Correct and Incorrect Piece Analysis
Correct piece analysis is 99% of its successful learning. The quality of playing is lowered by incorrect analysis and it takes more time to learn a piece. And learning a piece in this situation comes to re-learning initially incorrect movements and inaccurate sounding. In order to compare correct and incorrect analysis, let’s check out two types of piece analysis.

Incorrect Analysis
The following steps are considered to be the common way of analysis and learning a piece:
1. Play the piece in a comfortable tempo with each or both hands after marking (or without marking) fingering.
2. Analyze (to the best of their knowledge) harmonic modulations, phrasing slurs and tempo deviations.
3. Repeat the piece in order to fully learn it.
4. Learn difficult fragments in the piece.
5. Bring the piece to the teacher so that the teacher could make his remarks about inaccurate dynamics, articulations and pedal, point out where it’s possible to play faster or slower, brighter or quieter, analyze phrasing, point out technically uncomfortable fragments in the piece (which student knows himself, but just can’t play them comfortably), as well as “work with image and sound”.

This is the established, usual way of piece analysis and learning. Unfortunately, student makes a mass of technical and musical mistakes during such analysis, which he hopes to fix with advices of his teacher, but which cannot be completely re-learned. This happens because student learns wrong, uncomfortable and inappropriate for correct sounding movements on the stage of piece analysis, which are impossible to re-learn. And here come such results as discomfort, dissatisfaction and uncertainty while playing.

Correct Analysis
However, there’s another way of piece analysis and learning which allows to fully reveal student’s creative potential, technical freedom, joy, satisfaction and confidence. Student “downloads to his head” the whole piece texture during such analysis, i.e. he imagines all notes of the piece with his internal ear. Therefore, the task of fully learning a piece is resolved on the stage of its analysis. The number of difficult places in the piece is reduced by several times because student analyses the piece with correct technique.

While analyzing a piece according to the “PianoWell” system, student immediately learns the piece with comfortable and efficient movements, immediately completes accurate dynamics, harmony, articulations, intonation, phrasing, form, meter, immediately expresses accurate musical image and artistry. Thereby, student tries to maximally accurately express all nuances shown by the composer in the score. Besides, student learns to see those things in the score, which aren’t shown either by the composer or the editor. Most importantly, correct analysis enables student to create his own convincing interpretation of the piece and stop imitating interpretations of his teacher or famous pianists.

For comparison with traditional way of analysis I’d like to give an example of analysis according to the system:
1. Mark fingering and position changes in the piece.
2. Imagine each hand in timbre with movement.
3. Play the piece with each hand using the correct technique and correct fingering.
4. Imagine both hands in timbre with movement.
5. Play the piece with both hands using the correct technique and correct fingering.
6. Play the piece with both hands with intonation and weight and articulations. Gather weight before playing. Play the piece with intonation and weight from this moment on.
7. Listen attentively to harmonies of the piece.
8. Imagine both hands in timbre and harmony with movement.
9. Play the piece with both hands in timbre and harmony with movement intonating with weight each interval and articulation.
10. Imagine both hands in timbre, harmony and dynamics with movement.
11. Play the piece with both hands in timbre, harmony and dynamics with movement.
12. Imagine both hands in timbre, harmony, dynamics and balance with movement.
13. Play the piece with both hands in timbre, harmony, dynamics and balance with movement.
14. Imagine both hands in sound texture with movement.
15. Play the piece with both hands in sound texture with movement and pedal. Play the piece with pedal from this moment on. Pedal is marked in the “Do-it-yourself Analysis” section.
16. Imagine both hands in sound texture and harmony with movement.
17. Play the piece with both hands in sound texture and harmony with movement.
18. Imagine both hands in sound texture, harmony and dynamics with movement.
19. Play the piece with both hands in sound texture, harmony and dynamics with movement.
20. Imagine both hands in sound texture, harmony, dynamics and balance with movement.
21. Play the piece with both hands in sound texture, harmony, dynamics and balance with movement. Play the piece in sound texture, harmony, dynamics and balance with movement from this moment on.
22. Play the piece with both hands (or with each hand first if needed) with musical speech.
23. Analyze phrasing in the piece — limits and types of motifs, phrases and sentences.
24. Play the piece with both hands (or with each hand first) with musical speech and motifs.
25. Play the piece with both hands (or with each hand first) with musical speech and phrases.
26. Play the piece with both hands (or with each hand first) with musical speech and sentences.
27. Tune in to emotional image of the piece. Play the piece with both hands with phrasing (or without phrasing first) feeling how you express emotional image of the piece through musical speech.
28. Analyze form in the piece — dramaturgic content of sentences.
29. Play the piece with both hands with phrasing feeling how you express image and form of the piece through musical speech.
30. Analyze meter — the unit of pulse in the piece. Feel the internal pulsation while internally singing the piece. Play the piece with both hands with phrasing feeling how you express emotional image, meter and form of the piece through musical speech. Play only in slow tempo at this stage.
31. Play the piece with both hands with phrasing feeling how you express emotional image, meter and form by the means of artistry through musical speech.

There’s also an effective plan of learning and rehearsing of a piece which is given in the textbooks. It’s possible to analyze a piece in 7 days after mastering the “PianoWell” system. And after such “smart analysis” it’s possible to learn a piece of any difficulty in 5-7 days.

The Difference Between Chrestomathy Albums and “PianoWell” Workbooks With Piece Analysis
Chrestomathy albums (or a collection of scores) is a collection of choice musical pieces, used especially as an aid in learning music playing.

Chrestomathy albums are usually created by teacher of musical schools. Often such chrestomathy albums are filled with musical pieces that the teacher passes with his students. And, perhaps, the teacher that compiles such album chooses pieces in accordance with some sort of a system. Unfortunately, nothing is told about it in the scores. Therefore, the only system that can be seen in a chrestomathy album is a collection of pieces according to their level of difficulty. And here come chrestomathy albums for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5th grades for children musical schools etc.

The PianoWell Workbooks are a new generation of chrestomathy albums which are designed to work out skills and consolidate knowledge acquired while learning according to the “PianoWell” system. Workbooks present musical pieces that are systemically arranged by their difficulty level for each of the three courses. Besides the scores of the pieces themselves, the workbooks contain the general plan of analysis of these pieces based on previously acquired knowledge. This plan of analysis allows, without opening relevant chapters of the textbook, to get a clear picture and a complete plan of the forthcoming work with pieces. The pieces are given in several variants — regular scores and scores with numerous special editor’s indications, which you won’t find in regular editions. A special system of indication is designed to point out all necessary MEMs in the score. Pieces in our workbooks may seems simple at first glance, but they are necessary for effective system learning and consolidation of all abilities and skills of correct piece analysis and learning.

To compare, let’s look at scores of regular chrestomathy albums and scores of “PianoWell” Workbooks.

Regular score: