Living Pianos

Welcome to the second video in my ongoing series covering music theory. Last time we covered the smallest Musical Intervals (both half steps and whole steps). If you haven’t watched that video I highly recommend it as it is really a precursor to this video.

Here are a few quick notes when it comes to major scales:

– Major scales are simply a series of half steps and whole steps.

– All the notes are whole steps except between the 3rd and 4th notes and the 7th and 8th notes (which are half steps).

– They contain 8 notes, wherein the first and the last notes are the same.

– They include all the letter names in order without repeating any. (They are built diatonically.)

– For example, if you have an A-major scale you will have some form of A B C D E F G A.

– C-major scale contains C D E F G A B C.

– All major scales have either sharps or flats; never both (except for C-major which has no sharps or flats.)

On the video attached to this article I demonstrate the structure of the C major scale on the piano keyboard.

Using the rules I outlined above, you can figure out the notes of any major scale; it is actually extremely simple!

Next time we will be discussing relative minor scales – which are a bit more complex. Thanks again for joining me Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

What is a Major Scale? Music Lessons

The piano bench you use and learning how to sit properly at the piano are essential parts to every pianist’s technique. This is a very important aspect of your playing that is often overlooked. Today we are going to discuss the different types of benches available so you can figure out which one is best for you.

As with many different instruments and musicians, small details can be very important in improving playing. It takes years for violinists to learn how to hold their instrument properly and it can take a lifetime for brass players to learn how to approach embouchure (lip position); every instrument has its complexities and every musician is unique. When it comes to piano, selecting the bench that’s the best fit for you can be a challenge.

Most pianos have standard Duet Style Benches:

They typically open up on the top to allow your music to go inside and they are called “duet” benches because two people can sit side-by-side on them. These are also beneficial for young students so their teachers or parents can sit next to them and guide their practice.

Adjustable Artist Bench (Tabouret)

As a student progresses to a more advanced level they will benefit from one of these benches. Not only is the bench more comfortable, it’s height is adjustable which is extremely important. Sitting at the correct height while playing the piano can have a profound effect upon your playing.

A rarer but interesting type of bench for the piano is The Piano Chair (found on some older Steinway pianos).

While this might look like a simple chair it actually has a very interesting feature. These chairs are slanted forward slightly so they are less fatiguing for your back and allow you to lean into the keyboard naturally which is a comfortable way to play the piano for many people. Some benches have a feature you can engage which slants the seat forward if desired.

An ideal bench for many people – and my personal bench – is a combination between the duet bench and the artist bench – The Double Wide Artist Bench

A good one with leather and lots of padding can cost over $1,000 but if you are looking for the best bench you can buy, this is a great choice. You get the benefit of having a larger sitting surface as well as the ability to adjust the height of the bench. There are even some which offer separate height adjustments on the left and right for each of the players!

I encourage all of you to take your benches seriously and think about whether or not the bench you are currently using is right for you. It’s very important that you find a bench that is both comfortable and functional as you play the piano.

Thanks again for joining us here at Living Pianos. If you have any questions about this topic or any others, please contact us at: Info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

The Importance of the Piano Bench

Can you tune your piano with your phone? The simple answer to this question is yes, you can! What do I mean by “tuning your piano with your phone”? We’ve come to such an age where we carry super computers in our pockets, and there is remarkable software that can aid you in tuning your piano.

When I was a child, if a tuner would come to tune my father’s piano with a strobe tuner (which was the technology of the time) it was an indication of an incompetent tuner since virtually no tuner could get a piano in tune utilizing just a strobe tuner. Was it because the strobe tuner wasn’t accurate enough? It’s true that the digital technology of today is far more accurate. The technology that is offered today is even more accurate than human hearing!

