All posts by Robert Estrin

Where are Pianos Most Popular?

Despite the declining industry in the United States, the piano is one of the most popular instruments in the world and nowhere is it more popular than in China. I was fortunate to attend the recent Music China convention in Shanghai and it was an eye-opening experience on just how vast the piano industry is there.

Many of you have seen Chinese manufactured pianos in local piano stores, but this is such a small portion of the industry and what is currently going on there. Consider these facts:

There are more companies making pianos in China than there are piano stores in the USA!

The largest piano manufacturer in China (Pearl River) has three factories in China, any one of which produces more pianos than all the new pianos sold in the USA each year. The difference in the size of the industry is staggering and the innovations are remarkable.

Pianos with touch screens on the fallboards, pianos with butterfly lids that open in both directions, pianos that are made out of plexiglass and even pianos with two keyboards, one on each end for a dueling piano!

 

 

 

 

 

The Chinese have taken to the piano like people did in this country over a hundred years ago. It’s an exploding market and it’s incredibly popular with younger generations. The Chinese purchase ten times the number of new pianos than Americans and that’s why the export market is only a small fraction of their output. Most of the pianos produced and sold are uprights like in the rest of the world because of smaller homes than in the United States. However, they produce plenty of grands and even concert grand pianos.

To put things into perspective, the biggest show in North America (The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) show in Anaheim, California) has only one main room upstairs full of pianos easily covered in about 20 minutes. The Music China show has over three huge field houses full of pianos; I didn’t even have enough time to see all the instruments in the course of several days at the show!

So why is the piano so popular in China? Western culture wasn’t widely available to the Chinese until after the cultural revolution in the 1970’s. Today, the emerging consumer class in China are enriching children with piano lessons by parents who never had the opportunity to learn themselves. Every time I would sit down at a piano at the show, dozens of people crowded around me taking videos because it was a spectacle to see someone my age performing the piano!

I will be returning to China for performances, master classes as well as being an industry advisor. I hope to share the enthusiasm they have for the piano there to people in the U.S. and around the world.

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

How to Get into a Music School (Conservatory)

If you’re a teacher you’ve undoubtedly been asked by students about how to get into a music conservatory. As we all know, there is no easy answer to this process and we all wish it could be something much simpler than it is. If you plan on attending a music school you really need to plan far ahead and be ready to dedicate years of hard work and study just to get into a good program.

For those students who dream big at a later age and decide they want to pursue music there is still plenty of hope. Your chances of getting into a top school might not be as good as those around you who have studied longer but there are options. Many community colleges have music programs and some of them don’t even require an audition – this is a great way to further your education even if you haven’t been accepted into a conservatory program.

Getting into a good music conservatory is still an incredible challenge and it really does require a tremendous amount of work. As a pianist you will need to have mastered at least one Prelude and Fugue from book one or two of Johann Sebastian Bach – excluding some of the easier preludes and fugues. You will need to have mastered a classical era sonata from either Mozart, Haydn or Beethoven – again some of the easier sonatas are not accepted. You will also need one or two contrasting works from the 19th or 20th century. You will also need to know all your major and minor scales and arpeggios.

As you can see, this is not something you can simply learn overnight! This is a lot of preparation that takes an incredibly long time to learn and prepare for. You could never prepare for an audition into a top school with only a year or two of studying.

When choosing the school, it’s most important to find a specific person for your specialty. For example, if you are a singer you will want to make sure the school you’re interested in has a singing instructor or professor you respect. The private teacher really is the most important aspect of any school you go to – even beyond the name of the institution or any of the orchestras associated with it. Better schools will also offer opportunities to perform in groups with more advanced players which can be extremely valuable as well.

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

Do You Need 88 Keys on a Piano?

There are pianos out there – not just keyboards – that have less than the standard 88 keys. You might wonder whether or not a piano from an era with 85 keys would be a good choice for you or if you should avoid pianos with less than 88 keys. I know some people are hesitant to even contemplate getting a piano with less than 88 keys. Are they right?

