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I'm an aspiring Jazz piano beginner but decided to quit using Czerny and Hanon for obvious reasons-hanon especially, because it might ruin my touch, and particularly because nearly everyone in my country adores(do they?) playing Czerny and Hanon.

So, I picked up Mikrokosmos by Bela Bartok. It seems a nice book to practice with all those zero point to advancement the book suggests.

But is Mikrokosmos enough for playing Jazz in the regard of technicality? I don't know about technicality but it seems that at least you get to be familiar with the church modal scales.

If this question is too subjective and inappropriate, tell me so that I can edit or delete my question.

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    What exactly do you mean by 'Czerny/Hanon might ruin your touch'?
    – 89f3a1c
    Commented Jul 22, 2019 at 1:15
  • Oh! I meant Hanon only. Some say that Hanon makes your fingers insensitive
    – Victoria
    Commented Jul 22, 2019 at 2:30
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    If your fingers get insensitive, it's not the fault of the exercises but how you are playing them. Hanon is famous for good reasons. Don't abandon it.
    – Carl Witthoft
    Commented Jul 22, 2019 at 14:49

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Probably no one source is "enough" for playing jazz. Microkosmos, IMO, will do you no harm, but there's plenty more out there that might be more apropos. For example, I have found a lot to learn in Oscar Peterson's collection of jazz studies, and of course you couldn't go wrong learning some Joplin and some Professor Longhair stuff both for historical context and for some of the rhythmic independence of left and right hands that seems to underlie a lot of the great players' technique. Obviously, these are just a few examples that come to mind, and many more could be added, but you get the point: Mikrokosmos will be useful, but not "enough".

(obviously, this is a highly opinionated answer to a question that seems to demand opinionation)

Links to some recommended study material:

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  • Opps....I'm sorry. It's hard to combine facts(which this site urges to everyone) and questions that I want to know.. I may have to be prepared for deletion. Anyway, thank you for your reply and I'm a tremendous fan of Scott Joplin's ragtimes, just as you mentioned.
    – Victoria
    Commented Jul 21, 2019 at 23:20
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    @Victoria I've added in some links to give you more specific guidance on my (still opinionated :) ) suggestions
    – Jon Kiparsky
    Commented Jul 22, 2019 at 0:35

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