Tag Archives: loud

Fast Versus Loud Piano Playing

This is LivingPianos.com and I’m Robert Estrin with a really interesting subject today: Fast Versus Loud Piano Playing. Some of you may be thinking that I’m talking about contest winning pianists. Some of them play faster than anybody, some play louder than anyone. Often times, that is sadly what it comes down to in competitions because when you have dozens of pianists who all play at such a high level, how do you quantify who is the best? Artistic expression is such a personal opinion after all. This article is not about any of that.

Today’s subject is about how oftentimes students will confuse fast and loud! I was just teaching Clementi Sonatina Opus 36 No. 1 to a student, and wouldn’t you know it, at the point when the music gets louder in the first movement, he started speeding up his playing! It is such a natural tendency. I talked to him about it and he said, “When the music gets exciting and louder you just want to play faster!” This piece starts out forte, then comes down to piano, and then when it crescendos there is such a temptation to get faster.


What is the Secret to Avoiding this Problem?

As with so many rhythm problems, solutions come down to working with the metronome. Have the metronome ticking so you can keep an absolutely precise speed. You will be able to play more evenly and not succumb to the excitement of getting faster when it gets louder.

By maintaining tempo when you get louder you will serve the music better. This is something you have to train yourself to do. It is not a natural thing. You will naturally want to rush the parts that get louder. The metronome is such a handy tool to measure your music until you have it really locked in and you can maintain tempo without the metronome ticking. Interestingly, by avoiding rushing the louder parts, the music is more exciting instead of feeling frantic.

That’s the long and short of loud vs fast. They are two different concepts that you should not confuse in your music. Occasionally they do coincide and that’s fine. But if they don’t, maintain the integrity of your tempo and you will be richly rewarded with a more satisfying musical performance. Thanks so much for joining me, Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com Your Online Piano Store.

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How to Go From Loud to Soft on the Piano

Controlling the tone and volume of your playing is something that every great pianist must master. Being able to bring out the quietest notes adjacent to the loudest chords will bring out the true color of the music. This can be challenging to achieve but I have some great tips I would like to share with you today.

For this example I’m going to use Beethoven’s Appassionata Sonata as it has massive chords followed by extremely quiet sections. If you watch the video above or listen to the piece on your own you will notice the incredible dynamic range this piece exemplifies.

Beethoven was one of the first composers to explore the capabilities of dynamic range in the piano. During his lifetime the piano had developed to a point where it could handle drastic changes in dynamics. This is a later work of Beethoven and you might notice that his earlier works don’t explore extreme dynamic range in this way.

So what’s the secret to getting the sound you want? One important point in achieving a beautiful sound when playing fortissimo is making sure you play close to the keys and use the weight of your arms. You never want to slap down on the keys with large hand motions – it will create a very unpleasant sound. You want to learn to play with great force while caressing the keys – this is shown in the video great arm techniques. Much like a great masseuse, who will apply a lot of pressure from the contact point – they don’t need an exaggerated motion to produce a tremendous amount of force, unlike a painful slap or punch.

When transitioning from loud to the soft it’s very important for you to give time to allow the loud sound to dissipate through the air. Especially if you are playing in a large hall, the sound will carry for much longer than in your living room. You will also want to make sure that you delineate the top notes from the rest of the chords in your soft playing so that you get a distinct and clear presence from them. If you don’t accentuate the top notes they might get lost in the reverberation from the loud chords.

You will always have to take into account the size and acoustics of the room and the instrument you are playing on – it makes a huge difference. Make sure to play close to the keys with great force when it’s needed, always delineate the top notes of the quiet phrases and make sure you give yourself time to let the loud chords dissipate into the air before playing the next line.

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