Hexatonic Hanon Bundle (Vols. 1-4, PDFs)

The Virtuoso-Pianist by French piano pedagogue and composer Charles-Louis Hanon has garnered recognition as one of the most popular methods for developing piano technique. Hanon’s book, first published in 1873, begins with 20 exercises using five-finger patterns in two hands that move diatonically throughout the C major scale. In subsequent exercises, Hanon varies his patterns with carefully selected interval and fingering combinations to develop “agility, independence, strength, and perfect evenness in the fingers.” These 20 exercises, regarded as Preparatory Exercises, are widely known and practiced by pianists worldwide.

Over the last 30 years, piano pedagogues have created contemporary adaptations of Hanon’s classic. Jazz Hanon (Leo Alfassy, 1992) loosely reworks Hanon’s exercises using chromatic motion. Hanon Deluxe (Lulu Press, 2010) shows transpositions of the Preparatory Exercises in all keys. Hanon-Faber: The New Virtuoso Pianist (Randall Faber, 2017) provides additional warm-ups focusing on efficient wrist gestures and proper technique.

Hexatonic Hanon seeks to offer a fresh, new approach to Hanon’s classic. While the previously mentioned adaptations only utilize major scales, Hexatonic Hanon combines Hanon’s Preparatory Exercises with an assortment of triad pairs merged into six-note hexatonic scales. This book is intended for pianists looking to develop technical proficiency beyond Hanon’s original Preparatory Exercises, jazz musicians seeking a comprehensive approach while learning hexatonic scales, and composers searching for new sounds to incorporate into their music.

Over the past seven years, a comprehensive approach to Hexatonic Hanon has been codified and compiled into four volumes. In each volume, eight triad pairs, combined as hexatonic scales, have been applied to Hanon’s 20 Preparatory Exercises and organized in the following way: Pairs with the Major Triad (Volume 1), Pairs with Major & Minor Triads (Volume 2), Pairs with Minor & Diminished Triads (Volume 3), and Pairs with the Augmented Triad (Volume 4). Triad pairs with one or more common notes were omitted to ensure that all scales were truly hexatonic, and interval relationships between pairs that could be recreated through transposition or alternate pairings were also omitted.

Like Hanon’s original Preparatory Exercises, the exercises in Hexatonic Hanon have only been presented in the key of C. Written transpositions in all keys would have produced impractically long books; therefore, to gain maximum benefit from these books, I encourage you to study, transpose, and apply each exercise in all keys. For an extra challenge, use the same fingerings suggested in the written examples.

Finally, those familiar with Hanon’s original exercises may notice that the exercises within Hexatonic Hanon have been condensed to a one-octave ascending and descending format. This editorial decision has been made for brevity and ease of readability. However, like Hanon’s original exercises, I encourage you to explore the exercises in a two-octave (or more) ascending and descending format.

It is an honor to share this new approach with you nearly 150 years after Charles-Louis Hanon’s first publication of The Virtuoso-Pianist. I hope these volumes open your mind, ears, and fingers and reinvigorate your desire to continue to explore new possibilities.

Happy Practicing!

Jon Snell
New York, NY
October 2022