this is probably something better to ask my teacher..  but thought i'd ask here anyway.  i'm trying to up the tempo on my jazz hannons, and was worried about my technique.  i'm at around 170-190bpm with swing eights and triplets, so it's still not crazy fast, but that's pretty tough for me.

so i'm wondering what the difference between "damage" and "getting tired" is.  after 30 minutes of non-stop hanon runs up and down 12 keys, my hand does get tired.  no pain, but just tired, and get that "darn, can't keep up the speed no more" feel.  i'm just assuming i'm just building stamina, since i know for a fact that i don't have stamina.  but i use a p-250 and i've read that people have hurt themselves on that keybed so i'm a little worried to be going for peak speed on these keys.  dangerous?  or do some of you guys manage with no problem?  i mean, playing normal tunes or gigging is one thing, but training for speed and technique seems to require a different sort of..  not really precision in terms of realism, but care given to the touch to be on the safe side.

but i guess at this tempo it's still not that big of an issue yet.  i'm no virtuoso, but the faster i go, i can feel the extra drag created by having to always touch the floor to get a trigger. (instead of being able to just "throw" the hammer)  anyway, first half of 2008, i'm aiming to go around the metronome and start 16 beats.
There are 8 comments, leave a comment.
divide your practice time into 15 or 20 minute segments, then take a break (or do something different) for a good half hour or more.

this will avoid tendonitis, and will also allow the muscle memory to stew in your subconscious (you'll get more bang for the buck that way).
interesting.  definitely makes sense.  i'm pretty sure if it's under 30 minutes, i won't get tired, so i'll try resting and switching.  i'm alright on everything else but the speed trial hanons.

the thing i'm wondering most about is whether ther should be any sort of "tenderness"..  kind of like weight training...  i read all over the place, that with correct technique one shouldn't feel any resistance at all.  but isn't there some sort of resistance before your technique is perfected?  and that resistance results in your tendons becoming more dextrous and stronger?  and the equivalent of muscle pains after a workout?
three things:

not everyone is a distance runner.  when actually playing music, how often will you be playing fast non-stop for a half hour?  there might be quick run passages here and there, but non-stop machine gun notes probably would not sound very good to your listener.

secondly, when you start to play faster, you have to play lighter. when you get up to playing eights @ quarter note=160, try switching the mm to 80 and playing sixteenths.  hearing fewer clicks will probably help you to accomplish this.

thirdly,  i use to play a gig on a house p-200 which i think is very similar to the 250???  anyway i found the action on it hard and very unrealistic.  there was a range of keys somewhere just above the treble staff where the thing just didn't put out, no matter how i played.  so i'd be careful doing that kind of practice on that board.  
and like 7 said, doing shorter sessions is always a good idea.

good luck & groove on...
, lol. anyway, enjoy your practicing,

john
thanks for sharing your insights.  i guess it's about sorting through the different sensations during practice, and figuring out whether it's natural fatigue (bound to happen), unneeded tension, and pain.

it's very annoying because like you say, if tone is one way to measure good technique, then practicing on a digital piano is somewhat useless because it has so little variation.  so even if i use the sound and try to adjust accordingly, i'm not responding like i would to an acoustic because i'm literally not hearing any change. (other than in volume)  ah, the headaches of the digital age.
re-"not exactly sure what the jazz hanons are" above-
also re-original thread topic here-https://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/piano/69508
jazz hannons are just plain hannon type lines that are recursive, and go up and down 12 keys.  i get one of these in my textbook for every lesson.  they're a mixture of eighths and triplets.
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