If you look into the history of the piano you will quickly realize that the instrument didn’t always have 88 keys. In fact, for most of the piano’s history, it had far fewer than 88 keys. It wasn’t until the late 1800s that 88 keys became the standard on pianos. For most of the 1800s the standard for pianos was 85 keys or less. This is why the vast majority of Classical repertoire on the piano only requires between 61-85 keys.

When you get to 20th century composers like Debussy or Ravel and beyond, are the full 88 keys called upon. For the vast majority of piano music, 85 keys will actually be fine. For music of Mozart and Haydn, pianos had only around 61 keys! During Beethoven’s lifetime, the piano underwent substantial development including accommodating more keys. So, early compositions of Beethoven require far less keys than late Beethoven’s piano music.

Some people might shy away from a piano without those three extra keys but they really could be losing out on a great instrument. Sometimes you might find a piano that is an absolute gem and it might only have 85 keys. Should you just discount this instrument and find another? That depends.

If you find yourself playing a great deal of 20th century music, then you will probably be better off with a piano that has 88 keys. If you play mostly Classical and Baroque period music, 85 keys will not be a limitation at all. Should you worry about losing out on those few remaining keys? It depends on how much you love the piano you are looking at and if it’s worth forgoing in favor of three extra notes.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the last three notes on the piano do not register a substantial sound. They are extremely short-lived and not having them will not really affect the mood of the piece very much. For the vast majority of pianists 85 keys will not present a serious limitation. I personally would not have a issues playing on or owning an 85 key piano – I simply don’t use those extra three keys that much and can play pieces utilizing those keys without compromising the piece substantially.

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

Can You Ruin a Piano Finish by Touching It?

This might sound like a crazy question but it’s surprisingly important and if you own a piano there are a quite a few things you should know about the various types of finishes. Refinishing a piano is an enormous expense and something that can be avoided with proper care and maintenance.

The classic American finish of a piano is a satin hand-rubbed lacquer finish. It’s an extremely popular type of finish but it’s also very important to know how to maintain properly. You might notice that when you place your hands on your piano you may leave fingerprints. If you use light cleaning products you can wipe these off but you’re leaving yourself open to a larger problem down the road. These types of finishes are porous and if you use cleaning products, they will eventually soak into the finish and will have to be professionally removed later on.

So how do you clean a classic satin finish to avoid additional costs later on? The best thing to do is to use a soft cotton cloth rubbing in the direction of the hand-rubbed lines. If you have fingerprints that have gotten deeply ingrained into the finish, then you should use a slightly damp (not wet) cotton cloth and again, rub in the direction of the hand-rubbed lines. This is the best way to clean a finish like this to avoid damage. And it’s all you need to do to maintain the finish in most cases.

The newer type of finish popularized a few decades ago is the high-gloss polyester finish. When these finishes were first introduced, people thought they would be fragile. To demonstrate their stability, companies at trade shows years ago lit them on fire to show their strength! So, can you destroy this type of finish with your hands? While they might show more fingerprints than a satin type of finish, you can’t easily damage this type of finish with your hands because they are plastic! They are sealed so they aren’t porous so the oils in your hands don’t seep in.

That’s not to say that high gloss finishes aren’t without their problems. If you were to take a music book and toss it onto a high gloss lid of a piano when it’s closed, it can cause scratches and lines in the finish that are impossible to remove except by an expert refinisher. So each of these two types of finishes can be damaged in different ways.

Cleaning a high-gloss finish is rather simple. You can actually use a damp cloth or even Windex to clean any fingerprints or dirt off the piano.

There is another way in which you can damage the finish of a piano and that is by simply playing it! Any serious pianist who plays a good deal will eventually scratch their fall boards and a lot of the times it can go all the way down to the grain of the wood. My father Morton Estrin (mortonestrin.com) had a Steinway his father gave him years ago which my sister now owns, and you can see the deep indentations in the fall board exposing the wood as a result of years of practice. You may think that you don’t scratch the fall board of your piano, but if you look closely, you will see at least gentle lines if you play a good deal. The good news is that the fall board is fairly inexpensive to refinish when the time comes. I have had the fall board on my piano refinished a couple of times!

Thanks again for joining me Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729. If you have any other questions please contact me directly.

Should You Avoid Buying an Upright Piano?

