While you might not be familiar with the term glissando, you have no doubt heard it countless times before. It’s when the player slides their hands across the keys – it’s heard all the time in blues and rock. Believe it or not, it’s not as easy to pull off as it might look. You can actually injure yourself playing this incorrectly – which I have actually done as a child.

Glissando basically means a slide over all the keys. String players can perform this very smoothly by just moving their finger down the string; it’s not this easy on the piano. There is a simple secret however for playing this correctly.

The wrong way to play a glissando is to put your fingers down on the keys and simply slide them with the back of your hand. You can end up tearing off the skin on the back of fingers and causing tremendous pain!

The right way to perform a glissando is to place your hand at almost a right angle to the keys – so that mostly the nails hit the keys instead of skin. The video above provides an excellent demonstration of this. Believe it or not, that is it!

Now there are many different types of glissandos that can be performed in a few different ways. For example, you might want to play a descending glissando that would be played with the thumb on the right hand. The same principle applies; keep the angle straight up (at nearly a right angle) and slide the nail across the keys. If you stick to this technique you can even perform black key glissandos. Be careful though as this requires the angle to be precise in order to avoid injury.

If you are playing a glissando that ends on a certain note, try and use the second finger on the final note. This will give you a much better chance of actually hitting the correct note. There is a famous Mark’s brothers routine on playing glissandos where they actually employ this technique. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbUrsot6oeY Even if you don’t hit the last couple of notes before the last note, don’t worry, as long as you hit the correct note at the end you will create the same effect.

Thanks again for joining me Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

How to Play Glissando on the Piano

While you might not be familiar with the term glissando, you have no doubt heard it countless times before. It’s when the player slides their hands across the keys – it’s heard all the time in blues and rock. Believe it or not, it’s not as ea

Why Were the White Keys and Black Keys on the Piano Reversed?

Anyone who is familiar with historical keyboards is aware that at one point the black and white keys were reversed from what we have today. What many people don’t know (including myself until recently) is the reason why they were changed. On earlie

This is something many of you might not be familiar with, it’s truly a topic for Steinway aficionados or those curious enough to look underneath their pianos. So what is the Steinway bell and what does it do?

If you have ever looked below a large Steinway grand piano, you would have noticed a strange piece of metal that is attached to the bottom of the piano. It looks like this:

As you can see, it has the shape of a bell – which is where it gets its name – but does it actually serve a purpose? The short answer is yes.

On larger steinway pianos this bell is attached securely to the rim and the plate of the piano to help maintain the “crown” of the soundboard. This is extremely helpful especially with older pianos because over time they tend to lose crown on their soundboards which is essential for good tone. The link above includes an article and video that explains the concept of crown with regards to soundboards in much greater detail. To describe it briefly, the crown of a soundboard refers to the slight upward arching of the soundboard within the rim of the piano. Over time the wood of a piano may warp slightly with changes in weather. If the rim isn’t stable, the rim’s support of the crown may diminish over time. This will affect the treble notes the most – impacting the projection, sustain, and power of these notes.

The Steinway bell is placed in a strategic part on the rim of the piano. It is designed to attach directly to the curved part of the rim of the piano and the plate to maintain the shape of the rim and prevent it from expanding over time. This will in turn help the piano keep its crown longer.

I hope this is helpful and if you have any questions about this topic or any other, please email me Robert@LivingPianos.com for more information.

What is the Steinway Bell? Steinway Pianos

This is something many of you might not be familiar with, it’s truly a topic for Steinway aficionados or those curious enough to look underneath their pianos. So what is the Steinway bell and what does it do? If you have ever looked below a large S

With President’s Day around the corner, I thought I would share with you the rich history of pianos in the White House!

From the very beginning there were pianos in the White House starting with George Washington. Early presidents had fortepianos like Mozart played and harpsichords in the White House.

Square Grand Pianos were popular with 6 presidents! These monstrously large pianos have been relegated to the footnotes of piano history.

Upright pianos have also been popular with 6 presidents owning uprights.

4 piano companies stand out for being very popular in the White House:

– Steinway: including one given to the White House by Steinway in 1938
– Baldwin
– Chickering
– Knabe

Below is an outline of what pianos were owned by presidents.

HARPSICHORDS:

– George Washington
– Rutherford Hayes (& upright)
– Grover Cleveland (& piano)

FORTEPIANOS:

– George Washington
– Thomas Jefferson

SQUARE GRANDS: 6 presidents

UPRIGHT PIANOS: 6 presidents

CHICKERING PIANOS:

– Franklin Pierce
– James Buchanan
– Abraham Lincoln (square & upright)
– Theodore Roosevelt (& Steinway)

STEINWAY:

Steinway grand piano with gilt American eagle supports. It was designed by Eric Gugler with gilt stenciling by Dunbar Beck (with help from Franklin Roosevelt) and was given to the White House in 1938 by the manufacturer.

