The Most CONFUSING Piano Exercise I've Ever Tried To Play

[@CharlesCornellStudios]

In the world of piano exercises, this is one of the trickier ones I've come across. What are some of your favorites?? Grab the PDF for this one here: shop.betterpiano.com/dohnanyi

[@pandorathepenguin3236]

okie dokie

[@kylecashen4132]

Any of the ones Jesus Molina puts out. Still waiting on the day you do some reaction content for him ;)

[@ObadiahQRex]

Please cover Power Rangers.

[@Wheatly_Portal2]

Hey can you please review c418’s 148 album? Some Melodie’s and chords are absolutely insane. Like I don’t know how he made the chords but they sound so good.

[@nigel.a.v.909]

Hey Charles! I had a question regarding your courses! Once purchased, do they have a time period limit? or are they lifetime accessible?

[@masonsmith9606]

Sounds like what my piano teacher expects me to sight read 😂

[@Madinko12]

This here is one of the main reasons why I quit piano.

[@valarya]

I have always found "contrary motion" to be easier because both thumbs are doing the same thing at the same time, and then the pointer fingers, etc etc. Trying to work in the same direction with left-Pinky doing the same shit as right-Thumb was always more of a challenge. This looks SATISFYING AS HECK. Must try.

[@tfpp1]

I’ve been playing piano professionally for 40+ years. In all my time studying and teaching technique, there are about only a handful of books I teach from to students and I still use myself, to this day. This is one of them.

[@drcharlesrhodes6403]

Dohnanhi was an extraordinary pianist, composer and teacher

[@L-M-A-O144]

Charles, you don't know how thankfull I am. After the Big rest, that was after getting my music school degree, I now have an oportunity to recognize all of the skills that i've forgotten. Thanks to you and your channel.

[@joaol.galdino8738]

Now accentuate every third note on the left hand, but keep the accent on the fourth note for the right hand, for an extra 4:3 polyrhythmical spice. Of course switch the rhythms for each hand at every key change.

[@vibery2312]

What's nice about being primarily a percussionist is that you're kinesthetic awareness and control is held to a very high bar, which means nearly all of your excercises will have some kind of funky timing a awareness thing. The reason this is nice is that I can just steal all of those excercises and try and work on them on diffrent instruments. There's been times when I felt like my hand to hand synchronization with cello was sloppy, so I stole a snare exercise to help me. And when I need to work on my awareness on piano, I just steal a warmup from my marimba book.

[@cgaskill]

Cool fact: a piano prof at my college studied piano with Dohnanyi, who studied piano with one of Liszt’s prize pupils. Neat to know that pedagogical lineage!

[@Stevie-Steele]

I believe this exercise may have been influenced by the opening of Liszt's Grande Etude #8. It's a similar technique - with a musical application, where you have to accent particular notes to bring out a pattern. While it's a cool technique - Liszt abandoned it in his rewrite - when he wrote the revised versions known as the Transcendental Etudes. The final Wilde Jagd version is a LOT more impactful and direct, plus easier!

[@CarlWidegrip]

As a drummer, these kinds of exercises is like half of all we do.

[@Timmakesmusic]

Sounds slightly trippy, but very satisfying! If you're interested in other insane piano etudes, check out the Ligeti 'Etudes', especially the one called 'L'escalier du Diable' ('The Devil's Staircase'). It's based on chromatic scales. I heard it was once considered impossible to play but various pianists have mastered it. EDIT: The 'impossible' etude is actually the one called 'Vertige' ('Vertigo') - also based on chromatic scales. I always get the two muddled up!

[@Yubin_Lee_Doramelin]

It seems as equally difficult as Ganz's "Symmetrical Inversion" and Cortot's "Four-Note Permutation". I expect that adopting these two exercises into this one in the video makes you guys develop and improve your finger dexterity.

[@faenethlorhalien]

A tongue twister for your fingers... A finger twister, mayhaps?

[@joelhahn2501]

Also look up "Finger Buster" by Jelly Roll Morton.

[@MinerDiner]

A finger and brain twister

[@Vern_Trertnert]

Ow ow ow ow ow ow

[@clementcomposer]

In ASL, they're called 'finger fumblers' =)

[@ValkyRiver]

Me: does a finger dance 🕺

[@StoneChords]

This was a fun tour down five-finger tongue twister memory lane! But note: 27 years before Dohnányi's 1929 publication, Rafael Joseffy published his Five Finger Exercises (School of Advanced Piano Playing) in 1902 with very similar approach -- the accent on every fourth note, requiring the same mental gymnastics. However, I'd suggest the Joseffy's are more difficult, as they slowly move through different emphasis on each finger. One thing that I think would take these to another level would be to have different accent starting points for the two hands (which would mean one couldn't rely merely on unison or contrary motion across the two hands). PS the German term for five-finger exercises is almost comical itself: Fünffingerübungen!