But there is more to it. To get a piano to sound right, it is not a simple matter of having the piano perfectly in tune. There is a certain amount of artistry that goes into tuning a piano. There are two reasons for this. The first has to do with the deficiencies inherent with pianos. The smaller a piano is, the less fundamental tone you have and the more overtones are present. Those are higher pitches contained within each note of the piano. The overtones must blend with the fundamental tones of higher notes on the piano. There are different formulas for getting a sweet tone out of a piano This is dependent on a piano’s size and its scale design. A trained technician with experience can achieve a sweet sound throughout all registers. The other limitation is that human hearing is not perfect. When you get higher up in pitch, you actually start to hear pitches flat. So, a piano’s tuning must be stretched so that octaves are not exactly 2 to 1 mathematical relationships which is what octaves are. They are ever so slightly bigger!

Strobe tuners and technologies from year’s past did not account for any of these things. The technology today is designed to compensate for these factors. There are several free programs you can use that can assist you in tuning your piano or checking the tuning on your piano. A popular one I like to use is an app called Panotuner.

I use it to set the temperament (all the notes in one octave in the middle of the keyboard) when tuning my harpsichord as well as my fortepiano. However, it doesn’t have the sophisticated features that you really need to tune a piano without utilizing your ears.

There are two programs that are used by professional piano tuners and technicians. One is called Tune Lab and the other one is Cyber Tuner. These are available for your phone or computer. You may ask yourself, how do these technologies account for deficiencies in pianos and human hearing? Think of it this way. In the medical community, we are coming to a point where there will be super intelligent robotic doctors. This is a technology in its infancy. The combined knowledge of tens of thousands of doctor are rolled into a machine that can make diagnosis’ much better than any one doctor could. While this AI technology is evolving in the medical profession, it is already highly evolved in the piano tuning realm. The software programs include the input from thousands of piano tuners as well as many different pianos and the correct mathematics in order to get pianos to sound right. For example, if you have a piano that is low in pitch, it is really important to stretch the tuning so that it can accommodate the added stress and tension on the bridge and soundboard which changes the tuning of previously tuned sections of the piano as you are tuning!

On these software programs, typically, you play all the A’s on the piano first, and it will calibrate how much to stretch the tuning so that by the time you are done tuning, the piano will be in tune. Otherwise, you may have to tune the piano twice – once to raise the pitch and a second time for a fine tuning. There are basic tools you need in order to tune a piano besides software. You need a tuning hammer and wedges as well as felt strips that are relatively inexpensive. Here is something vitally important to understand. Any competent piano tuner will get a piano in tune. Only a great tuner can get a piano to hold its tuning for any reasonable amount of time. If I were to play massive works of Prokofiev and Liszt for example just after a piano has been tuned, if it had been tuned by a novice, it may sound good initially, but the tuning would go out very quickly. A concert level tuner knows how to set the pins and strings so that it can sustain hard blows and still maintain pitch.

So yes, you can tune a piano using your phone. However, it takes years of experience tuning hundreds of pianos in order to be able to tune a piano to hold well over a reasonable amount of time. I hope this article has been helpful for you. You are welcome to send your questions which may appear in future articles and videos to Robert@LivingPianos.com.

Can You Tune Your Piano With Your Phone?

This is one of the most common questions I get from people. Parents are often looking for resources to help find a good music teacher for themselves or their children. While there are the usual suspects like Yelp!, Craigslist and flyers around town, are there any other resource to help find good music teachers?

Here in California you can utilize the MTAC (Music Teachers’ Association of California). You may have a similar organization in your state and which can be a great place to start looking for a teacher. While these resources can provide you with a list of names, how do you know if any of them are good?

There is an interesting dynamic when it comes to teachers and their ability to play. Not all great teachers are fine pianists, and not all great pianists are capable teachers. You might wonder, how someone who can’t play the piano very well could be a great teacher? In some cases the person might have been a better player in their youth and as they’ve aged, their skills have diminished due to physical limitations. There are also some instances where high level musicians have no idea how they do what they do and can’t provide valuable instruction.

Another option is attending student recitals of teachers you’re researching. The solidity of their performances can give you great insights into the quality of the teaching.

You can also ask people around you locally who play the piano, who they’ve studied with, and why they like their teacher.

Once you find a teacher and call them up, one of the most important questions you can ask them is, “Do you teach how to practice?”. Listen carefully to their response. If they say yes, ask them for a brief explanation of how they approach it. A concise, well thought out answer is a good sign that they offer high quality instruction.

Teaching is not just assigning material and correcting mistakes, teaching students how to practice their music on their own and what they should be doing on a daily basis will help take their playing to a whole new level. Once a week is nowhere close to enough time to learn the piano. Your teacher should be providing you with instruction on what to do when you are away from your teacher the other 6 days of the week. This is essential.

You may run across teachers who have an incredible collection of talented students who are all extremely gifted. However, just because they have a number of students who are very talented doesn’t necessarily mean they are great teachers. There are a lot of instances where very accomplished pianists attract great students because of their reputation or the status of the school where they teach. They may be valuable as coaches to foster the growth of already accomplished pianists as opposed to offering formative instruction on their instruments. There are a some instances where this is exactly what a student needs, but it might not be right for you.

The most important thing is to select a teacher who matches your expectations. For example, if you want to learn classical music, find a teacher who specializes in classical music. The age group of the teachers’ students is also something to be aware of. Not all teachers are good with children while others specialize in teaching children or even very young children. There are so many teachers out there and finding the right one can be a real challenge. But with a little research you can find someone who offers the right instruction for you.

If you have any questions about this topic or any others, please contact us at: Info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

How to Find a Good Piano Teacher

This can be an uncomfortable situation for both teachers and students. But it’s one that invariably happens. I have personally dealt with many students over the years who have disagreed with me – and if you’re reading you know who you are!

Talented students may actually give you the hardest time as a teacher. They tend to question why they have to do something and while this can be frustrating at times it indicates that the student is thinking and that’s a positive sign. So how do you deal with situations like this?

I studied with my father, Morton Estrin ever since I was a young child until I went away to conservatory after high school. I found myself at the Manhattan School of Music with a phenomenal pianist Constance Keene and from the very first lessons I knew I was going to be challenged. Her ideas of learning and practicing the piano were radically different from my father’s and it presented new ideas for me. My father has very large hands and my hands are quite small. Ms. Keene was a much smaller person than my father. So her way of approaching the piano was different from my father’s and her approach offered me benefits.

If you are paying money for lessons or paying a lot of money to go to a conservatory to study music, it’s essential you at least listen to your teachers. You’ve selected a teacher for a reason. You have to trust what they are telling you and at least try what they are teaching you; even if it goes against everything you think and believe in. It doesn’t hurt to try.

Once you’ve tried their methods – at least a week – and have time to evaluate the value of the lesson, you might change your mind. As a student, you should be willing to keep an open mind. But you shouldn’t blindly accept anything they tell you. If you truly feel that something they are trying to teaching you is not valuable, then you can simply ask them what the purpose is. Try to keep a level head when you question their lessons as it might not go over well and you don’t want to become combative. However, asking questions can aid in the learning process.

Teaching is not a one-way street. As a student, you need to interact with your teacher and ask questions in order to learn from them. If you don’t understand something, it wont be beneficial for you to just sit there! Great teachers know how to listen to their students and get inside their heads.

Take your teacher’s advice. If time goes on and things aren’t working out then maybe you should consider finding a new teacher. Otherwise, give their ideas a chance to develop before rejecting them.

Thanks again for joining us here at Living Pianos. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for future videos please contact us directly: info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

What if You Disagree with Your Music Teacher?

This is an interesting topic that many of you might not be familiar with. Recently we had an amazing instrument come into the store – an 1875 Erard Concert Grand Piano. What made this piano so unique is that it’s one of the very few instruments surviving today in good condition that feature a straight strung scale design.

Around the 1880s it became much more common for pianos to feature cross stringing – which is what you will see in pretty much any piano designed and built in the modern era. Also referred to as being “overstrung” this design of crossing strings over one-another allows them to be longer and fit into a smaller frame.

Before the advent of cross stringing, pianos would have to be larger in size to produce a vibrant tone. The strings of a modern baby grand piano are generally longer since the crossing allows for longer string length for much of the piano. This is one reason why small baby grands were impossible to design before the advent of cross-stringing.

