Piano Lessons- Music Theory Lessons

Welcome to LivingPianos.com. I’m Robert Estrin. I recently received a great question from a viewer: How much does a pinblock cost? As simple as that might sound, there’s actually a lot more to it than you might expect!

What Is a Pinblock?

Let’s start at the beginning. Your piano has an enormous amount of string tension—tens of thousands of pounds! If you’ve ever tried to pluck a piano string, you know they feel rock-solid. That tension has to be held securely, and that’s where the pin block comes in.

You might assume the metal plate on your piano is what holds the tuning pins in place, but in fact, it’s the thick wooden structure underneath the cast iron plate that does the job. That piece of wood, made up of multiple laminated layers of hardwood, is what we call the pinblock.

Why It’s Not a Simple Repair

If your piano won’t hold a tuning anymore, it could be due to a cracked pin block or loose tuning pins. So, you might wonder—can’t you just replace the pin block? How much does that cost? Well, that’s where things get complicated. Pinblocks aren’t off-the-shelf items. They are custom-made for each individual piano. Replacing one means essentially entering into a piano rebuilding process. First, the piano must be disassembled. The strings and plate need to come off. Only then can the process of fitting a new pin block begin.

A Very Precise Fit

The pin block has to fit perfectly flush against the plate, and because the shape of the plate is irregular, this takes incredible precision. A rough shape is cut, and then chalk is applied to the area where the pin block meets the plate. The pin block is pressed against it, and the areas marked with chalk are carefully shaved down. This is repeated—again and again—until the pin block sits perfectly flat against the underside of the plate. Once the fit is exact, the tuning pin holes must be drilled with tolerances down to thousandths of an inch and at specific angles. This isn’t one-size-fits-all work. Every pin block replacement is its own unique challenge.

But You’re Not Done Yet. Once the new pin block is in place, the piano must be restrung—we’re talking about 220 to 240 strings. And when you do that, the damper felt often needs replacing as well. If the dampers don’t seat perfectly, you’ll end up with buzzing or other unwanted noises. That means the damper regulation has to be redone too.

Other Work That Often Comes With It

A thorough rebuild usually involves much more. Anywhere the strings touch metal, like the bridges, may need attention. Worn bridge caps and pins can cause grooves that interfere with string termination, and that can affect the tone. There’s also the capo d’astro bar in the treble range. That’s the part of the plate that bends down over the strings. Over time, it can develop grooves too, and should be smoothed out for best performance. Then you have the agraffes—the little brass guides with holes for the strings near the front of the piano. These also wear and can cause tone issues or buzzing. Smoothing or replacing them can be necessary as well.

Why Do All This?

Some rebuilders cut corners. But if you’re going to go to the effort of rebuilding a piano, why not make it as good as it can be? Done right, a rebuilt piano can sound as good or better than when it was first made, depending on the era and original craftsmanship.

So, back to the original question: how much does a pin block cost?

Just the pin block work alone might cost under $10,000. But since it requires a full rebuild, you’re realistically looking at $20,000 to $30,000 for the complete process. Some high-end rebuilds can even reach $50,000 or more, depending on the piano and the quality of the work. It’s a complex subject, and it’s easy to see how a simple question can open the door to a deep and fascinating look into piano construction. I hope you found this information enlightening!

Thanks for joining me here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

Welcome to LivingPianos.com. I’m Robert Estrin. Today I want to introduce you to Spencer Myer. Spencer is on the piano faculty at Indiana University Bloomington, at the Jacobs School of Music—one of the largest and most respected music conservatories in the country. I earned my degree in piano performance there. I’ve known Spencer for many years. He studied with my sister, Coren Estrin-Mino, from the time he was a child until after high school, before continuing on to conservatory. He’s gone on to have an impressive career.

A Career of Distinction

Spencer has performed as a soloist with orchestras around the world, including the Cleveland Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, and Phoenix Symphony. He’s won several major international piano competitions, including the gold medal at the 2008 New Orleans International Piano Competition and top prizes at the 2007 William Kapell, the 2005 Cleveland, and the Bösendorfer Competitions. He also has a close musical partnership with the Miami String Quartet and is a recording artist with the Steinway & Sons label.

How Much of Piano Playing Is Muscle Memory?