[@charliesewell7418]

Fünffingerübungen! I’m obsessed with the German language! 💖

[@cooldebt]

👍Sounds like something I should get stuck into if I want to start playing again.

[@josepbatallerumbert6148]

If rhythm goes fast enough it becomes pitch

[@cheesegaming6064]

want a leg finger

[@richarddoan9172]

Just imagine if Phillip Glass had played this exercise as a kid.

[@mid1880]

Aah, good ol' Dohnanyi. The memories. The curses. XD

[@MrAdvmusic]

Mirror fingering is an stablished technique in "the French School" : ) I learned it on Brussels. At the very beginning is unsettling, but when you learn it the first time, you feel you dominate the piece you're studying with this technique a 120%. Great video!!!

[@TheVinig-dq1hw]

Once he said 5/4 measure, I was like “well, I’m gonna be a changed man.”

[@Cal_nsquared]

Musicality may not have been the intent, but I think this exercise sounds really cool! It's well beyond my current skill level on piano, but down the line, I could see myself trying to learn this (and immediately questioning my judgement).

[@CrankyOldNerd]

I like the new relaxed at the desk setup.

[@masterlocoj]

Love that excersisw! Gonna try it right now!

[@Yupppi]

This is how guitar solos are made. I love how the person said "too many exercises for the sake of exercising" and then creates the most gruesome exercise for exercise purposes. He could've argued that this is something to break you out of patterns and force your brain to be more dynamic and less prone to shut down when facing an unorthodox thing. I would've bought that argument, this is one of those where you suffer hard trying to get it going and once you manage to do it for a bit after hours, you feel tremendous sense of relief and relaxation and whatnot, you feel like your brain is somehow more open. But you wouldn't want to do it all the time and feels like it doesn't develop you as a player for a long time, you just learn to imprint this in your backbone eventually without learning the other kind of patterns or flexibility. It's more of a brain exercise. Like having to play drums. But I can't fathom how he argues that this somehow fixes the lack of musicality in piano teaching. This has nothing to do with developing musicality. What has is when Tori Amos was interviewed by Rick Beato and taught some student who was great technically but struggled with musicality, and Amos told her to play with her whole body instead of the fingers, and after some time and pain the student showed how she had become able to express emotion through the keys. Great point about fatigue and stimulus. If you extend that to skill practice (in sports context but should apply to other skill practice as well). Skill should be practiced when you're fresh, warmed up, not with too much load but with the "sport specific" exercises. It should not be practiced when fatigued from other training, when not fresh. Apparently power suffers more than skill when you're tired and fatigued etc, but skill practice should still be correct execution when fresh and ready to perform. And technically stop when you feel like you're no longer able to perform at the level desired. And taking breaks the enhance it. Sleeping well and resting in between.

[@daveking-sandbox9263]

This whole concept is so simple, I don't even know what the purpose of this video is. If you have studied any carnatic music in Bangalore India you would know that the Indians have been doing this for 1000s of years. This also shows how far behind the majority of western musicians are. The end result is very good but you take really long to get there. I know I have been teaching for 30 years and playing professionally for 25 years before that. Keep up the good work!

[@totallynotpakka]

my piano teacher used to assign me hanon!!!! it actually helped me a ton!

[@BobzBlue]

Music isn't just wiggly air, it's the wiggle of the wiggle of the wi...f the wiggle of the wiggly air.

[@realMaggyMage]

I think I'm gonna have to say that one bar a day is enough for me

[@disinformationworld9378]

If this exercise breaks your brain you haven’t seen the Godowsky studies on Chopin Etudes. By the way, Franz Liszt in his “grand etudes” version before the transcendental etudes has a C minor etude beginning with this exact pattern with extreme velocity. He re-wrote this in the next version because it was rather impractical to play.

[@gubbothehuggo2771]

"Oh dear. This Irving Berlin fellow seems to have come up with a bit of a cropper here. This new song of his; too many words, not enough notes!"

[@rikspector]

Happy Thanksgiving, Charles

[@jsendlin9495]

I see some mentioning of Philip Glass in the comments, I was also thinking how this sounded similar to piano phase!

[@3lH4ck3rC0mf0r7]

I'm a bigger sadist. Play a 4-note pattern in your left hand, and a 5-note pattern in your right. Try to stay sane as they go through a cycle of drifting apart and resyncing.

