All posts by Robert Estrin

How to Change Your Piano Playing and Your Life

Welcome to LivingPianos.com. I’m Robert Estrin. Today, I’m going to show you how you can change your piano playing and your life. You may have heard the old saying: “One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” There’s real truth to that. In piano playing, just like in life, it’s the daily habits that make all the difference.

Choose Realistic Repertoire

A key element to meaningful progress is selecting music that’s within your reach. It’s tempting to latch onto that one dream piece, but you may struggle for months or even years without ever getting it to the level you want. There’s nothing wrong with having long-term goals, but if you’re dedicating most of your practice time to a piece that’s beyond your current capabilities, it can be discouraging. Instead, focus on building a repertoire of pieces you can master. As you play more music successfully, you’ll grow technically and musically, eventually reaching that dream piece much sooner than if you tried to tackle it prematurely. Take it step by step with progressively more challenging repertoire.

Focused Practice Yields Greater Results

Another important concept is how you structure your practice. Trying to cover as much music as possible in one sitting can be counterproductive. By working on smaller sections, you give yourself the chance to really concentrate and improve. It’s much easier to focus your ears and your mind on manageable chunks of music rather than on an entire movement or long section.

Practice Consistently

This is one of the most critical aspects of piano playing: consistency. People often ask how much time they should spend practicing. The truth is, it’s not about how much time, but how often. Practicing every day, even if only for short periods, can make a huge difference. In fact, breaking up your practice into multiple short sessions can be even more effective.

Take breaks. Go for a walk. Let your mind process what you’ve worked on. You’ll find that the music continues to sink in even when you’re not at the keyboard. Cramming hours of practice into one day and skipping several days afterward not only leads to forgetting what you’ve learned, but it can also kill your motivation.

Don’t Abandon Old Pieces

Here’s another trap to avoid: learning a piece and immediately moving on to something new. If you never revisit what you’ve already learned, you’ll end up with a bunch of pieces that are half-baked and nothing you can play confidently. You should aim to maintain pieces you can play well at any time. How do you keep them fresh? By playing them every day and occasionally practicing them just like new pieces. Take out the score, play slowly without the pedal, and use a metronome. This kind of maintenance can really solidify your repertoire.

Daily Choices Shape Your Progress

Everything you do at the piano—what you practice, how you practice, how often you practice—adds up over time. So choose wisely each day. Work on the right pieces, focus your efforts, keep your older pieces alive, and above all, be consistent. And it’s not just true for piano. Regular exercise will make you feel better and keep you in shape. Contrarily, if you eat donuts every night, you are likely to put on a few pounds. It’s the things you do every day that make the difference, both in your piano playing and in your life.

I hope this is helpful for you! Share your thoughts in the comments here at LivingPianos.com and on YouTube.

What is the Best Piano at the 2025 Chopin International Piano Competition?

What is the Best Piano at the 2025 Chopin International Piano Competition?

A Bit of History

Let’s first take a look back at how the competition has evolved in terms of the pianos used. Before 1980, Steinway dominated the competition, along with some appearances from Bösendorfer. That was about the extent of the choices. Then in 1985, the landscape changed dramatically. Contestants were offered a selection of Steinway, Yamaha, Kawai, and Bösendorfer pianos. This marked a new era in the competition, giving pianists the freedom to choose the instrument that best suited their individual style.

By 2010, Fazioli made its debut as one of the official choices. And in the 2021 competition, there were even two different Steinways available, alongside Yamaha, Kawai, and Fazioli.

The 2025 Lineup

That brings us to this year’s competition. Although only about half of the contestants have chosen their pianos so far, we already have a good sense of how preferences are shaping up. This year, the available instruments include:

  • Steinway
  • Shigeru Kawai
  • Fazioli
  • Yamaha
  • Bechstein

Contestants are given time to try each piano and select the one they feel most comfortable with. And that decision can have a huge impact on their performance.

How Did the Choices Break Down?

Here’s a look at how the selections stand so far:

  • Steinway was the most popular choice, selected by about 25 pianists.
  • Shigeru Kawai came in second, chosen by roughly 12 pianists.
  • Fazioli was picked by 7 contestants.
  • Yamaha was selected by 3 pianists.
  • Bechstein was chosen by just 2 pianists.

It’s worth noting that Bechstein is still relatively new to the competition. In fact, they weren’t even present in the 2021 edition. So it’s not entirely surprising that only a couple of pianists chose Bechstein this year.

