Background. The article discusses the experience of the teaching staff of the Department of Special Piano of the Kharkiv I. P. Kotlyarevsky National University of Arts. One of the innovations of the department was the use of instructive piano repertoire in the educational process for better development of piano skills among students. It has been proved that the acquisition of a technical base as a necessary basis for piano mastery is impossible without the systematic use of instructive etudes – relatively small instrumental pieces with a specific technical purpose. The correct choice of the complexity of the lessons, their compliance with the student’s level of development is a determining factor in the successful development of a pianist. Thus, an instructive piano repertoire is very useful not only at the initial stage of the pedagogical process, but is also extremely necessary at the subsequent stages of the professional pianistic education of a young musician. Objectives. The purpose of the article is to justify the need to use a number of instructive etudes for piano in junior undergraduate musical challenges, to draw the attention of students and teachers to their wider development and use in educational and concert practice. Methods. The methodology of the article is based on the totality of scientific approaches necessary to uncover problem, combining the principle of musical-theoretical, performing analysis as well as methodical and pedagogical observations. Conclusions. Statement of the main material. For the formation of the pianistic apparatus, the pupil, and then the student, needs etudes, thanks to which you need to develop strength, evenness, independence and fluency of the fingers. But the process must be complicated gradually: it is impossible to move on to mastering a more complex task, if it is simpler, it remains unresolved. It should be noted that the division of etudes into instructive and characteristic, as well as characteristic – concert and artistic is very conditional and, first of all, is determined by the level of composer skill of their authors. For the performer, any, even the simplest musical construction, should be played expressively, understood intonationally, and built dramatically. Therefore, even in the simplest and easiest etudes, novice pianists need to be tuned to the fact that this composition is highly artistic and attitude to its should be appropriate. In the subsequent educational process of mastering pianism, an accurate algorithm should be built up that allows using the huge arsenal of piano etudes to properly develop the student, to give him the opportunity to form the perfect pianistic apparatus, while instilling not only appropriate motion, but also auditory professional skills. For the formation of the piano apparatus and many auditory skills, not only schoolchildren but also students need to develop strength, equality, independence and speed of the fingers. This role should be performed by instructive and characteristic sketches. It is noted that one of the substantive dominants of the etude genre is the formularity of the musical language, the game moment, the implementation of which allows one to overcome a technical problem, which forms the basis of pianism both in motor skills and intonation. Results. The importance of the correct choice of etudes during the entire process of training a pianist is proved. Unfortunately, we often observe how the unhealthy ambitions of a teacher negatively affect students. It is necessary to adequately assess the level of capabilities of the young performer, and most importantly, with the help of correctly selected sketches, step by step, professionally develop his motor and auditory skills. In no case should students be given complex artistic etudes if their pianistic apparatus is not yet fully formed! For this purpose, the decision was made at the special piano department of the Kharkiv I. P. Kotlyarevsky National University of Arts: to pass instructive etudes of a high degree of complexity in junior undergraduate courses without fail.