[@stephenbeck7222]

Dohnanyi spent most of his career in Budapest but the last ten years of his life in Tallahassee at FSU. The third largest performance space, a lecture and recital hall, bears his name at the FSU school of music. On the other side of campus, the science library is named after the famous quantum physicist Paul Dirac, who enjoyed a similar ‘post-tenure’ life in Florida.

[@FirstnameLastname-rc8yd]

This a spectacular exercise because it accomplishes a number of seemingly unrelated skills all in one stretch. Instead of doing sight reading, dexterity, progression, modulation, counterpoint, speed, finger strength, tempo maintenance, key association, scales. There’s so much there. Lacks flair, sure. But start really slowly and ramp it up. It’s great to have fewer exercises than a zillion, especially if you have to get quickly loosened up before digging in for a performance.

[@ValkyRiver]

Liszt S. 137 No. 8?

[@trialbyicecream]

I love your channel. I wrote a longer thing but that’s the best way to say it

[@IvoryMadness.]

The exercise of the gods!

[@briansunday7099]

Have you tried applying this to Dohnanyi’ own work? The Six Concert Etudes, op 28, are frightening - I tried learning the first one and I never quite got it. Large chunks of it, yes, but some passages are seemingly forever beyond me - and I had it memorized! I really wanted to learn the fourth one. By the way here’s how to pronounce the the name: doh-NAN-yee. The aitch is pronounced like the “ch” in Bach.

[@ericanderson9706]

*Figuratively. I'm more concerned about the corruption of language than my brain, as the latter is already broken.

[@suefauziyah]

Crazy exercise. Reminds me of the stuff Jordan Rudess plays. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jordan is a master of this guy’s work.

[@nowt1002]

5:15 not the naming system I was taught. I see your 64th note and raise you a hemidemisemiquaver

[@zezuntxiduntxi]

*Figuratively !!

[@StefaanHimpe]

Should have had accents every four notes in right hand and every three notes in left hand (and of course change these places every time you reach a new key)

[@saabeilin]

This is insane Charles! Whay are you so evil?! I definitely love 5/4 but this is... well, mindblowing at least

[@MementoMoriR1]

I kind of wish after signing up for your email list that you would email these exercises when you release videos like this. It'd be a nice break from all the ads to get some sheet music to practice. And you could link back to your video from the email. Anyways, thanks for all the guidance. Now back to practice.

[@MrEdwithdreadz]

Sounds like Great Bay Temple from Majora's mask

[@JoshWalshMusic]

Tongue twister for your fingers…. In music we called those finger fumblers.

[@AliasgarVirdiwala]

Will you explain flowerlove- breaking news. Very catch melody.

[@tfpp1]

If you want another finger twister, try practicing all 12 major & minor scales, but entirely with standard C Major “fingering”. 😂😅

[@Kastagaar]

Charles: "See the clever naming system we've got going on?" Me: *thinks in British music naming* ... I'm sorry.

[@88pampa]

you put a B in the notation, and a C in the sound... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacchhhh

[@subtitles1492]

„literally“ video starts here: 3:37

[@lastnamefirstname8655]

thanks charles. just listening to this hurts my brain. can't imagine how hard it must be to become able to play that.

[@Benjaminimize]

Charles, you should definitely do a video sometime on the harpsichord cadenza from JS Bach Brandenburg no.5 BWV1050 I’m sure you know it, it’s absolutely mind-blowing!

[@barackdrinksWD40]

Cover hinoki wood PLEASE! It's probably too simple for a full theory video on but it would be awesome to see some appreciation for that song! It's most well known for being the "chill guy" song but it's a great song on its own.

[@drdyna]

Dom ! He streams on twitch, such a great guy!

[@youtubesmulmans1835]

Have you heard Dohnányi’s second piano concerto? It’s wild!

[@bluetrane65]

Don't forget to include whole tone scale and both diminished scales too (half / whole vs whole half)

[@bluetrane65]

And lydian, phrygian and locrian modes

[@bit9873]

augh wait what’s that piano tune at 7:37 …sounds so familiar and i can’t remember the dang name

[@tsbulmer]

Take Five.

[@johanfreimann9761]

I litterally thought the exact same thing

[@matiasgarciacasas558]

Ok maybe I'm missing something but this doesn't seem that difficult. My technique is not the best so it may take me a while to play it fluidly, but my brain handles it just fine.

[@L.Nothing]

Why did I get this notification at 1 am

[@Chesterton7]

Wow!

[@randommodnar1669]

Kind of reminds me of something by Steve Reich.

[@DJHolte]

I've always appreciated Hanon's exercises, but they generally aren't musically engaging to my ears. Hearing these, I found the musicality of them to be intriguing. I feel like they would definitely set fire to my creativity, while at the same time giving me the same sort of results that Hanon does.