What Can You Learn From This?

If you’re passionate about the piano, I highly encourage you to watch the performances yourself. One of the best parts of this competition is that many of the pianists play the same repertoire. That gives you a rare opportunity to hear how different pianos respond to the same music, as well as how each pianist brings their own interpretation.

And beyond the technical aspects, it offers a glimpse into how piano manufacturing has diversified and how performers today have more choices than ever before to express their musical vision.

So, what do you think? What’s your favorite piano from this year’s competition? Join the conversation right here at LivingPianos.com and on YouTube. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

The 3 Types of Memorization for Pianists

Welcome to LivingPianos.com. I’m Robert Estrin. Today we’re going to explore a fascinating subject: the three types of memorization. What you feel, what you hear, and what you see. These different aspects of memory work together to create a solid, reliable musical memory. This is known as multimodal memory, and to truly internalize a piece of music, you need to absorb it in all these different ways.

What You Feel: Motor or Muscle Memory

Let’s start with what you feel. This is sometimes called motor memory or muscle memory. Think about how we learn to walk. A toddler has to think about each step, but eventually walking becomes automatic. We take it for granted. The same is true at the piano. There’s a huge amount of physical information involved in playing even a single piece. Without motor memory, it would be almost impossible to execute all the notes, articulations, and rhythms. Motor memory is particularly helpful in moments when your mind might briefly wander. You may suddenly realize, mid-performance, that you’re playing without actively thinking about every note. That’s motor memory keeping things going. But you can’t rely on it completely. It isn’t enough on its own to ensure a secure performance, which is why other forms of memory are essential.

What You Hear: Aural Memory

The most important type of memory is what you hear. Active listening helps you develop a much deeper connection to the music. When you really hear the piece internally, you become aware of harmonic progressions, voicing, and melodic lines. Listening attentively allows you to avoid clashing harmonies and guides your musical interpretation. Listening is key to strengthening your overall memory of the music.

What You See: Visual Memory

Visual memory also plays a part, particularly when it comes to jumps and leaps on the keyboard. Sometimes you simply need to know where you’re going, and seeing the geography of the keyboard helps guide your hands accurately. Visual cues can also include your mental image of the score or your hands in motion.

Bringing It All Together: Intellectual Memory

So how do these three types of memory work together? They all contribute to what we can call intellectual memory. This is your conceptual understanding of the music—knowing how the harmonies are structured, how the phrases are shaped, what the rhythms are doing, and how the piece is built overall.

To test your intellectual memory, here’s a great exercise: Take your score and place it on the music rack. Without touching the keyboard, try playing the piece mentally. You can even play it on your lap. This is pure mental practice, and it’s incredibly effective. Brain scans have shown that mentally playing music activates the same areas of the brain as physically playing it. The only major difference is that you don’t have the benefit of tactile feedback. That “feel” of the keyboard isn’t there to guide you. Have you ever caught yourself in the middle of playing and suddenly realized you were playing on autopilot? That’s motor memory at work. But without the other types of memory, it’s not enough.

The Secret to Solid Memorization

By bringing together what you feel, what you hear, and what you see—and combining them into a deep intellectual understanding—you create a lasting, reliable musical memory. Best of all, this kind of memory stays with you even away from the piano. I hope this is helpful for you. Share your thoughts in the comments here at LivingPianos.com and on YouTube!

3 Ways to Make Trills Easier on the Piano


Welcome to LivingPianos.com. I’m Robert Estrin. You hear concert pianists playing trills that sound jewel-like, and you might wonder: how can you achieve this in your own playing? Today, I’m going to share three simple techniques that can make a big difference in how your trills sound and feel.

1. Use Rounded Fingers

One of the easiest ways to improve your trills is to play with rounded fingers. If you try to execute trills with flat fingers, you’ll quickly notice how difficult it becomes. That’s because flat fingers limit you to using only one joint. By rounding your fingers, you engage all the joints, which provides more control and flexibility. This one change alone can dramatically improve your trills.

2. Measure Your Trills

This tip is essential: measure your trills. Trills might sound like a flurry of random notes, but I guarantee you that the trills you admire are carefully measured. Knowing exactly how many notes you’re playing in a trill allows you to execute them cleanly and land on the correct ending note.