In a recent video on piano practice, Spencer shared some insights that really stood out to me. One of the most striking things Spencer said in his video is that about 80% of piano playing is muscle memory. That may sound surprising—many concert pianists wouldn’t readily admit it. But when you think about playing an entire recital program, lasting an hour or more, it’s not realistic to expect 100% focused mental control the entire time. Unless you’re some kind of mental guru, it’s just not possible.

That’s where muscle memory comes in. Your fingers know where to go, and that’s what helps carry you through. I like to compare it to piloting a sailboat. The wind is like your muscle memory, which propels you forward. But your focus and concentration steer the boat, adjusting the sail and rudder. It’s a balance. And when you’re playing fast passages, it becomes even clearer. You can’t consciously think of every note in real time. Muscle memory fills in the gaps.

How Do You Develop That Kind of Security?

Spencer shared several techniques to help build reliable muscle memory. One of them is especially unusual but incredibly effective: practicing with inconsistent tempos. You might think inconsistent tempos are something to avoid, but as a practice technique, they’re extremely useful. The idea is to speed up and slow down randomly while playing a passage. If you can keep your place while doing that, then when something throws you off during a performance, you’ll know how to recover without falling apart.

It helps you simulate those real-life performance situations—like if your hand slips or your attention momentarily lapses. Practicing this way gets you used to instability, so you can stay grounded even under pressure.

Rhythmic Alteration: Make Your Own Etudes!

Another effective method Spencer talks about is rhythmic alteration. You can take a passage and apply dotted rhythms or other rhythmic groupings. For example, playing a pattern long-short, then reversing it. This forces your hands to work together differently and builds control and clarity. It’s especially good for fast passages where one hand might tend to rush or lag. And it turns any difficult section into an etude without needing to learn separate technical exercises. You can experiment with random rhythmic groupings to challenge your brain and fingers in new ways. The possibilities are endless, and it’s a great way to gain precision and deepen your understanding of passages.

Know Exactly Where Your Hands Play Together

Another tip Spencer gives is to identify exactly where the hands play together. This seems simple, but it’s incredibly powerful. When your technique is clean, it’s usually because your hands are synchronized. Isolating those points of contact can give you greater rhythmic security and better control.

Practice Skipping Around

Do you have pieces with repeated material that’s slightly different the second time—maybe in another key or with small changes? Spencer suggests jumping back and forth quickly between those sections to gain clarity and prevent mix-ups. He gives the example of Chopin’s Ballade in G minor, where similar material comes back in different forms. Or Mozart’s Sonata in G Major, K. 283—the end of the exposition is in D major, and the end of the recapitulation is in G major. The passages look and sound similar but aren’t identical. Practicing by skipping quickly between those two spots trains your fingers and memory to differentiate them clearly. This can be applied to almost any piece with similar structures—sonatas, ballades, even simple binary forms.

Don’t Let Your Pieces Decay: The Power of Slow Practice

One of the most important ideas Spencer shares is how to maintain a piece after it’s learned. Have you ever had a piece you once played confidently, only to find it slipping away over time? It’s like the game of telephone: small changes creep in each time you play, and eventually it’s not quite the piece you started with. The solution? Go back to the score and play it slowly and mindfully. This kind of slow practice is something every great pianist does. My teacher, Ruth Slenczynska, used to tell the story of hearing what she thought was a beginner student of Rachmaninoff while waiting outside of his home—only to find out it was Rachmaninoff himself, practicing at a snail’s pace.

I saw this same habit in my father, Morton Estrin, and in other top pianists like John Ogdon and Constance Keene. They all practiced playing very slowly. It’s not just for beginners—it’s how professionals keep pieces in peak condition.

To sum it all up, here are the strategies Spencer outlines:

Slow, mindful practice – essential for reinforcing memory and maintaining pieces over time

Inconsistent tempo practice – helps prepare for real-world performance instability

Rhythmic alteration – turns difficult passages into targeted technical studies

Identifying hand coordination – builds clean, synchronized technique

Skipping between repeated sections – sharpens memory and clarity between similar material

You can find more from Spencer through his website. And be sure to watch the original video, where he goes into even more detail. If you’re considering studying music at the college level, he teaches private lessons at Indiana University, and working with him could be an outstanding opportunity.

