All posts by Robert Estrin

Should you Listen to a Piece of Music Before you Learn It?

This is a very common question and it has less to do with the player than the style of music being played. Classical music is distinctively different from jazz or other styles of music where you are playing more by ear.

When it comes to jazz specifically you should always listen to a piece before you play it (if you have the chance) because it’s a great way to get the general melody and rhythm in your head before you start playing. Jazz can be very improvisational so it’s always best to know the structure of the song you will be performing. When it comes to jazz and rock, sometimes listening to a piece is really the only guide you have to actually playing it since it isn’t written music.

When it comes to classical music things are much different. In classical, every note is written down and intended to be played as written. As you progress as a classical musician it’s very important that you learn to play a piece without listening to it. You should ideally be able to look at notes on a page and understand what type of sound and melody they should produce.

If you listen to a piece of classical music before you learn it you will find yourself being very influenced by the performance and not so much what’s written on the page. As a kid I used to listen to my older sister Coren (who’s also a pianist and piano teacher in Ohio) playing the pieces I was going to learn later on. I definitely found it helpful to listen to and know the pieces I was going to learn – it did affect my way of learning new music.

You really are better off learning a piece of classical music on your own and figuring it out for yourself. You will be able to learn your own modes of expression and put a unique stamp on the music. After you’ve learned a piece give yourself a treat and listen to not only one but a number of different recordings of the piece you just learned.

Remember, when it comes to jazz and rock, listen as much as you can because the sound and the recordings are your guide to the music. When it comes to Classical music, learn first and listen later.

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

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

Picking the Right Musical Repertoire for Your Skill Level

This is a very important decision and it’s something you should take very seriously. Having a teacher help you pick your repertoire is a great option, but there are a few tips I’ll share to help you pick the right piece for your skill level.

Sometimes teachers will make the mistake of having their students learn pieces above their skill level. Having a student playing a complex piece of music can be very gratifying and offers bragging rights for a teacher, but sometimes it comes at the detriment to the student. Learning a piece of music above your skill level will take you much longer to learn and it will be an arduous process. It is incredibly gratifying studying a piece on your level which you can refine to a high level of performance in a reasonable amount of time.

When you are a beginning or even intermediate student, you shouldn’t be playing pieces that take months to learn. Instead, you should try to focus on learning many pieces gradually building up your skill level. You will achieve two things by doing this: adding more work to your repertoire right away and gradually increasing the difficulty of the pieces you learn. In the same amount of time you would spend learning a complex piece, you could have much more music learned and have progressed much further in your playing.

You should also try and learn pieces that you can master playing up to tempo. Learning something and barely being able to get through it will not help you progress as a musician. The piece will not only sound bad but you will probably end up feeling frustrated.

As you progress as a pianist, it’s a great idea to push yourself with each new piece of music you add to your repertoire. You should find enjoyment in a new challenge but always be assured that it’s something you can achieve and master within a reasonable amount of time. As you advance to very complex music you will mature to the point of spending months learning an extended work, but you must be sure you have the skills to handle it.

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

Piano Lessons – How to Cross Hands on the piano

As you advance in your playing this will inevitably come up and it’s going to be a challenge for many people to overcome. But why would you cross your hands? Sometimes it can be the composer specifically writing something that would require it; sometimes it’s just easier to cross your hands in certain passages; either way, you will eventually encounter this technique in your repertoire.

For the video above I use the first movement of the Pathetique Sonata of Beethoven to demonstrate the technique. In the exposition section of the piece there is a part where one hand keeps playing the same group of notes and the other hand jumps around the keyboard. You simply can’t negotiate this easily without crossing your hands.

How do you handle these sections? It’s always a great idea to learn your hand positions before you start playing. Not only should you have your hands over the first note of the phrase, you should position them over as many keys as you can. By doing this you will eliminate having to move your hand more than necessary – which could lead to wrong notes – and you will have a set position you can constantly refer back to. For specific examples in this piece, refer to the video embedded in this page.

It’s always a great idea to be over the keys before you need to play them. It will help you relax and be able to concentrate on actually playing and not just where your hands are located. A great way to achieve this is by practicing your music right up until the moment where you need to move your hand. Keep practicing the same line over and over and when you get to the notes you need to play next just move your hand over them but don’t play them yet, just get your hand in position. Keep doing this until your hand effortlessly glides to the correct spot and keep doing it until it just feels natural. When you feel confident you have achieved a fluid and precise movement over the keys, play the notes. Continue to play the phrase and the proceeding notes until you feel confident enough to move on.