Take, for example, the famous C major Mozart Sonata, K. 545. At the end of the exposition—and again at the end of the movement—there’s a trill that must resolve cleanly. How is that accomplished? By counting out the notes in advance. The good news is you don’t need to play a lot of notes. You can even play 16th notes and still have a beautiful trill. The key is consistency and precision. Remember, trills are a form of expressive license. As long as you’re playing the correct notes, you have flexibility in how many you use. Just make sure it’s intentional and measured.

3. Choose the Right Fingers

The fingering you use for trills makes a huge difference. One common fingering is 3-2, which is strong and reliable. But if you want the strongest possible combination, try using fingers 3 and 1. That pairing provides excellent strength and control. Of course, depending on the passage, you might not always have the luxury of choosing your ideal fingering. Sometimes you’ll need to use 2-4, which is less optimal, and in some rare cases, 5-4, which is the most difficult trill fingering. Five and four are both weak fingers, and trilling with them takes a lot of practice. You might find yourself using 5-4 in contrapuntal music, like a Bach fugue, where other fingers are needed for notes in a lower voice. If possible, stick with 3-1 or 3-2. Some pianists even alternate between the two during longer trills. Try them out and see what works best for you.

Bonus Tip: Lighten Up

Here’s one last little tip: lighten up when playing trills. If you try to use arm weight, you’ll find it incredibly difficult to sustain a clean trill. Instead, feel as though you’re hovering lightly over the keys. Let your fingers do all the work, and you’ll find that your trills become more fluid and effortless.

Let me know how these tips work for you in the comments here at LivingPianos.com and on YouTube. Thanks so much for joining me, and to all you subscribers out there. Let’s keep the discussion alive!

How Beethoven Revolutionized Classical Music

Welcome to LivingPianos.com. I’m Robert Estrin. Today we’re going to explore how Beethoven fundamentally transformed classical music. And that’s no exaggeration. When you listen to the music that came before Beethoven and compare it to what came after, there is a noticeable shift. That shift, in large part, was due to Beethoven’s revolutionary musical language. Let’s break down how he did it.

Expansion of Form

One of the most striking things Beethoven did was expand the structure of classical works. In the Classical era, sonatas and string quartets by composers like Mozart and Haydn typically had three movements, and sometimes only two. Beethoven certainly wrote many three-movement works, but he also made four-movement structures the norm in many of his later compositions, often by adding a minuet-trio, typically a scherzo third movement.

But it wasn’t just about the number of movements. Beethoven also expanded the movements themselves. For example, in the sonata-allegro form that typically opens sonatas and symphonies, there’s usually a repeated exposition, a development section, and then a recapitulation. Beethoven’s development sections—especially in his later works—took on a life of their own, reaching dramatic and expressive heights that earlier composers hadn’t approached.

To illustrate this, let’s consider the development section of a late Mozart sonata, the C minor Sonata K. 457. This is a powerful work for its time, and the development section is substantial and intense. But when you contrast it with even an early Beethoven sonata, like the G major Sonata Opus 14 No. 2, the difference is striking. Beethoven extends the development far beyond expectations, introducing new ideas and transformations that push the boundaries of the form. And this is just an early work—his later sonatas go even further.

Deceptive Cadences: The Element of Surprise

Beethoven also introduced unexpected harmonic shifts that were rare in the music of his predecessors. One of the most effective tools he used was the deceptive cadence. This is when you expect a musical phrase to resolve in a familiar way—typically to the tonic—but instead, it takes a completely different direction. For instance, in the development section of the Opus 14 No. 2 Sonata, Beethoven sets up a resolution, but instead lands on an A-flat major chord—completely out of left field. This kind of surprise grabs your attention and creates a sense of drama that Mozart rarely employed in the same way. Mozart’s modulations are beautiful and clever, often leading you to a slightly unexpected place that feels just right. But Beethoven often pulls the rug out from under you, taking you somewhere you never saw coming. Another stunning example can be found in the development of Beethoven’s D major Sonata, Opus 10 No. 3. The movement begins in D minor and suddenly you’re in B-flat major. It’s a jarring, brilliant moment that showcases Beethoven’s flair for the unexpected.

Sudden Dynamic Contrasts

Another hallmark of Beethoven’s style is his use of sudden dynamic changes, particularly subito piano, which means “suddenly soft.” These moments often follow a crescendo, building intensity and then abruptly dropping in volume. It’s a powerful expressive device that Beethoven used frequently. In the third movement of the Opus 10 No. 3 Sonata, for example, Beethoven builds energy only to suddenly drop the volume, creating tension and release in unexpected ways. Even in the lyrical first movement of the famous Moonlight Sonata, Beethoven includes not one but two subito piano markings. These are not to be taken lightly. They are deliberate, and they bring out the emotional nuance of the music. Ignoring them would be a disservice to the music’s intent.