Other than the placement of the strings, the location of the bridges on the soundboard also differs dramatically between a straight strung and a cross strung piano. Modern pianos with cross-stringing allow for placement of the bridges closer to the center of the piano for more of the notes. You may wonder how the sound of earlier straight strung pianos differs from modern design instruments.

Playing one of these straight strung pianos is truly an experience. As you play you’ll hear the same type of tone production that Chopin and Liszt experienced in their day for the most part – it really transforms you back in time to a different era. It’s an exhilarating experience to hear and play their music as they heard it – a punchier, more percussive sound.

Thanks again for joining us here at Living Pianos. If you have any comments, suggestions or questions about this topic or any others please contact us directly: (949) 244-3729 or email us: Info@LivingPianos.com

What is a Straight Strung Piano?

While this might sound silly, learning to play music mentally is one of the best practice methods. All practice is mental practice. While the action of playing an instrument has a physiological component, learning and practicing is much more of a mental experience than anything else. In fact, recent brain scan tests have found that there is no difference in brain activity between someone playing an instrument or just thinking about playing an instrument!

In college I had come down with mononucleosis when I was scheduled to play a solo recital. I had become very weak but was determined to play the program. An hour and half a day is about all the practice I could handle – and that was about how long the program was. Needless to say, this was not enough time to practice. Determined to succeed despite my physical ailment, I tried something new. I ended up taking all my scores into bed with me and I practiced mentally. To my surprise, the performance ended up being the best I had ever had by far! But how can this be?

Don’t hop into bed with your musical scores just yet! You have to develop technique and playing your instrument is essential. However, you should continue practicing even when you are away from your instrument. Imagine the performance in great detail, every sound and action. By doing this you will be able to hear the music exactly how you want it to sound so you can develop your performance. Learning your music mentally away from your instrument will help you identify problem spots you didn’t know existed before. You may be depending upon tactile memory on some passages and you may realize that you don’t actually know the music as well as you thought.

Here is a great exercise for you: Take a piece you are very familiar with, remove the score, and try and play it mentally. Play as far as you can go without stopping and when you have to stop, refer back to the score and start again until you can play the entire piece from memory away from your instrument. If you do this, you will have mastered that piece of music better than any other piece you’ve played before. Whenever I play a recital I play my music in my head constantly before the performance. I make sure I can get through difficult sections again and again until things are totally clear. There is great reassurance in performance when you know your scores on this level.

Thanks again for joining me, Robert@LivingPianos.com 949-244-3729

How Do You Play the Piano with Your Mind?

Today we are going to talk about why it’s crucially important to practice your music thoroughly as opposed to just quickly. You might think if you can practice something quickly it would be a big benefit to you but that’s not always the case.

I am actually someone who is very much in favor of short cuts wherever they can work. I’ve talked about methods in the past such as The Band-Aid Approach to practicing music that is a method in which you focus on the trouble spots of your performance in order to save time. This is not to say that this method isn’t a form of thorough practice; it’s just incredibly efficient focusing 80% of your time on 20% of the music which needs most of the work. I once had a student whose former teacher told them to play an entire piece through at a slow speed with the metronome and then speed it up one notch at a time playing through the entire piece again and again. This is definitely thorough practice but it wastes your time since only sections of the piece may require this kind of approach.

So what do I mean by thorough practice? Sometimes you’ll be learning a new piece and it’s not up to the level you want. You might find yourself jumping into random spots and trying to fix problems – this can be a mistake. Instead of moving on, go to the first spot you have difficulties with and stay focused on it. Stay with this section and keep working on it until you have it absolutely dialed in, perfect and reliable. If you stay with a section until you have it mastered as described above, you will find yourself playing it correctly even after time has elapsed. Even more importantly, the techniques you learn in that section will help you throughout the rest of the piece. There is rarely a piece of music you will encounter that doesn’t contain a repetition of ideas, techniques, harmonies and textures. So, the thorough work you do on one section will translate to other parts of the piece.

As you move through the piece perfecting trouble spots, you will find that your practice becomes incredibly productive. As opposed to just going through the piece and working on random trouble spots, find the origin of your problems, start there and practice it so completely that you can play it accurately with ease.