You can really do this for all your music – whether it requires crossing your hands or not. The best thing you can do is to stay relaxed and be ready over notes ahead of time. You should never play from a position in which you feel like you are constantly catching up.

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

What’s the Difference Between a Composition and an Arrangement?

You’ve probably heard these terms before and there are many differences between them There are also different aspects to each of the terms themselves. In this article, I will discuss the differences between compositions and arrangements and the differences that can lie within each of these two categories. To put it simply:

Compositions are musical pieces that are conceived as a complete work written for a specific instrument or group of instruments. Generally, compositions are to be played as written because it is what the composer intended. The nuance of expression is imparted into the framework of the piece and everything from the notes, rhythm, and all other aspects are as the composer intended. Like an actor in a movie, you will bring your own unique voice to a composition and that will be what separates your performance from others.

Arrangements are pieces of music originally written for one instrument or group of instruments and then transcribed for another instrument. Arrangements can also be a piece of music that is simplified or embellished from its original form without changing the instrumentation. A great example of this would be if a piece of music originally written for the piano is then transcribed for an entire orchestra. There are a number of different reasons for arrangements but generally, the rules are the same – they are interpretations of music which sometimes create entirely new musical aesthetics from the original. In modern pop music, these are referred to as a remix.

Arrangements sometimes encourage the player to embellish, simplify, or improvise with the music in front of them. Some arrangements are not written with strict guidelines in mind so it allows musicians the opportunity to express themselves in ways that compositions might not allow for. While some arrangements are simplified versions of famous pieces, others are highly stylized technical displays.

Transcriptions are a form of arrangement that is generally meant to be played as written. They are musical selections that are taken from one instrument (or group of instruments) and meticulously transcribed for another instrument. A great example of this is “Pictures at an Exhibition” by Mussorgsky. This piece was originally written for solo piano but was later transcribed by Maurice Ravel for Symphony Orchestra. Today, the orchestral version is much more widely played and heard that the original piano version! Some transcriptions are embellishments of original compositions like the Paraphrases of Chopin Etudes by Leopold Godowsky.

You will want to make sure you know whether a piece you are studying is a transcription or an arrangement because there is sometimes a fundamental difference in how you approach the two. An arrangement is generally a fun and new way to share music, while a transcription can be a more serious musical statement.

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

How to Connect Sections of Music on the Piano

You may have seen my video, Band-Aid Approach to Practicing Music. In that video I covered how to fix problem spots in your music. However, some viewers had questions on how to connect those sections once they are ironed out. I thought this would be the perfect subject to create a follow up.

To demonstrate I am using the Clementi Sonatani Opus 36 no 1. This is a good example because there is a little section in the beginning that leads into a much more complicated passage. I have had a lot of students over the years who have had trouble with this particular section.

I would suggest, as I did in the Band-Aid approach video, to play the music until you reach a problem spot. Instead of going back to the beginning each time, focus on the problem area until it is corrected and you can play it reliably. Play it slower at first, then work up a notch at a time with the metronome until you get it up to speed and feel confident in your ability to play the section.

With this particular piece you could first play the thirds in the right hand together instead of separately as written. After you feel confident put your hands together while still playing with thirds in the right hand. Once you are secure with the passage you can break up the music as written and work it up to speed striving for accuracy and effortlessness in your playing.

While you have corrected the problem area, you will discover that it’s difficult to play the passage in context accurately. Your mind and body is not used to playing it correctly when the passage comes and you’ll continue to have the same problem approaching this section. So how do you fix this?

I recommend starting right before the section you just fixed – not at the beginning of the piece. You can play a few bars before the section you corrected, then pause slightly right before you play the problem spot; just to remind yourself that you have reached the section. You can practice and mentally prepare yourself to approach it correctly. As you practice, you can shorten the pause before the corrected passage making it shorter and shorter until eventually there is no pause at all and you’re playing it as written. Eventually you will not have a pause in the music anymore but your mind will remember once you reach that section and you will be mentally prepared for it.

After you have done this try going back to the beginning. Is it smooth yet? Probably not. You might have to go back and play a little bit before the section you just practiced and work your way back to the start of the piece adding more music each time. Keep doing this until you can connect the sections of music without problems. It might take some time but once you do this you’ll be much more confident and able to play these problem sections without issues. It’s worth spending time to get this right.

I hope this helps and I encourage your comments and thoughts on this subject. Thanks again for joining me Robert Estrin, Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729.