Theodore Roosevelt (& Chickering)

Lyndon B. Johnson (& Knabe)

Ronald Reagan

KNABE:

– Woodrow Wilson
– Herbert Hoover
– Lyndon B. Johnson (& Steinway)

BALDWIN:

– William Taft
– Harry Truman
– Richard Nixon – accompanied singer Pearl Bailey in a performance in the East Room

Thanks again for joining us. If you have any questions about this topic or any topic at all please contact us directly: info@livingpianos.com (949) 244-3729

Is There a Piano in The White House? Pianos and US Presidents

With President’s Day around the corner, I thought I would share with you the rich history of pianos in the White House! From the very beginning there were pianos in the White House starting with George Washington. Early presidents had fortepian

Can you clean your Piano? You absolutely can! I have various videos such as how to clean piano keys as well as cleaning various piano finishes. Most people want to know how to clean the inside of their pianos. Well, how do you get in there? The strings are in the way! You can try blowing it out with a vacuum, but if it is really dusty that could make a mess and you’re probably not going to get all of the dirt out anyway.

The secret is to ask your piano tuner. They have a tool that is designed for the purpose of cleaning the inside of pianos. The way it works is very simple. The entire action of the piano comes out as one unit and there’s a gap between the strings and the key bed where they can get in with a tool in order to clean everything out. They are able to get all the dust off the soundboard and make everything beautiful again.

If the strings are rusted, the piano may need to be restrung. However, if the strings have light corrosion, a skilled technician can use a very fine steel wool and clean the strings to get them shiny which will help enhance the tone as well as the look of your piano.

Cleaning the inside of your piano is not something that you want to undertake yourself because pulling an action requires special skill. If you’re not careful you can easily break off hammers. If your tuner is already out there tuning your piano, they probably won’t charge a lot to clean your piano since they are there anyway. Be sure to let them know beforehand so they bring the proper tools and have the extra time to perform that job for you. Hope this has been helpful for you! You can always reach us at Robert@LivingPianos.com.

How to Clean Your Piano

Can you clean your Piano? You absolutely can! I have various videos such as how to clean piano keys as well as cleaning various piano finishes. Most people want to know how to clean the inside of their pianos. Well, how do you get in there? The strin

I get this question all the time; can you replace the soundboard on your piano?

The simple answer is yes.

However, you have to consider a number of factors when answering this question.

Replacing the soundboard requires removing the strings, the plate, and rebuilding the piano – which already costs thousands of dollars. Replacing the soundboard will then cost additional thousands of dollars; it’s going to be an incredibly expensive undertaking.

But more importantly, what makes the tone of a piano? What makes piano sound like a Steinway, or a Baldwin, or a Bluthner? To a great extent, it’s the soundboard.

In Europe if you replace the soundboard on a piano you are legally not allowed to put the name of the original manufacturer on the instrument.

You also have to take into account that the results you have after replacing the soundboard might be dramatically different than the original piano. If you are going to get this job done, you will need to find someone who is very experienced at it. There are a very few belly men (technicians specializing in soundboard repair) who do excellent work replacing soundboards.

It is more a repair for a piano that is incredibly special or expensive, such as a concert grand Steinway or Bosendorfer that has a soundboard in really bad shape but is still worth restoring.

Bottom line is, if you are going to replace a soundboard prepare to spend tens of thousands of dollars and definitely hire the best people you can find – it’s a repair that can make or break the piano.

At Living Pianos we find pianos with soundboards that are in good shape so these American and European pianos can be brought to their original glory and still be offered at a reasonable price.

If you have any questions about replacing a soundboard or a specific piano you are considering this repair for, feel free to contact me or leave a comment on the blog.

Can You Replace a Soundboard on a Piano?

I get this question all the time; can you replace the soundboard on your piano? The simple answer is yes. However, you have to consider a number of factors when answering this question. Replacing the soundboard requires removing the strings, the plat

I get this question all the time and I figured it was finally time to make a video about it. The short answer is no, you can’t soundproof a room. Is it theoretically possible? Yes, if cost and space is no object, then you can soundproof a room. But let’s talk about more conventional ways to reduce the sound of a room to make it a little more tolerable for your neighbors or housemates.

I once asked a studio engineer in a very nice studio how he would go about soundproofing a room. He said one option would be to build a room entirely out of cinder blocks and fill them with sand. While this may not be practical for too many situations, there is something to be learned from this.

Mass is one of the great barriers to overcoming sound since sound is waves of energy and increasing the mass requires substantial energy to have much of an effect upon something so heavy. Even the loudest sounds produced by musical instruments would have a hard time getting through. Even with all that mass, it still might not be completely soundproof.

Anywhere there is air, sound will escape. With that in mind, the way to help soundproof a room is to eliminate any space air can escape through. The way recording studios do this it to build a room within a room. That is, not only are all the walls duplicated with space between, the floor and the ceiling are “floating” meaning that they come in contact with adjacent structures only at minimal points. The dead air between the structures will inhibit the transfer of sound. The recording room will be contained in it’s own room, then there will be a space before the walls of the existing room. Every room in the studio must utilize this building technique. The ventilation system must be isolated from room to room as well utilizing baffles since any sound deadening is only as effective as the weakest point of isolation.