This might seem like a crazy question to ask. Upright pianos are extremely common and popular and for many people with limited space are the only option they might have for a piano. In fact, in many parts of the world such as Europe and Asia, upright pianos are the standard type of piano because of smaller homes and limited space. Today we are going to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of buying an upright piano and you can decide if it’s a good fit for you.

Upright pianos do have natural limitations that simply cannot be rectified. The actions are designed vertically and as a result you are more limited with the speed at which notes repeat. The pedals on upright pianos also don’t function as they do on grand pianos (except for the sustain pedal on the right). For more information on this subject please watch our previous video: Upright Pianos Vs. Grand Pianos.

So why doesn’t everyone just buy grand pianos?

There are two reasons most people buy upright pianos: space and budget. Upright pianos are both smaller and cheaper (in general) than grand pianos. So, many people compromise and purchase uprights with the goal of getting a grand piano eventually.

Is this a bad decision? Absolutely not. I encourage students to buy the best piano they can and if that’s an upright piano it is a great choice. Students can progress from beginning lessons all the way to a slightly advanced level utilizing an upright piano and have no problems at all. It’s only when students progress to a level where they will need the abilities of a grand piano (pedals and repetition) that they will be limited by an upright piano.

Another thing to keep in mind is that students (even at a beginning level) will progress faster on a grand piano. This is simply due to the fact that it’s easier to transition from a larger instrument to a smaller one. It’s a lot easier to go from playing a concert grand piano all the time to performing on an upright piano. The reverse is true as well: playing on an upright piano at home will make it more difficult to transition to playing on a grand piano at lessons or in performance.

Ideally everyone would start learning on a grand or baby grand piano. However, you can get a very satisfying sound from an upright piano and it should never be a deterrent from learning or playing the piano. Simply get the best piano you can at the moment and begin from there. Don’t worry about getting something bigger if you can’t afford it or fit it in your home. Eventually you will be able to upgrade your piano but it should not deter you from enjoying it now.

Thanks again for joining me and if you have any questions please feel free to contact us directly: info@livingpianos.com (949) 244-3729

Do Diet and Exercise Affect Your Musical Performances?

This is an interesting topic as it really does depend upon what instrument you play. Certain instruments are much more physically demanding than others. Obviously, it’s in your best interest to keep yourself healthy with a good diet and exercise, but can it affect the way you perform music?

In addition to playing piano, I also play French Horn. When it comes to piano there are certain pieces (Liszt Hungarian Rhapsodies for example) that I wouldn’t play when I am sick. However, I might be able to play a slow movement of a Mozart Sonata without any problems. When it comes to French Horn, this is not the case. If I am sick or exhausted there is no way I can even play a single phrase on a high level because it takes so much energy to produce a good quality sound.

In the case of an instrument like the French horn, diet and exercise are intrinsically important if you want to stay in performance shape. You won’t be able to play much if you are easily winded. Pretty much any instrument that requires an extreme amount of energy (which piano certainly can) requires you to be in at least decent shape.

There is also the concern of longevity when it comes to playing and performing. The healthier your keep yourself the more likely you are to enjoy a long and fruitful playing career. There have certainly been out of shape musicians, but many times their lives or careers have been cut short due to chronic health problems.

Oscar Peterson was one of the great jazz pianists of all time. For many years he suffered from arthritis, but his weight problems were an even bigger factor in the quality of his health. As he got heavier he eventually needed to get hip replacement surgery which limited his mobility. After a continued decline in health, he suffered a stroke that rendered the left side of his body weak. It took two years before he could recuperate enough to perform again. Although he played a few more years after the stroke, he was never able to get back to optimal health. Although, Oscar Peterson was such a monumental pianist, that even with a weaker left hand, he was still a great jazz pianist. There are dozens of other musicians who have faced issues in declining health which have led to their careers being cut short.

Beyond just eating right and exercise is the concern of your mental state. If you are constantly tired or stressed, it’s a great challenge to bring positive energy to your performance. It’s very important to be well rested and in a good state of mind whenever you have the opportunity to perform. So, while some musicians can offer amazing performances even when they are not particularly healthy, for consistent, high-level performances over time, healthy diet and regular exercise can play a key role, particularly when playing instruments that require a lot of physical energy.

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