To recap, work on the difficulties you encounter early in a piece of music and you will be rewarded later in your practice. Thorough practice is what will make you a more accomplished musician. It is so gratifying to perfect a small part of a piece and continue on that path than to plow your way through without refining your work.

Thanks again for joining us here at Living Pianos. If you have any questions or comments about this video or any other subject please contact us directly: Info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

The RIGHT Way to Practice Music

You might wonder whether or not it’s a frivolous expense to spend $60,000, $80,000 or more on a piano when you can buy a decent Asian production piano for a fraction of the cost. Are expensive pianos worth the price or are they merely status symbols? Let’s examine this in detail.

Yes, there is a sense of status when owning an expensive piano. Having the name Steinway, Bosendorfer, Fazioli or other esteemed brand across the fallboard of your piano makes a statement. It’s a lot like owning a designer handbag or luxury car. There is pride of ownership of a fine piano. However, beyond the name across the fallboard, what are the benefits of buying a top-tier, handmade instrument?

Fortunately, showing off the name on your fallboard is not the primary benefit of owning a high-end piano!

Beyond the status of owning an expensive instrument, the resale value of the piano will be much higher than a cheaper production instrument. The value of Steinway, Mason & Hamlin and other top-tier piano brands is very high and they retain their value unlike some production pianos which can be practically worthless in a few short years.

Think of it this way, if you buy a $10,000 production piano, when it wears out you probably wouldn’t invest to rebuild it. This is due to the fact that the cost of rebuilding is more than what the piano is worth or even the price of a new one. When it comes to top tier instruments, the cost of rebuilding is justified. So, the piano has lasting value.

If you’re looking for a piano that you can pass down from generation to generation, a high-end piano is the obvious choice.

What’s the difference in how a cheaper piano plays compared to a top-tier piano?

For the majority of players a cheaper production piano may be adequate. For a young child just starting out, an adult who likes to play occasionally, or someone who is looking at a piano primarily as a piece of furniture or even as an entertainment piece with a modern player system, you may not require anything greater than a decent production piano in your home. It can last several years with moderate use and proper maintenance.

What about for serious players?

Years ago I had a brand new, grand piano from a respected Asian manufacture that I was using as my personal practice piano. I am a serious player and practice hours every day I found that about every six months the piano required major regulation just to keep it in decent playing condition. I even had to rebuild the pedal lyre more than once because it couldn’t withstand the intense use the piano was getting. I was spending a small fortune to maintain the instrument and it was simply not worth the investment. Eventually I found a top-tier American concert grand piano from the 1970s that I still currently use and it’s been a phenomenal experience owning this piano; it can withstand my rigorous practice sessions and requires only minimal regulation on a much more occasional basis because of its stability.

Another thing to consider is that the vast majority of Asian production pianos don’t have the range of expression that top-tier pianos offer. Any serious pianist knows how to instantly adjust to the instrument in front of them. For example, if I’m performing on a concert grand Bosendorfer, Mason & Hamlin, Steinway or other top brand I can let myself go and not worry about how much energy I put into the piano. If I’m performing on a cheaper instrument I will temper my performance limiting the energy I exert to avoid unpleasant sounds out of the piano since it can’t handle my range of expression. I would relate this to turning up a cheap stereo too loud – it can create distortion and become very unpleasant to the ears.

What about if you’re playing a piece that requires quiet playing with multiple, simultaneous lines at different volumes? This is a technique that really only high level players will be able to achieve on a top-tier piano in great condition. Yet it’s something that any serious pianist absolutely requires.

These issues are not really a concern for most players or students. Unless you are a really accomplished player you probably won’t encounter these types of issues. However, if you find yourself limited in your performance because of your current instrument then it might be time to upgrade your piano to something more substantial. Even if it isn’t required, you may appreciate the quality of sound and touch and enjoy and instrument you can keep for the rest of your life.

Thanks again for joining us here at Living Pianos. If you have any questions or comments about this subject or any subject at all please contact us directly: Info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729

Piano Lessons- Music Theory Lessons