The Birth of Romanticism

Beethoven’s innovations in form, harmony, and dynamics laid the groundwork for the Romantic composers who followed. His ability to expand development sections into full emotional journeys, to use harmony and dynamics in ways that surprised and moved the listener—these were all departures from the classical ideals of balance and restraint. Composers like Schumann, Mendelssohn, and Brahms would not have written the music they did without Beethoven paving the way. This is the true genius of Beethoven: he pushed the boundaries of the classical forms he inherited, infusing them with an emotional depth and unpredictability that changed the course of music history.

Thank you all for joining me. Again, I’m Robert, and this is LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.

The Golden Rules for Perfect Chords on the Piano

Welcome to LivingPianos.com. I’m Robert Estrin. Have you ever heard someone play the piano and every chord just sounds beautiful? Whether they’re reading written music or improvising, the chords seem rich and perfectly balanced. Yet when you try to do the same, the chords might sound cluttered or harsh. Why is that? It turns out, the secret to beautiful-sounding chords lies in something deeply rooted in nature: the overtone series.

What Is the Overtone Series?

The overtone series is the natural phenomenon that gives sound its color and character. Any musical sound—whether from a piano, another instrument, or even a non-musical source—contains more than just its fundamental pitch. Overtones are additional pitches that naturally occur above the fundamental note. They’re what give sound its richness, just like how a color is often made up of many different shades. A pure sine wave with no overtones sounds flat, lifeless, and boring. When overtones are present, the sound becomes full and musical.

You can even observe overtones on the piano. By silently pressing a high C key (lifting the damper without making sound), and then firmly playing a lower C, the higher string will begin to vibrate sympathetically. This demonstrates that the higher C is part of the overtone series of the lower C.

The Pattern of Overtones

The overtone series begins with notes that are far apart and gradually get closer together. Starting from the fundamental tone, each successive overtone comes closer in pitch to the next. After a certain point, the overtones are separated only by half steps. This pattern is crucial because it explains why some chords sound better than others. When chords are constructed in a way that aligns with the spacing of the overtone series, they naturally sound pleasing to the ear.

Spacing Is Everything

Here’s where this becomes especially practical for piano players. Chords voiced with wide spacing between the bass and the upper notes tend to sound much better than chords that are clustered closely in the lower registers. For example, if you play a chord in the left hand using tightly packed notes, the result is often muddy and unpleasant. But if you space the bass note well below and place the rest of the chord in the right hand, the result is far more pleasing. This principle isn’t just for improvisation or modern styles. It has deep roots in Western classical music.

The Influence of Bach and Western Harmony

Western harmony, as we know it, evolved from vocal writing, particularly in the chorales of Johann Sebastian Bach. These chorales consistently show that the bass note (the lowest note) is spaced significantly below the upper voices. This spacing mirrors the overtone series and results in a resonant, clear sound. Even in simple tunes like “Happy Birthday,” when chords are voiced with space between the bass and the upper notes, the result is much more satisfying.

Beethoven and Beyond

This approach to chord voicing is not limited to Baroque music. Take, for example, the second movement of Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata. When the arpeggios in the left hand are reduced to block chords, you can see how Beethoven employs the same concept. The bass notes are separated from the other tones, allowing the chords to breathe. This is a continuation of the harmonic principles established through centuries of musical development, rooted in the overtone series.

Applying This to Your Playing

Whenever you play chord progressions, remember to space your chords so that the bass note stands apart from the upper notes. Let the right hand handle most of the chord tones, especially when supporting a melody. Whether you’re playing simple triads or complex harmonies, this approach creates a much more rewarding and musical sound. Compare this to playing everything close together in your left hand and it usually results in a cluttered mess. Giving your chords room to resonate in line with the overtone series is key to making your playing sound professional and beautiful.

A Universal Principle

This concept of voicing chords according to the overtone series isn’t limited to classical music. From Bach to Beethoven and into contemporary styles, it’s a universal principle of good voice leading and harmonic balance. By understanding and applying this natural spacing, you can dramatically improve the sound of your chords. I encourage classical players to study their scores and observe how often composers use this technique. It’s everywhere, once you start to notice it. Thanks for joining me. I’m Robert Estrin, and this is LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.