Thanks to Spencer for making these insights available! They’re practical, effective, and well worth trying in your own practice.

This was my father’s first recording which he made when he was in his young 30’s. I have recently revisited the 4th Ballade of Chopin which I have never performed. I plan on recording it and have listened to a number of recordings. Then I remembered my father had recorded this and after listening to this performance, it is truly inspiring.

Hi, this is Robert Estrin from Living Pianos. I had the pleasure of visiting the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, and I wanted to share a quick glimpse with you. It’s a fascinating place that celebrates the rich history of recorded music, with exhibits showcasing legendary artists and groundbreaking innovations. As a lifelong musician and piano enthusiast, seeing how music has evolved was truly inspiring. Join me for a brief tour and experience a bit of this incredible journey through musical history!

Welcome to LivingPianos.com. I’m Robert Estrin. Have you ever wondered how to make large jumps on the piano with confidence and accuracy? It can feel almost impossible to land on the right notes, especially when you’re playing fast or under pressure. Fortunately, there’s a simple, effective way to practice these leaps that can give you the security you need.

Let’s look at how this works, using two examples: a student-level piece by J.S. Bach from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena, and a much more advanced passage from Chopin’s Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat minor — which I consider to be the most difficult part of the piece.

Start Simple: Bach and Basic Jump Technique

The Bach Musette may seem straightforward, but it includes some tricky jumps across the keyboard. If you’ve played something like the Minuet in G, which stays in a single hand position, this is a step up. You might find yourself wondering how to quickly and accurately move from one area of the keyboard to another.

Here’s the key: practice the jump without playing the next notes. Just move your hand to the new position and stop, making sure you’re directly over the notes you’ll need to play. Once you can consistently land in the right spot, you can start playing the notes — but only after your hand is in position.

Building Accuracy: Isolate the Jumps

At first, you might overshoot or undershoot. That’s part of the process. You may go too far one time, and not far enough the next. What you’re doing is training your hand to land exactly where it needs to be. Stop over the notes. Check your hand. Then try again. Once you’re confident you’re landing over the right spot, you can start playing it. Take extra time at first to get over the keys before you play them. You can straighten out the rhythm after you have performed this crucial step. Security comes first. Gradually, you shorten the pause between the jump and the notes. You can reduce the time little by little until there’s no pause at all. But in your mind, you’re still thinking of that quick, deliberate move to land exactly where you need to be.

Work on Each Jump Separately

If the piece has multiple jumps, don’t try to tackle them all at once. Work on each one in isolation. Take the time to land over the target notes of each leap before moving on to the next one. This step-by-step approach helps you build accuracy without practicing mistakes.

Now the Real Test: Chopin’s Scherzo No. 2

Let’s turn to something much more demanding: Chopin’s Scherzo in B-flat minor. There’s one passage that’s absolutely filled with jumps. It’s a section that gives even experienced pianists trouble. But the same principle applies. Take each jump and practice getting over the notes first without playing them. Maybe the left hand doesn’t quite reach far enough on the first try. That’s fine. Try again until you can consistently stop over the next notes. This builds accuracy.

Don’t Practice Mistakes

One of the biggest pitfalls in learning big leaps is trying to play them too soon, before your hand knows where to go. If you miss the jump repeatedly, you end up reinforcing the mistake. This is what you want to avoid. Instead, train your hand to land correctly before you ever play the notes.

Apply this Method to Any Music

Whether you’re working on Bach, Chopin, Liszt, or any other composer, the same approach applies. Start by isolating the leap and practicing the motion of moving your hands to the new position without playing the next notes. Make any necessary adjustments until you can consistently land in exactly the right spot. Once that becomes reliable, begin adding the notes, even if it’s delayed at first. Gradually reduce the pause until you can play the leap smoothly with total confidence.

That’s how you make big leaps at the piano with security. It takes patience and careful observation, but the payoff is worth it! Using this method, you’ll find yourself landing leaps cleanly and confidently, even in the most technically demanding music. I hope this helps you in your practice!

Welcome to LivingPianos.com. I’m Robert Estrin. This is one of the most important concepts you can apply to your piano practice: you need to think in words. That might sound strange at first. After all, when you’re playing music, especially in performance, you want to let go of verbal thought and just feel the music. You want to be in a state of flow. But when you’re practicing, it’s a different story.