[@mobeck]

This is kind of awesome

[@octopuszombie8744]

In the first few bars of the old version of Liszt transcendental 8 you see something like this.

[@pund1monium]

If this "literally" broke my brain, I'd be dead...

[@billyalarie929]

8:20 it’s giving Slint “King’s Approach”

[@jimbakes2782]

Oh God. Getting Beringers flashback trauma

[@Bodyknock]

I swear that exercise must have been a motivator for Philip Glass. 😄

[@ericrakestraw664]

It reminds me of Glass's "Music in Contrary Motion" from the 1960s.

[@Simon-ts9fu]

Check out Grande Etude 8 where Liszt does this at presto strepitoso.

[@SDA921]

>.> Finally in a place I can pull the trigger, been wanting to support and buy the course for a long while now XD I played for about 10 years when I was growing up, but similarly I haven't played for about 10 years since due to many reasons. Tried getting back into it, but the lack of following something has made it difficult to keep focus in progress. Hopefully going through the course can help shake off the rust, oil the ol' fingies, and maybe learn some new things as well XD

[@brennenblotner6026]

Alternatively: the notorious EVD.

[@Hollycb12]

I've decided! I'm going to buy your bundle, Charles! I just can't pass up the deal lol

[@willormesher4746]

Like I understand the american system of naming rhythm however it only works for 4/4, if a piece is in 3/4 a crotchet is not 1/4 of a bar.

[@raphaelalbert5651]

Now i know what I’m gonna practice

[@raphaelalbert5651]

Its impossible to do the transition

[@pezboy715]

1:26 Will he also teach us how to play outfield for the Kansas City Royals?

[@JohnJackiDeyo]

Not sure where to mention this as it pertains to the email which is meant to include 5 music theory lessons but, there is NO content in the link for the lessons.

[@2good2beuntrue]

I just submitted myself to psych ward sir ty

[@dwdei8815]

I think it's okay to question the utility of this specific exercise, but Dohnanyi wrote one which is far simpler, incredibly useful (esp for polyphonic music) and so weirdly demanding on the brain it drove me up the wall. It's the one where, with one hand at a time, you ONLY cover the nites C D E F and G, up and down, slowly, BUT... Round one, keep the C down (but silent) and do the other four fingers. That bit's okay. It's as hard as hooking your thumb in your pocket and wiggling your fingers in order. It's the later rounds, where the note held down is, say, the F (the worst) and your other fingers produce the half scale - C, D, E, ..., G up and down. Those are brutal. The muscles simply aren't savvy as to what they are supposed to do.

[@Ben_R4mZ]

4:46 *Hoobastank intensifies*

[@WeAreSC361]

Here before you do some analysis of Wicked 😉

[@moadot720]

7:04 Actually, the problem isn't that 5 isn't divisible by *2,* it's that 16 isn't divisible by *5,* but I still see your point and what you mean to convey.

[@moadot720]

(I just happen to like both math AND music.)

[@michaelsnowviolin]

This one isn't TOO bad once you get your head wrapped around it. Exercise #11 is the real killer for me!

[@HaydenCardinal2.0]

Hey Charles Cornell! What is F-flat?

[@pedrocarvalho6609]

Sounds the same as E, but depends on the tonality you're in

[@Maddie01022]

The quarter notes are like procession

[@JustARandomGG]

Would you be interested in reacting to splatoon music? It is the most energizing videogame music ever

[@alexg1738-6]

Please do a reaction / analysis of Die With a Smile by Bruno Mars!

[@brandan7761]

I always practice C major and D Dorian at the same time.

[@syphon47]

Loving your content Charles. Thanks for all the effort you put into your videos

[@humansoggycerealmarshmallow]

Could you check out the Rain World soundtrack?

[@mdnghtppl0000]

i have a recommendation for your video game series, check out the soundtrack from the new Pokemon TCG Pocket its incredible

[@Game4Etienne]

I've kind of managed to wrap my head around the exercise. Actually playing it though... I feel like I'll end up averaging one hour (if not more) per bar XD

[@raphaelalbert5651]

i looks scary

[@garafest]

You should listen tothe Dragin Ball Z: Infinite World OST, it really stuck to me and shaped my musical taste! Specially Tropica, Twilight Harbor and the Main Menu Theme.

[@pamdrayer5648]

Nah, I'm good; I'm still working on my Etude in C finger exercise. Can you do a video on Kingdom Hearts music?

[@Gunther-Heart]

Video #16 of asking to check out the music of Over the Garden Wall in the comments

[@brad.bryant]

Please react to the music of the game Maplestory