Do I Have to Practice Piano Exercises?
The goal of piano practice is usually to help the student become a better pianist. However, every student needs specific goals to work towards improving himself. Once you determine what you need to work on, that will help you prioritize your piano practice time.
In working towards your overall goal to become a better pianist, you will need to develop hand, finger, and wrist strength ideally on a daily basis. A great way to do that is to regularly practice finger exercises before you begin your regular practice session. Improving your technical skill helps you reach your other goals more quickly and efficiently.
Scales and arpeggios are the backbone of piano technique and with regular practice fingers will become more agile and dexterous. Speed will gradually be gained after much practice, but it is not crucial until accuracy is achieved. Pianists can practice these exercises at any speed in the beginning, as accuracy will get better with repetition.
Before you officially start a practice session, perform you piano exercises to get your fingers warmed up and ready to play your assignment. You do not want to do other exercises that encourage larger muscles in your hands or arms. This will not help finger dexterity and will instead slow your the speed and agility of your fingers as you play.
Finger muscles are found in the arm so twisting or bending the wrist or fingers in abrupt or odd ways that can cause harm to your hand. Aim for playing with a relaxed wrist, not a tense froze wrist while you play. Tension in the arm, wrist or fingers will lead to mistakes and possible injury, so if you find your arm or hand in pain stop as you are overdoing it.
Most piano students do not look forward to playing finger exercises, as they seem to be monotonous. Piano instructors do not expect students to spend most of their time playing these exercises, as they serve as a warm up to practice. Playing exercises for just five or ten minutes will make a good preparation when students play their pieces.
Students do not necessarily have to repeat scales over and over. The selection of certain etudes are a great choice as many contain scales already in the piece, depending on the composer. Piano exercises are important as they assist the student to increase finger agility so that their technique is improved for their learning their main pieces.
The long-term results of practicing piano exercises can be increased finger dexterity, which is always a good thing. However, you want to make sure that they do not do damage to your fingers or make you lose interest in your practice sessions. Keep in mind while you are practicing exercises that this is not the music you wish to make as they are merely a means to an end.