Stride Hanon: 50 Exercises for the Beginning to Professional Pianist

by Peter Deneff

Stride Hanon by pianist and author Peter Deneff is an instructional piano and keyboard sheet music book for the beginning to professional pianist. Built around 50 essential exercises based on the requisite Hanon studies, the collection connects technical piano practice with the rhythmic language of stride, ragtime, Broadway, honky-tonk, New Orleans, Harlem stride, 2-beat swing, and related jazz traditions.

This volume contains 50 piano exercises rather than a conventional collection of individual songs. The material brings Hanon-based study into recognizable stylistic settings, giving pianists a focused way to explore characteristic rhythmic patterns and keyboard vocabulary while maintaining the exercise-centered format of the book. No online audio, downloadable content, or other bonus material is identified in the supplied publication information.

The musical scope draws connections to traditions associated with Fats Waller, Dr. John, Scott Joplin, Willie “The Lion” Smith, Art Tatum, and Jelly Roll Morton. By placing technical exercises in the context of stride, ragtime, swing, honky-tonk, and New Orleans piano, the book adds stylistic variety to regular practice and provides material for exploring the sounds and rhythmic character associated with these influential approaches to piano playing.

Part of the Private Lessons Series, Stride Hanon offers a distinctive meeting point between traditional Hanon study and American piano styles. Its exercise-based approach makes it useful for focused learning, ongoing piano practice, exploration of jazz-influenced keyboard language, and performance preparation. It can also make a thoughtful music gift for a pianist interested in stride, ragtime, swing, and the traditions that shaped these enduring keyboard styles.

109 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2006

About the author

Peter Deneff grew up in Long Beach, California listening to Greek and classical music and studying classical piano with Leaine Gibson. After starting his professional life playing in a Greek wedding band at age fifteen, he became obsessed with straight-ahead and Latin jazz. He began jazz studies with renowned pianist Mike Garson, where he crafted his art through studying some of the great jazz improvisers such as Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, and Chick Corea. During this time he also studied many ethnic styles that eventually led to the development of his classical and jazz compositional style as well as the formation of his Middle Eastern-Latin jazz group Excursion. He also pursued undergraduate and graduate studies in classical composition and film scoring at California State University Long Beach under the direction of Dr. Martin Herman, Dr. Justus Matthews, and Perry Lamarca.

Peter has written seven best-selling books for Hal Leonard Publishing including Jazz Hanon, Stride Hanon, and Salsa Hanon. He has also composed and performed music for the Charles Sheen film, Five Aces. Deneff has performed at such varied venues as the Greek Theater, the Carpenter Performing Arts Center, the Playboy Jazz Festival, the Los Angeles Street Scene, the Orange County Street Fair, Universal Studios, the NAMM show, and the Baked Potato. His stylistic versatility has allowed him to play and/or sing with a diverse assortment of groups like Tierra, Ike Willis, the Leslie Paula/Universal Studios Salsa Band, and Ebi, a notable Persian singer.

Deneff also continues to play modern and folk Greek music for numerous events as well as an occasional Middle Eastern gig. Besides performing, Peter has also taught in many institutions such as Musician’s Institute, Orange County High School of the Arts, and Cypress College, where he continues to teach classical and jazz piano. He spends most of his time in his studio producing projects for Yamaha Corporation (Disklavier, Clavinova, PSR-3000) and Hal Leonard Corporation (PVG Play-Alongs, MI Press-Hanon Series).