Hanon Exercise No. 34

This is Hanon Exercise No. 34 from The Virtuoso Pianist, Part II by C. L. Hanon. You can pick your preferred tempo. But first, it's best to practice slowly so that you can hear if you are playing every note evenly. We also highly recommend practicing with hands separately first so that you can also hear if you are playing all the notes evenly. Make sure to lift the previous finger when you go to the next finger to maximize the strengthening exercise. If you are doing well you may practice with hands together and also increase the tempo gradually. This exercise is written only in one octave. However, you may practice 2 octaves by starting one octave lower than how it's written.

This Hanon Exercise No. 34 is an exercise to pass a thumb (the 1st finger) under the 4th finger and to cross the 4th finger over the thumb right after at that. Also, when you start the next measure, you will be hitting the same note that was the last note of the previous measure, with the 1st finger (the thumb). Basically, you will be replacing the same note with the thumb from the 4th finger quickly. Therefore, you can do the staccato on the last note of each measure so that you can quickly replace the fingers on the same note. The 1st measure is a warm up. Please repeat the warm up slowly for 10 times before starting the ascending. The thumb is normally dropped lower than other fingers. However while doing this exercise, you have to consciously lift your thumb off the key so that you can play the next key with your thumb clearly and firmly. The 99% of the times when pianists are playing pieces and when they need to cross over or under other fingers, the thumb is the one that needs to cross under. Therefore this is the basic preparation of that technique just like Hanon Exercise No. 32 (under finger-2) and No. 33 (under finger-3). 

Fingering numbers are written down only in the 1st and 2nd measure when ascending section starts and when descending section starts. Please use the same fingering pattern throughout. 

Even though the players are supposed to repeat the 1st measure 10 times, in the recording on this page, the repeats are not recorded. 

To learn more about the creator of The Virtuoso Pianist, Charles Hanon, please visit our page, "About C. L. Hanon". 

About this sheet music and what it includes:

Download, Print (or see it on your tablet), and Practice! 

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More FREE piano exercises available

Please visit our page, "Free Piano Exercises" to browse more exercises to help your piano playing skills.