Where Verbal Thinking Matters Most

There is one critical time when using words can make all the difference. That’s the moment between repetitions. After you’ve played something once, before you play it again, you should pause and clearly state what you want to be different. Use real, concrete language. Say it out loud if it helps.

Too often, I see students finish a phrase, realize it didn’t sound quite right, and immediately dive back in. But they haven’t taken the time to figure out what they’re actually trying to improve. They’re just hoping the next try will be better. Do you ever find yourself doing that?

Define What Needs to Change

Let’s say you’ve just played a phrase. The notes were correct, but it sounded flat and lifeless. Before you try again, stop and think: what could make it better? You might say, “I want to add a gentle decrescendo at the end of this phrase.” That gives your next repetition a clear purpose.

Maybe after trying again, you realize it still needs work. Now you might say, “I want the phrase to start softer, build gradually, then fall away at the end.” This is how real musical shaping happens—by clearly defining your goals, one step at a time.

Repeating Without Intention Doesn’t Help

Mindless repetition is one of the biggest mistakes students make. If you play something over and over without deciding what needs to change, you’re often just reinforcing bad habits. Even if it sounds better by chance, how will you know what worked if you weren’t sure what you were aiming for? That’s why thinking in words matters so much. It forces you to practice with intention.

Practice with a Clear Mindset

Whenever you’re practicing to improve something, stop after each attempt and ask yourself: what do I want to change? Be specific. Don’t just say, “I want it to sound better.” Say, “I want a smoother legato,” or “I need to bring out the melody more in the right hand.” This simple habit transforms your practice. It makes every repetition count. You’ll waste less time, and your progress will be much more focused.

Let Yourself Just Play—But Know the Difference

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with just sitting down and playing for enjoyment. I do that too. It’s one of the joys of being a pianist! But when you’re practicing, draw a clear line. Practice is where you stop, reflect, and decide what you want to improve. Let that guide each repetition.

Try this in your next practice session. Pause between attempts, speak your intentions in clear words, and see how much more effective your work becomes. It’s a small change that can lead to big results.

Welcome to LivingPianos.com. I’m Robert Estrin, and today I’m responding to a great viewer question. Someone asked if I could do an updated explanation of dotted rhythms, specifically using the first bars of Beethoven’s Pathétique Sonata as an example. They mentioned still struggling to count the dotted rhythms there—and frankly, I understand. You’d be surprised how many performances of the Pathétique have imprecise rhythm at the opening!

How to Count the Rhythm Accurately

The first few measures of the Pathétique Sonata are instantly recognizable, but they require real rhythmic discipline to play correctly. Here’s the trick: you need to understand where the beats fall—and more importantly, where the subdivisions lie. I’ll often count while practicing, just to show the placement. But that’s just a means to an end. What you really need is to internalize the pulse and subdivide accurately.

Let’s say you’re just counting quarter notes—that’s a good start, but it’s not enough. If you rely solely on that, you’ll find it nearly impossible to keep tempo consistent when playing those dotted rhythms. Instead, you must feel both the main beat and the subdivisions—those quicker underlying pulses that help you place notes precisely.

Subdivision: The Key to Rhythmic Accuracy

For example, when you break down that opening rhythm, you’re really working with eighth notes. You need to feel them internally—even if you’re not playing every one. By subdividing, you’re able to execute those dotted rhythms with clarity and confidence. While subdividing the 32nd notes, you keep the larger 8th note beat in mind so your tempo doesn’t drift. That’s the balancing act: subdividing accurately while maintaining the pulse of the larger beats.

Playing Piano Is No Easy Feat!

This is what makes playing the piano so challenging—and so rewarding! You’re juggling multiple layers of awareness all at once. People often ask why the piano is considered so difficult. Well, imagine trying to keep rhythm, phrasing, dynamics, and finger technique all aligned in your two hands—and that’s just one passage!

The Secret? Break It Down

The good news is there’s a method to the madness. Whether you’re working on rhythm, sight-reading, memorization, technique, or theory, the secret is to break everything down into manageable steps. That’s the heart of my teaching: showing how to approach each of these pillars with a structured, clear methodology.