picked any music teacher in Vienna, to teach his nephew. Well, he picked Czerny.Yes, Czerny was criticized for composing pieces that only sound good if payed fast and there were other critiques, but those critiques were all made by folks that didn't produce better teaching materials than Czerny.I will say this, you might be surprised how difficult some of these materials seem to be. That's probably because nowadays kids don't have as much time to practice because they live in a world that bombards them with "smart" phones, video games, and so on. In the time of Czerny there were not that many "smart" options to keep the kids entertained, so I suspect many kids simply gravitated towards musical instruments, if those were available. The end result of more time spent at the keyboard was - surprise - a higher level of skill.

I listened to this and other ear training CDs throughout the days. Excellent for ear training! Thank you (Schirmer Performance Editions). You've been an additional boon to my career. Although it did take about 3 months of listening to it and other CDs everyday for several hours. Oh joy and rapture! It's about that time :- )

I am impressed with this whole series from Schirmer/Hal Leonard. The quality of the paper is excellent. Instead of the usual white, it is a light cream color, which I think is easier to read. The engravings are new, sharp, and with generous spacing and note size. The paper is of a nice thickness, with very little 'bleed-through' from the other side of the page. With the exception of the tremendous Henle Urtext series, this is about as high quality of a music book as I have ever used. With this particular book, there are about 8 pages of detailed tips on how to play these technical exercises. As an amateur musician with only a few yrs of beginner's lessons decades ago, and no formal music training, these tips really facilitate the learning of these exercises for me. A recording consisting of 2 CD's is included on which the editor of this book plays every piece! Amazing, a recording of Czerny exercises! Sounds almost silly! But hearing a professional play these works gives me a model of what to shoot for, and I think will lead to more polished, finished, fluent playing. The editing is detailed and careful, with many helpful fingerings, phrasings, etc. Things have come a long, long way from books of Czerny published with decades old, worn out metal printing plates! Even if you already have one of these old editions, I would consider updating with this one, as it is that much superior. I am definitely going to be getting more books in this series. Highly recommended.

The exercises are everything everyone has said - graduated, melodic, practical. This edition is indeed well done, quality paper, clear printing, sturdy binding.In addition to all the positive things others have said, I'll note that the CD recording that comes with plays everything VERY fast, perhaps at times faster than I think is musically appropriate, though as exercises I can see the merit of achieving that speed.One thing that seriously bugs me is the choice of clef, which appears to be original to the author and not an editing choice - very treble/G clef heavy, for both hands. Rough guess - at least half the book has both hands in treble clef, at least a third of it completely unnecessarily (no, not too many lines above the staff or anything, it appears just to be a choice). Personally I appreciate it because I come from a bass clef instrument and enjoy the practice, but I just think it's weird - most music is not like that. Perhaps it's to help true beginners by not overwhelming them with two clefs, I don't know. Beginner reading books aren't written using only half the alphabet, so why do that to piano players?

Thank goodness for beginners like me that wants to learn on their own pace, and want to have some scale practice that is more in line with the level of BEGINNER's music theory! okay, these lessons progresses as you learn more and you can tell quite quickly where your level of music theory and note reading. And the great plus is the CD inlcuded to help you to track your progress and the tempo required! Another plus I noticed is that as the exercises progresses, the pieces look quite interesting, and it is not just going up and down the scales. [I also added the Piano Exercises by the idiots guide]. The importance of this form of exercises cant be stressed by my many piano playing friends: it will help you to express the pieces and move around the keyboard will ease and minimum injuries.

Although his methods are kind of old-fashioned, I would consider Carl Czerny's teaching methods to be the best. If you don't like old classical music, you won't like the musics, but if your main purpose is to master the piano, Carl Czerny's methods are the best. The publisher of this book also add the CDs, so you can listen how the musics are played if you like learning the easy ways. Some of the musics on the CDs are way too fast than they way they're really played, but it's also useful in teaching you to play some music that are played fast. For example, you don't want to play a music Andante if it's in Allegro. Of course you would practice it as slow as possible until you can master it.

Los ejercicios son extraordinarios para el aprendizaje del piano.

I get bored easily when I practice piano and I've tried several methods. This is a little different. I play classical guitar and I always wanted to learn how to play but I found most methods to lack........well I guess it depends on the individual but find the practice exercise to be childish. This is direct to the point and with the CD it gives you an idea where you are "going".As the previous reviewer mentioned their is a progression in the exercises. You do need to know your scales and that is not where you will learn them but you will learn very quickly where you are situated on the board........trust me on that one!. Take some lessons with a piano teacher to learn the basics or you can always buy a theory book (you should sleep with it anyway!) and The piano handbook - A complete guide for mastering piano (with CD) by Carl Humphries (excellent!) I own several methods and this is a good one. Even if you are self thought like me spend some $$ for a couple of lessons with a teacher for him or her to show you how to position yourself, your hands, wrist and fingers. You can always go back later on. I do! I record myself when I play those exercises and it's incredible how much I learn (it's like filming yourself to learn your mistakes in table tennis) when I listened back and I notice those stupid mistakes!!!BTW this is the edition to get. This is been in printing for a very long, long time and when I saw that it as been re-edited (the old edition is been in printing for so long that some of the notes are difficult to read!?!) I went for it. Nice paper with 2 CDs but still just stapled!? When are they going to learn that this doesn't stay open on a music stand! So I had to bring it to a printer......so 4/5. Highly recommended!

Great book, my daughter is in level 3 RCM piano and found it very helpful

Recommended by piano teacher

What's there to say about Czerny's exercises, other than they're kind of boring but very useful? But the book itself is... alright. The preface and practice notes are good, but it's annoying to have them placed all together at the beginning of the book rather than having something to refer to directly (at least on the preceding page) while working on an exercise.Also, having the finger number annotations in these exercises might be convenient but it's extremely distracting when I'm trying not to use them.