Notice the empty space between the walls and the ceiling. If you had something between those walls – like a stud in a traditional house or office – it would create mass for the sound to travel through since it isn’t so dense. As you can see in the diagram above, the best way to reduce sound is to have nothing between the two sets of walls. However, the floor will still have sound travel through unless it is floating as described above.

One helpful building method is utilizing resilient channel when putting drywall up. Resilient channels are metal strips that are screwed in perpendicular to the studs in walls which creates a slight gap between the dry wall and the studs. This cuts down on the amount of sound transferred between walls because it prevents the sound of the vibrating drywall from transferring through the stud to the drywall on the other side.

The best solution to soundproofing is to find an existing space that lends itself to soundproofing. For example, if you have a house with an additional building outside.

Some people might wonder why you can’t just put foam egg cartons on the side of a room. Don’t these soundproof?

They actually don’t. These are placed on walls to stop the reflections of sound that occur when sounds hits a wall. Instead of having them reflect back into the room, these foam pieces will absorb some of the sound and reduce it, but they will not soundproof a room. It will make the room quieter therefore it will reduce the amount of sound that transfers from room to room somewhat, but it’s not a solution for soundproofing

The more soft material you fill a room with, the less sound will reflect and travel and the more will be absorbed. Filling a room with large, thick carpets and heavy, cushy furniture will reduce sound in the room. Low frequency are very large sound waves. So, they require large absorptive panels to help deaden those frequencies. These are referred to as, “bass traps”. It might not be satisfying playing in an acoustically dead, room but it will reduce the sound. But it will not soundproof the room.

I hope this has been helpful to you, if you have any more questions about this topic or any other please contact me directly, Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

Can you Soundproof a Room?

I get this question all the time and I figured it was finally time to make a video about it. The short answer is no, you can’t soundproof a room. Is it theoretically possible? Yes, if cost and space is no object, then you can soundproof a room.

Welcome to our new series for developing your stage presence in 5 easy steps. Even if you are shy or uncomfortable in front of large audiences you can improve your stage presence with a little bit of practice and a few easy tips.

This series was inspired by an experience I had in high school. One year there was a performance of outstanding young musicians in our school. Everyone was taken with a singer named Judy – her performance was spectacular! A couple of days later I was excited to hear the recording but was left a little underwhelmed – it wasn’t as good as I remembered it.

I began to understand that it was not the actual singing that captivated the audience but the way she presented herself. It was exciting and breathtaking as she engaged herself incredibly well with the audience and commanded attention.

So today we start with the first tip in the countdown, number 5: Take Your Time.

When you are in a performance it’s true that all the eyes are on you. In many cases performers will feel a sense of urgency – that they should rush to their instrument and begin playing as soon as possible. This is not in your best interest.

Your time perspective is different from the audience’s. They are there to enjoy themselves and they want to be comfortable. If you walk out onto the stage and give yourself a few moments to relax and prepare yourself, the audience will do the same. They will end their conversations, get comfortable in their seats, and after a few moments they will be ready for the show.

While you don’t want to make the audience wait too long, after a few moments of silence there is a drama and anticipating that builds within the audience. If you harness this effectively they will be completely captivated by the time you play your first note.

Be on the lookout for the rest of this series in the coming weeks. Thanks again for joining me Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

5 Tips for Improving Stage Presence – Part 5 Take Your Time

Welcome to our new series for developing your stage presence in 5 easy steps. Even if you are shy or uncomfortable in front of large audiences you can improve your stage presence with a little bit of practice and a few easy tips. This series was insp

Welcome back to our five part series on improving your stage presence. Last time we talked about Taking Your Time for the benefit of both your audience and yourself.

Today’s topic is about making eye contact. This can be provide a huge benefit for connecting with your audience. When it comes to live performance it’s absolutely crucial that you make eye contact with your audience at some point. Just imagine what these videos I produce would be like if I never made eye contact with the camera. These videos are designed to be like a live performance or classroom setting. I make eye contact with my audience to engage the viewer.

When you’re standing in front of a large group of people it would be impossible to make eye contact with everyone but you will want to look at as many audience members as you can – try not to focus on only one person. Have you ever had the experience of being at a performance and having the sensation that the performer is looking directly at you? It gives you a sensation of awe and intimacy that wouldn’t be created otherwise. One of the best ways to connect with your audience is simply to look at them!

Thanks again for joining me Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com

How to Improve Your Stage Presence – Part 4 Make Eye Contact

Welcome back to our five part series on improving your stage presence. Last time we talked about Taking Your Time for the benefit of both your audience and yourself. Today’s topic is about making eye contact. This can be provide a huge benefit for